Falkirk Fury: Senior women grab win over Boroughmuir Blaze

The 27 point winning margin win saw the Sony Centre sponsored team match their male Fury counterparts, with both teams now sitting in third spot in Scotland's top male and female divisions.

John Bunyan, who coaches both the women and men’s top outfit, saw his men's team hit a record 138-47 scoreline over West Lothian Wolves and was equally delighted at the performance of the women's side who held Blaze to a meagre four and five points in the third and fourth quarters of their game at Grangemouth sports complex.

For the second week in a row, Fury's 16-year0old junior star, Edie McBain, recorded double digit scoring a senior match with 11 point personal, just behind former Scotland International stars Jenna Beattie (13 points) and Shannon Flippard (12 points).

On the day, Fury started strongly with a 20-12 opening quarter. Abby Rutter, who has just been selected for the Scottish Universities women's team, opened the scoring with a long three.

Former Lady Rocks player, Lucy Rafferty, then ended the period also with a well-taken three, with McBain hitting five points off the bench. Jenna Beattie also had five points personal in the opening spell with another Fury junior Sophie Cram grabbing two points from the charity stripe.

The second and third periods were much closer margins at 11-10 and 8-4 to the Falkirk club, giving them a 13 point lead going into the final stanza. These periods had seen ex-WBBL star Jenna Beattie grab six points with Shannon Flippard adding seven points, which included two from behind the arc.

The fourth quarter saw Fury continue to close down Blaze's offence, while upping their own offence game with a 19-5 period. The third of the four junior stars Fury had in the game, Emily Dagger, finished the match off by hitting two three's in that period.

Fury women head coach John Bunyan praised his side’s ‘intensity’ in their performance, which he put down as one of the best of the campaign so far.

"This was perhaps our best collective team game of the season and that was reflected in the defensive effort of all the 12 players, he said. “The 31 points that Blaze scored was their lowest points tally against any team in the league, including against the teams above us.

“Good defence in basketball is key and we really worked hard in building from that eight point start and that came good in the final quarter where we really pulled ahead and ended with a comfortable win.

"Our guards worked hard and the junior players once again brought massive intensity to our offensive system and they gave us 23 of our 58 points.

"Our senior players played very well too and it's great to see them embrace their younger teammates. We face a tough road game now against St Mirren and like the men's team, every game is important in retaining a top four spot.”

The St Mirren match is this Sunday with a 12.15pm tip off at the ON-X Arena Paisley.