Sonics win hard-fought debut game while powerful second half guides Crystal Blues to victory

Sonics started their debut season with a hard-fought win against Raiders under-18s on Tuesday night in round one of the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade competition. The new club had a real fight on their hands in the season opener, with scores level for much of the first 10 minutes of the game. Sonics scored nine of the next 12 goals to help them open up an eight-point lead at half-time, set up by eight points from the impressive Aleesha Narkle. Early in the second half Sonics blew the margin out to double figures and kept their foot down to extend their advantage to 17 points midway through the second half. With 10 minutes to play Sonics had total control and a game-high 22-point margin after netting 10 of the 15 goals scored following the half time break. Raiders to their credit fought back and the young squad finished off strongly to cut the deficit back to 10 but it was too late as Sonics recorded a 48-38 victory in their first ever A-grade fixture. Abbi Gibson top scored with 15 points for Sonics and teammate Sheridan Kowald was strong with eight of her own. Isabella De Giambattista playing her second A-grade game of the night led the way for Raiders with 11 points. A powerful second half from Crystal Blues helped them run out comfortable 18-point victors over Valkyries. Both in their second season in the competition, Valkyries had a slender two-point buffer after a competitive first half but it was all Crystal Blues in the second period as they outscored their opponents by 22 points. Crystal Blues took the lead for the first time in the match with 17 minutes remaining and didn’t look back as they scored 20 of the next 23 points to finish emphatic 47-29 winners. De Giambattista again led the way, this time for Crystal Blues, with 18 points including 12 in the second half while Casey Griffiths also was a solid contributor with 16 points in her debut for the outfit. Indi Weeden scored nine first half goals and finished as Valkyries best offensive contributor with 12.