The Ipswich under-14s boys entered their contest at Bucks Hornets full of enthusiasm, came out of the blocks hard and left Buckinghamshire with a hard-earned 56-53 win, writes Rob Schatten.

The entire game became an exercise in defensive discipline for the boys, to which they responded to well. But this focus led to some poor, rushed offensive decisions and a much tenser finish than it should have been.

Coach Syd Payne said “It was a good win for the boys in an unusual situation. They should use this as a stepping stone to continued improvement.”

The leading scorers were Luke Da Silva with 20 and Harrison Gregg with 11.

Coach Hayley Rigby and the under-16 girls defeated Sheffield Hatters 74-63 at home in an important win.

After a tied first quarter, Ipswich were unable to gain control of the game until late into the second quarter, when they established a six-point lead.

They knew that wasn’t enough though and pulled away in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 13 and holding on to win. Whilst there are still things to work on, the rest of the season is looking promising. Scoring was led by Esther Little with 19, followed by Tash Jarvis with 10 and Ella Pearson with nine.

Following three straight wins, Ipswich U14 girls welcomed Brentwood to Copleston on Sunday and succumbed to a 59-65 defeat.

Coach Kevin Manning’s squad Ipswich were chasing an eight-point deficit at the end of the first. The second period showed signs of improvement, but it took until the third quarter for Ipswich to reduce the size of their task to five.

They started the fourth well and seized the momentum – and in the 35th minute the home side took their first lead.

The two sides were separated by a single score until the final two minutes when Ipswich seemed to switch off and give up six unanswered points to give the result to the visitors.

Finally, the under-16 boys suffered a heavy 51-104 loss to London Pioneers in a game and performance that Ipswich will want to forget quickly.

The Pioneers punished a very poor Ipswich side who will look to switch their attention quickly to this week’s home game with Sussex.