Sharks hit a home run

Sharks vs Leeds Carnegie

Home: Springs, 21st November 2009

Tip off; 3.15pm

Sharks 3534 2226 113

Carnegie 8 7 7 14 36

The U15s first match at home had been eagerly anticipated for a few reasons. One being that the team needed a few games under their belt to bed down the newer players, the other being they deserved a lesser journey than the previous nail biting journey to the North East. There were still U14s supporters who stopped for this game and when they recognised the Leeds Carnegie side as consisting mainly of the U14 side that the U14s had beaten then they thought the Sharks may have the opportunity to “turn it on”.

The starting five are now looking like a “class” side as Lemar went unopposed to get Sharks up and running. Then Dennis decided that route one seemed the best option as he quickly notched up 3 successive baskets. Seeing how easily this could be achieved Dale added two of his own. This must have inspired Dennis to go one better with his first Trey whilst Lemar then took his second basket. Hardly any time to catch your breath as the Sharks raced to a 19-0 lead. Wesley was then fouled that allowed everyone to take a breather and he got both his free throws. It was 23-0 up before Leeds managed to get on the scoresheet. The first rotation saw Henryk making his Sharks debut and doing his job of picking up the offensive rebounds and putting them in the basket. Added to this, both him and Dale also copied Dennis with a trey each. All was well in the Shark’s camp. Dennis and Dale were both neck and neck with 11 points each in the first quarter.

The second quarter was much the same with all the starting five getting points early on in the quarter with Tommy picking up his first points of the game. Obviously this intensity couldn’t be maintained for 40 minutes so they were rested whilst some of the U14s came on. Unfortunately for Leeds, and good for the Sharks these lads also like to make their presence known and Connor, Josh and Marcus were soon on the scoresheet and so there was no let up for the Leeds side. The quarter score very similar to that of the first.

If anything the third quarter was the least intense but still the overall skills and physical presence of the Sharks was too much for the Leeds team, but to their credit they still tried to play their game.

The last quarter was one where Wesley decided to shine. He started to cut into the basket and was rewarded well. Although he was this quarters top scorer as the game was all but over this was the only time that the defence looked a bit shaky. They can be excused though as it’s hard to maintain 100% when the result is not in question.

Where to from here? The next 3 matches for this team are crucial and they should get increasingly harder. There’s the all important derby against Rotherham who always raise their game against the Sharks, followed by an away match against a tough York side. If they can keep playing like this and win those two then the home fixture against Leeds Tigers may just be a victory they can pull off. If that’s the case there will be no stopping them, so well done and keep the intensity going.

Team and scorers

Dennis Kaka (28), Dale Stennett (25), Lemar Darien-Campbell (17), Wesley Skaines (11), Henryk Krajniewski (11), Connor Dixon(10), Tommy Price (6), Marcus Welsh (6), Josh Edwards (3), David Frost