MINDERS has outlasted St Mary’s Orange to claim a thrilling one-point victory, 24-23, in round six of the Hamilton Basketball Association Winter 2023 season on Tuesday night.

With ladder leaders St Mary’s Black having the bye, the rest of the competition was looking to make up the gap on the premiership ladder with victory as the Saints rested.

Both teams are cemented in the top four and seem to be assured of a finals spot, but neither eased up at any stage of the game as the ball travelled up and down the court.

Defences were working overtime as each team created turnover ball and they swapped basket-for-basket in the first half with the score at the buzzer being all tied up at 12 apiece.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first half with each refusing to hand the opposition an advantage but a missed free throw from St Mary’s Orange proved to be the difference and at the final buzzer Minders clung to its slim lead.

Zoe Hill with eight points was the top scorer for Minders but the entire team contributed to the tally while St Mary’s Orange had Kate Pickford also knocking down eight points.

Barber Babes v Tigers

THE late timeslot failed to deliver a game as close as the early start time as Tigers took Barber Babes apart with a 51-11 victory.

Tigers never allowed the Babes into the game as it shut down attacking raid after attacking raid to claim a 22-6 halftime lead.

Come the second stanza and Tigers took their game to the next level, showing no mercy on the Babes with a further 29 points added to the score while restricting the opposition to only an extra five points as the defence purred like a well-oiled machine.

Maddison Rhook (16) and Maddison Cotten (11) had hot hands in posting double figure totals for the Tigers, but in reply Danielle Van Kalken was a lone hand for the Babes with eight points.

The loss keeps Barber Babes on the bottom of the ladder with only a single victory for the season to its credit, while the Tigers doubled its wins.

Men’s Division 1

St Mary’s Orange v Barber Boys Black

St Mary’s Orange ensured that barber Boys Black remain on the bottom of the Premiership ladder with a 39-18 victory on Wednesday night in round six of the Hamilton Basketball Association Men’s division one winter season.

The win lifts the Saints Orange team into outright second spot after the side dominated the game from the opening tip off as all five members of the team repeatedly added their names to the scoresheet.

The first half saw the Saints open an 11-point margin at the halftime buzzer and the side extended that to 21 points by the final buzzer through mainly Archie Porter’s game high 16 points, while Liam MacDonald netted nine points for the opposition.

Barber Boys White v St Mary’s Black

Barber Boys White ensured it stayed atop the ladder with an emphatic 57-27 victory over St Mary’s Black in the later time slot on Wednesday.

Lead by Shai Bunworth (20 points), Nathan Hardingham (13) and Aaron Glare (12) the victors had too many players with a hot hand for the Saints defence to nullify.

With 27 points in the first half and another 30 points in the second, Barber Boys White dominated the Saints from the outset and made a statement to the rest of the competition that it’s the team to beat this winter.