The Lancashire Basketball Association U14 Final Four took place last Sunday at St Peter Centre. Preston Pride, first during the regular season, was against Garstang Giants in the first match. From the start Preston demonstrated to be the better team and Garstang looked timid and a little bit rusty. The first quarter saw Preston ahead 10-2. The second quarter looked the same and at the end of the first half Preston was easily ahead 28-2. Coach Kidd must have given a very special speech at half time because the Giants came out for the third quarter like a different team. They were aggressive on the ball, precise on offence and left no space for Preston to attack. Dugdale, Giants number 9, started to score consistantly and Giants were trailing 42-10 after the third quarter. The fourth quarter saw again Giants on the offence and at the end of a very strong finish for the Garstang team, Preston Pride prevail 58-18 to go through the grand final while Giants were going to battle out for the third overall spot.

The second game saw the local, Burnley, against the hot favourite Blackpool Lights. The locals were, for the first time this season, playing with all the players available to Coach Holt, but with Aidan Buffey still lacking a lot of fitness. Blackpool were only fielding 8 players but counting on Will Shaw and Frazer Thorpe, the best duo seeing this season so far. Burnley started a little bit on the back foot and after 5 minutes were trailing 11-8 with Blackpool looking in command. Burnley tried to close the gap and they were behind 17-14 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw Burnley on the offensive from the off and after 10 minutes of very intense play in both halves, Burnley was ahead 24-23. This was the turning point of Burnley day, galvanised by Danny George, Burnley went on the rampage and Danny scored most of the points for Burnley, setting up his team mates to score easy baskets. End of the third quarter Blackpool was just 2 points behind but Burnley had the match in their hands. The fourth quarter saw Blackpool failing to conver easy baskets and once again Burnley turned the screw and went on a 8 point unanswered streak with Danny George scoring the most. End of an exhausting game Burnley won 43-36.

Blackpool was going to face Garstang Giants in the little final and Burnley was resting before the Grand Finale against Preston Pride.

Blackpool were visibly too strong for the Giants and they won the third place scoring an outstanding 71 points against a respectable 29 points for Garstang.

All the spectators were waiting for the Grand Finale, Preston Pride coach Harry Beenham and Burnley coach Ian Holt shook hands before the game and you could feel the tension in the sport hall. Players were ready, refs and table official ready, will Burnley upset the odds and beat a formidable Preston Pride ? The first quarter saw Preston starting with a bang and take an 8 points lead in a couple of minutes, Burnley looked lost. Experienced players such as Liam Holt and Aidan Buffey looked stunned and thaks to encouragment from Miles Robinson, one of the juniors players, Burnley did not loose their heads completely. At the end of the first quarter Burnley was trailing 22-0, with Danny George nursuring an ankle injury picked up during the warm up of the first match. Coach Holt kept calm and ask the Burnley players to play ball, pass and enjoy the final. The players seemed to take on board what the coach said and in a very low scoring second quarter Burnley matched point by point Preston Pride with the score set 27-5 for Pride. The third quarter looked the carbon copy of the previous Burnley match where Danny George went on a rampage of points in offence, incredible energy in defence and unbeatable while rebounding. Preston looked stunned and Danny scored 13 points out of 19 for his team and Preston did not know what to do, final score after three quarters 19-30 with Burnley   catching up a confused Preston. Burnley was running out of time, Danny George had still a lot of energy left and the rest of Burnley was working around him but Preston had steady the ship and with 11 point advantage were able to administrate the ball and win an incredible final. Final score Preston 38 Burnley 28.

Coach Beenham had to say at the end, it was thrilling, I feared we could loose this game but my players responded very well to the pressure that Burnley imposed in the second and third quarter. Coach Holt added, I was stunned, we basically decided not to play the first quarter, nerves definately played an important part but we came out and we did ourselves proud. Danny George was tremendous, we knew last season that he could play very well but today he has stunned all the coaching staff at Burnley, he has produced a performance that I will remember for a long while. Coach Minozzi, Lancashire Basketball Association Chairman declared: Today we witnessed the best ever U14 finals. We had here at St Peters, some of the stars of the future in Lancashire. Blackpool with Will Shaw and Frazer Thorpe had an amazing pair that will progress to national level very soon, Preston Pride squad was on song all season and when it mattered, they all rally together to take an incredible win. Garstang are the new kids on the block and Coach Kidd had done an amazing job with so little time, Burnley today demonstrated that the hard work of the coaching staff has been rewarded. Moreover the LBA has a competition structure second to none, we have U14 and U16 Central Venue Leagues in winter and summer, some of the clubs have competed at National Level and overall the quality of basketball that we are producing is exciting. Every year we have more and more quality and it gives me a lot of satisfaction thinking that each club is progressing and creating basketball opportunities for young athletes in the county at al levels and at the same time capable to produce excellent players that will compete nationally. If anyone would like to take up basketball or wanting more information about the Lancashire Basketball Association and its members, please click www.lancashirebasketball.co.uk

This Sunday at St Peter Centre, once again, Burnley was hosting the U14 Central Venue League for the Lancashire Basketball Association. First game saw Blackpool against Chorley. Chorley only playing with 6 players had a tough task against a very drilled and powerfull Blackpool. The seasider went straight ahead in the first quarter 11-4 and carried on for most of the game scoring easy baskets and defending very well. Final results saw Blackpool winning 79-7.

In the second game of the day Burnley was against the new team of the this league Garstang Giants. The local went on a rampage at the start of the game and after the first quarter were leading 17-2. Garstang kept their cool in the second quarter and tried to cacth Burnley up but the locals, after a a sleepy third quarter, woke up to a intersting final fourth quarter to win the game 38-10.

The third game saw the mighty Preston Pride against Blackpool Lights. The seasider looked very strong at the start and were leading 9-3 after the first quarter. Pride did look the better team in the second quarter, caught Blackpool and everything was to play in the final 2 quarters. Blackppol, thanks to a very good performance from point guard Will Shaw were capable to turn the table and win a very intense match 34-27.

The fourth match of the day saw once again Preston Pride on court against Garstang Giant. Preston strated very quickly but Garstang were a match for them and the first quarter finished 11-10 for Pride. The gane was fast and furious with end to end baskets, at times both teams looked ragged and untidy. Preston long bench looked the key difference in this match, able to give Preston's coach ability to rest his players when needed. Final score saw Preston winning 36-23.

The last game saw Burnley playing against Blackpool Lights. The locals had re shuffle the ranks to give all the member of the squad a game while Blackpool looked very fresh despite the 2 previous games. The first quarter was on the balance and finished 14-12 for Blackpool butthe second quarter sawBurnley on the back foot from the opening and after 20 minutes of the game Blackpool were in a commanding position, winning 24-15. Burnley tried to rally around in the third and fourth quarter but Blackpool looked solid as a rock and took the game home winning 48-34.

Coach Minozzi had to say at the end. Once again a fantastic sunday afternoon at St Peters. Despite the cold weather outside, the games were fast and furious and in some matches you could feel the tension and the adrenaline pumping. Once again Blackpool looked a very good team to watch, Preston as normal had a very good bench that helped a great deal when called upon. Garstang is growing in confidence and looked better than last time round, Chorley was lacking of numbers and it cost them dearly. Burnley had a very good game against Garstang and an average game against Blackpool. It will interesting to see which team will perform well when it matters at the play offs.

Once again the Lancashire Basketball Association Central venue League Under 14 organised at St Peter's Centre by Burnley Basketball Club has taken place. This time round a new team, Garstang Giants, took part and demonstarted a good future infront of them. Blackpool was taking on Preston and from the start you could feel the tension. Blackpool and Preston were neck a neck all game and preston looked to snatch victory when in the third quarter they run away with a 5 points lead. Blackpool closed the gap at the end of the quarter and took charge of the fouth quarter and won 40-35 at the end. Second game saw Preston still buzzing from the first match playing against Chorley. The Cougards held Preston on in the first quarter but Preston just was too much for them and in the second and third quarter they run away and tfinished the game victorious 51-20. burnley was next on court against Preston and the game was in balance until the end of the second quarter, where Preston took the lead by 8 points. Burnley tried their best to fight back and went mighty close to equalise the score but a very organised Preston won the game 38-34. Next on court was Chorley once again against garstang Giants a new formed team. The Giants struggle to find their feet in the game to start with, but soon they were on top of a little tired Chorley. Chorley tried to rally around and come back into the match but Garstang was very clinical in their finishes and won their first match in the U14 CVL 34-28.