26
July 2010
FIXTURES FOR SEASON 2010/11THE
Leopards Seniors, Ladies and B Team fixtures for
Season 2010/11 are now on the website and available
to view. Just follow the relevant links.
26
July 2010
Leopards help to make history
FOUR
members of Leopards Ladies helped Great Britain
under-20s make history by winning the European
Championship B Division title.
Mary
Durojaye, Ella Clark, Josephine Salmon and Kashmere
Joseph helped GB defeat Slovak Republic 47-46 in a
thrilling final in Macedonia.
Damian
Jennings’ side had already clinched promotion to
the top flight, but their success in the final saw
them become the first British age group team to
clinch a FIBA Europe title.
Durojaye
finished with 12 points and six rebounds in the final
and averaged 9.7 points and 6.7 boards per game in
the tournament.
All
four of the Leopards’ players played a part in
GB’s success as they won six of their seven
games, with Clark still having two more years at
under-20 level and Salmon one.
Meanwhile,
Jesse Chucku and Teddy Okereafor have helped England
win three of their first games in the European
Championship B Division is Tel Aviv.
Chucku
is averaging 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds plus an
impressive 2.5 blocks per game while Okereafor is
dishing out 3.5 assists, pulling down 3.75 boards and
scoring two points per game for and England team who
look a good bet to progress to the quarter-finals.
Leopards
have now announced their fixtures for the season, and
all three teams’ schedules are available on www.leopardsbasketball.co.uk.
The
Big Cats open their National Trophy campaign with a
home game at Brentwood against Reading Rockets on
Sunday September 26 after the group stage was
reorganised following the withdrawal of Taunton
Tigers and London Mets.
They
then face four successive away games before staging a
National Cup third round game at Brentwood on Sunday
October 31. A week later they play their first home
Barking Abbey game of the campaign when they host
Bristol Academy Flyers.
The
women’s team start off in the National Cup at
Oaklands College on October 9 before hosting Brixton
Topcats on Sunday October 17 at Barking Abbey.
They
return to Barking the following week to face league
champions City of Sheffield Hatters before they make
their Brentwood debut on Sunday October 31 in the
National Cup.
Barking
Abbey Leopards open their Division Four campaign on
Sunday October 3 when they host London Feltham
Warriors at Barking.
19
July 2010
Stafford makes history for GB
LEOPARDS
shooting guard Natalie Stafford has made a
spectacular start to her Great Britain international
career. 
The
32-year-old guard scored 13 points in Saturday’s
72-50 victory against Portugal before re-writing the
record-books in the following day’s 73-65 win
against the same opposition.
Stafford
poured in 15 points off six from seven shooting and
added three steals in the first quarter to record the
highest points tally in a quarter for GB.
The Australian-born guard was clearly delighted with
her performance after the game: “I couldn’t
make a basket in the second half but the first
quarter was great. I think I jinxed myself after the
first period, as I wondered just how many points
I’d get.”
Harold
Hill school-teacher Stafford is the biggest surprise
in Tom Mayer’s squad for the qualifiers next
month. The Australian played for Barking Abbey last
season – finishing as the EBL Division One top
scorer and regular season MVP award - as an import
but is now entitled to British passport having been
married to a Brit for four years – so the race
is on to actually get it before GB start their
qualification programme. She piped former Sheffield
Hatter Steph Gandy to the one spot allowed for a
naturalised player.
Fellow
Barking Abbey player Harriett Yea played for GB under
Leopards’ director of coaching Mark Clark before
the clubs merged, but has missed out on a place in
this year’s squad, while Joe Ickhinmwin played
for GB under-20s while with the Big Cats.
Meanwhile,
four Leopards’ players have helped GB under-20
women to an encouraging start in the European
Championship B Division in Macedonia.
Ella Clark, Josephine Salmon, Mary Durojaye and
Kashmere Joseph have all played their part in
GB’s wins against Hungary and Macedonia.
Durojaye
has been particularly impressive, averaging 9.7
points and 6.7 rebounds in a team-high 26 minutes per
game.
Teddy
Okereafor and Jesse Chuku will hope to emulate them
when they travel to Tel Aviv to play for England
under-18s on Thursday.
Pictures
of Natalie are available from Essex Sports Agency.
Email address above or call Tony on 07544 052887
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