Sonics able to pull away from brave Raiders in second half to notch second win of women’s A-grade competition

Sonics bounced back onto the winners list in round four of the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade competition against Raiders on Tuesday night, on the back of a powerful second half. Sonics outscored their opponents by 15 points in the final 25 minutes to record their second win of the season and first since round one against the same opponent. Abbi Gibson led the way in the 61-42 victory finishing with 22 points, 15 of which came in the dominant second half. Sonics led by five points at half-time and the young Raiders outfit hung tough to start the last half but Sonics opened up their first double-figure margin with just over 15 minutes to play. From there on Sonics controlled the game with a full-court press causing a number of turnovers and the margin continued to grow. Gibson scored nine points in the final 10 minutes of the game as her side ran out comfortable 19-point winners. Ella Scamozzi chipped in with 11 points for Sonics and guard Maddie Dallimore caused plenty of turnovers in defence to set up scoring opportunities for her side. Jorja Ward led the way for Raiders with 16 points, nine of which came in the first half, and she was well supported by Phoenix Woods (7 points) and Isabella De Giambattista (8) who played well on both ends creating plays and rebounding well. Valkyries caused the first upset of the women’s season, downing the previously undefeated Crystal Blues by 15 points to join them on 10 points at the top of the standings. Valkyries scored the last 10 points of the first half to open up a nine-point buffer at half-time before outscoring their opponents by six in the second half to record the 43-28 victory. Indi Weeden and Macy Lane led the way with 10 and 15 points respectively. Shianne Arthur top scored for Crystal Blues with 8.