Isle of Man Basketball Association held a Junior League 3 v 3 competition at the NSC on Thursday evening prior to the Senior League.

Each week this gives the younger players enjoyment as well as coaching as they all continue to improve.

The opening Senior League saw Microgaming Cavaliers take on PwC Hoops which was always going to be a tough challenge for the latter because of Cavs’ height advantage and the absence of Becky Dunne for Hoops.

Cavaliers started strongly with a three-point shot from Dave Minay but Hoops responded through Gemma Kirkham who found herself under the basket for a nice two-pointer. Cavs were able to spread the points between the team as they had speed in the shape of Andy Cregeen to hit the fast break.

Lauren Ellison and Zoe Kirkham found the ring through a tough defence which helped to keep Hoops in the game and, with Danielle Murphy ending the quarter with a big three three-pointer, Cavs were up by eight points at the end of the first period.

In the second quarter Cavaliers once again started strongly, showing that they didn’t need to only find a way through the key as they had some big outside shots.

Hoops struggled to find any consistency and missed the opportunity for easy points when fouled under the basket. Ellison and Gemma Kirkham were the only players to add to their score, meaning Cavaliers were 38-19 up at the end of the half.

The third quarter started with Cavaliers missing a few open baskets and not being able to capitalise on free-throws, but again the height advantage was used well with Minay back on the scoresheet from under the basket.

Despite missing Dunne, Hoops moved the ball well but Cavs are a big team and finding a way through the key was a hard ask and at the end of the period the score stood at 48- 25 to Cavaliers.

The fourth and final quarter went pretty much the same as the game started, with Cavaliers having a run of points that gave them a lead of 65-30.

Hoops never gave up chasing though and Murphy scored most of the points in the last couple of minutes. The game was played hard but fair, with Cavaliers running out 73-36 winners.

The second game of the evening was between Jets and Wolves which was expected to be a close affair.

Wolves picked up a couple of new players at the turn of the year, while Jets still have a few injuries to the team.

The latter opened the game with a couple of three-pointers from Tom Dalton-Brown. It was a tight first quarter as both teams traded baskets, the first period ending level at 12 apiece.

The second quarter was pretty much the same as both teams worked hard on defence and this helped to keep the scores low in comparison to other games.

With big player Ross Wilson finding the key tight, Wolves used new signing Viktor Capkanovski to create space with some good outside shooting which this gave Wolves the advantage and they ended the half 31-25 up.

In the third period, Michael Pardoe found his range and opened with another five points for Jets, but Wilson began to find it easier through the key and therefore Wolves started to create a gap between themselves and Jets.

Both Paul Kilic and Wayne Mears dug deep to keep Jets in contention, taking the easy points when fouled on the way to the basket, but the third quarter ended 57-42 for Wolves.

The last period again saw Wilson come to the fore, along with some nice points from Jack Murray, therefore the gap continued to grow between the teams. Points from Jets captain Kilic and Mears were not enough to be able to pull the game back and Wolves ran out 79-55 winners.

The final game of the night saw Turkeys go up against Ravens, with the former triumphing 76-52.