The first round of fixtures for the brand-new Lord’s Taverners Scottish Junior League took place on Saturday as wheelchair teams from across Scotland headed to Armadale Academy.
Lothian Phoenix picked up the first win in the Under 13s division with a 18-12 victory over Dragon-Flyers – A mixture of Dundee Dragons and Grampian flyers. The third team in the division, All-Stars, lost by a single point as Dragon-Flyers earned their first win of the competition, ending the game 14-13. Lastly, All-stars faced Lothian Phoenix and made up for their earlier loss with an impressive 26-6 win.
In the Under 18s division, Lothian Phoenix went two for two with wins over Grampian Flyers and Dundee Dragons, with scores of 41-28 and 32-24 respectively. In the third game, Grampian Flyers fell 17-45 to Dundee Dragons.
The event was a huge success as basketballscotland and the Lord’s Taverners aim to build wheelchair basketball participation levels amongst junior age groups.
basketballscotland’s Tina Gordon, who oversaw the first round of fixtures on Saturday, was delighted with the day’s action:
“with this being the first meeting of the new Lord’s Taverners Scottish junior League there was an element of uncertainty as to how the day would go. All the teams were brilliant and it was great to see them so well supported by families and friends on the sidelines too. This is a really good sign of what’s to come for wheelchair basketball in Scotland and we’re excited to build on this with the help of Lord’s Taverners”
The event was part of a massively successful weekend for Scottish wheelchair basketball, as Paralympian Robyn Love and World Champion George Bates both represented their clubs at the Euro Liga 2 in Italy, with the latter collecting a gold medal at the tournament.
