Ipswich win Women's U18 National Basketball Cup Final

COLA Southwark Pride 51

Ipswich 83

Ipswich eased to victory in the Sure Shot U18 Women's National Cup Final against CoLA, to avenge last season's final disappointment against the same opponent.

Any thoughts of a second consecutive cup success for the London programme were quickly dismissed, following a 12-0 Ipswich run to start the game, leading to a 24-10 first-quarter and a 42-22 half-time advantage.

The 2019/20 champs further increased their lead after the interval, enjoying an MVP performance from Yazmin Edwards.

The talented guard scored 11 of her 27 points in the game's opening frame to push her side into a lead they'd never relinquish, adding seven rebounds, three steals and an assist to her afternoon's work.

Ipswich head coach Nick Drane said: "Immensely proud to be here. This is our third under-18s National Cup final in a row, and to do it with a new generation shows the strength of our programme and the work being done by the coaches working in the younger age groups, bringing these players through so I get to work with them when they're polished, high-level players.

"I don't think there's a greater a thrill as a coach than taking someone at a young age and developing them and seeing them grow.

Yazmin Edwards was the MVP of Ipswich's national cup final win (Image: Luke Simcock)

"Yazmin in particular today was just phenomenal. She's shown this kind of ability in the past but not at this level. We're all so pleased for her.

"Our plan today was to protect our basket. CoLA are a well coached, well disciplined team, who are capable of causing problems with their size and athletic ability. In order to compete with them, you've got to compete with them physically and I thought our girls did a really good job of that."

MVP Edwards said: "It feels amazing and I'm just so happy that we managed to do this.

"I just wanted this so bad, I was just making sure to block everything out and make sure all my focus was on this game. This is a big achievement for the club and I'm excited to see where it takes us."