Basketball: St Hilda's starts well but no match for Magic A

Magic A continued its excellent form in the latest round of women's A grade basketball with a 98-38 win over St Hilda's on Tuesday night.

St Hilda's, newly promoted into A grade, which eliminates the bye each week, made an excellent start against the competition's form team.

The schoolgirls opened with a 6-0 run before Magic forward Kelly Nafatali banked her side's first points after six minutes.

The Magic continued to struggle until the introduction of Soraya Umaga-Jenson, who provided some muscle on the inside and some deadly long-range shooting.

St Hilda's, despite the strong start, missed too many outside shots through the second quarter and was guilty of settling for those due to the Magic's solid defence.

At halftime, the Magic led 42-23.

Magic centre Grace Allan found her game after a quiet first half and Kate Jerram, who had 12 points, gave the St Hilda's defence trouble under the hoop.

Allan led all scorers with 18 points, backed up by Umaga-Jenson (17) and Nafatali (16).

St Hilda's centre, Libby van Harselaar, was her side's best with 15 points.

Magic point guard Giana Leoni was happy with how her side played after a slow start and was pleased with the team overall this season.

''The girls played really well on defence,'' Leoni said.

''We've got quite a few new girls this year so, yeah, it's going good.''

St Hilda's assistant coach Angela Ruske was positive about her side's first match in the A grade competition.

''They started off really well,'' Ruske said.

''I expect them to get better and better with every game.''

Ruske said moving up to A grade was a great way for the schoolgirls to prepare for the national championships, and it brought them down to earth a bit after dominating B grade.

''It's a good reality check for them.''

Varsity A beat Ajax 2 58-35 on the back of nine points from Grace Love and seven from Bronwyn Kjestrup.

Ajax 1 comfortably beat Varsity B 66-27 in the late game.

Nicole (14 points) and Aleisha Ruske (13) dominated the second-half scoring for Ajax.

Maddy Crawford had 11 points for Varsity.

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