Sonics blast Valkyries in first half domination to rise closer to top two in women’s A-grade competition

Sonics produced an impressive performance to upset Valkyries by 18 points on the back of a powerful first half in their round nine of the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade competition on Tuesday night. The result, their fourth win of the season, lifted Sonics within four points of Valkyries in second place. Sonics set up the victory in the opening half as they outscored their opponents by 16 points. The victors jumped out of the blocks scoring the first seven points of the game and quickly pushed their lead to double figures midway through the first half. Sonics dropped eight of the last nine points to end the first half and that margin quickly extended to beyond 20 points early in the last half before reaching a game-high 30 points at one stage. However, Valkyries fought back scoring 13 of the final 17 points in the game but it was too late as Sonics prevailed, 48-30. Alyssa Ward was solid in attack and defence to finish with 13 points in the win and she was well supported by Ella Scamozzi (12 points) and Valerie Corbett (7) who was also strong on the defensive end along with Bridgette Latham. Centre Macy Lane top-scored for Valkyries with nine points and grabbed several rebounds while Narelle Humphries added seven and Indi and Tay Weeden both worked hard throughout the game to finish with six each. Crystal Blues moved a game clear on top of the ladder thanks to a Casey Griffiths and Isabella De Giambattista masterclass against Raiders. Griffiths was impressive dropping 29 points in the 36-point win while De Giambattista was also strong with 22 points as their side edged two points clear of Valkyries on the standings. Up by 12 at half-time, Crystal Blues dominated the final 25 minutes to run out 70-34 victors. Tay Weeden hit two triples on her way to 13 points for Raiders.