Panthers’ efforts douse luckless Flames

Two points separate the top three teams in the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade as the season heads to the mid-season break following two extremely close matches on Tuesday night.

Round 3 was rescheduled to this week after a power cut in October and it didn’t look bright for Panthers late in their clash with Flames.

Winless from their previous nine games, Flames controlled the contest in the absence of Panthers guard Kayla Thomas and led by four points inside the final eight minutes.

But Panthers found the late surge they needed as the experience of Nina Smith under the glass and a couple of clutch baskets to Ella Scamozzi helped their side scrape home by three points.

Trailing by a single point with five minutes remaining in the contest, Panthers scored six of the last seven points to notch a gutsy come-from-behind win, 40-37.

Smith led the way with 10 points and was ably assisted by Scamozzi (9 points), Aleesha Narkle (8) and Valerie Corbett (8) as the result lifted them to a seventh win.

The luckless Flames slumped to a 10th straight loss despite the efforts of youngster Caitlin Ward (14) and Zandalee Arthur (9).

Panthers drew level with Magpies on 24 points after the latter couldn’t hold out the Raiders under-18 development squad in a tense final 25 minutes.

Magpies led by a point at half-time courtesy of seven points from star Nardia Humphries, but a red-hot Scamozzi led Raiders to a one-point triumph with 14 points to go with contributions from Alyssa Ward (7) and Juliette Storm (6).

Raiders are nipping on the heels of the top two with 22 points.