Eagles Weekly Wrap - Issue:7

An action-packed weekend saw all of our national league teams compete in games this weekend, with 5 teams picking up wins! 

Below is our Wrap of the games that took place in week 3 of the 2023/24 JNL season.

Saturday 14th October 2023



York Eagles II v Tees Valley Mohawks

U14 Jr NBL Boys North Conference 1

Result: 59-50 (W)

Player of the game: Maks Molka (19pts/x4 3PM)

Coach Steve Hardisty commented on the U14s performance:

“Today was another good performance against a side that certainly carried a height advantage and made us work very hard for the victory. Having started strong with a good flurry of baskets without response, the Mohawks let us run away with things and we ended the 1st Q tied up. After briefly allowing them to take the lead, we clawed our way back ahead and managed to maintain the lead for the remainder of the game. It was a dogged performance from the Mohawks, and credit to them. On another day, if we were more clinical in front of the hoop, we could have won by a bigger margin.”

York Eagles @ Sheffield Hatters II

U14 Jr NBL Girls North Conference

Result: 73-4 (W)

Player (s) of the game: Maya Foulkes (21pts/11asts) & Katherine Hirst (16pts/5stls/4asts)

Coach Ghada Khattab Commented on the U14s Girls performance:

“The girls comfortably dominated the game, showing solid determination to get the ball and to execute their plays. On offence we performed well on both shooting and driving, giving us an advantage over Hatters. Our movement was swift, our cuts with a purpose, and our passing on target. When we made mistakes (and we did!) we made up for these, and our assists were out of this world. On defence the players listened well to advice on how to stop the drivers in their tracks whilst avoiding fouling. We need to work on creating consistency in our shooting and avoid our turnover rate.”

York Eagles I @ Grimsby Phoenix 

U14 Jr NBL Boys North Conference 1

Result: 69-43 (W)

Player (s) of the game: Luke Lattimore-Bahrij (15pts/4asts/3stls) & Jack Bishop (12pts/11pts/5stls/3blks)

Coach Tyler Paton-Pottage commented on the U14s performance:

“A sign of more team play today, 5 players scoring 10+ points showed improvements in movement of the ball, and we did well to create overloads in the 2nd half after a slow start. Our defence was solid throughout as we controlled the game and never really allowed Grimsby to get a run going. A little flat in terms of energy and definitely need to kick up the backside in terms of conditioning as often slow getting back and relying on others to pick up the slack. Going to a free week means a chance to work on that.”

York Eagles V St Helens Saints

U18 JR NBL Northern Premier

Result: 46-102 (L)

Player of the Game: 

Coach Kostas Kotidis commented on the U18s performance:

“This was the second game of the season, and we were playing again, against one of the stronger teams in our league. Similar to the first game, we were depleted in the number of players (9). The result was predictable: a heavy defeat. From my playing times, I can attest that I never took defeat well (let alone, by 50 points!). I can point out factors that contributed to our loss, but I don’t want to look for excuses. Coach Rod and I are the first to take the proportion of the responsibility that belongs to us, but we have collectively as a team to take stock and see what we can remedy in order to avoid similar situations again.”

York Eagles @ Leicester Riders

U16 JR NBL Northern Premier

Result: 72-61 (W)

Player of the Game: George Andrews (21pts/10rebs)

Coach Paul Pickering commented on the U16s performance:

“The lads dug deep in a game that could have gone either way. We did not play our best basketball as a team with some uncharacteristic poor free throw shooting leaving over 20 points out there after doing the hard work getting to the foul line. We struggled to rebound on both ends of the floor due to some string of tactical plays from Leicester but despite this, our guys dug deep. Mental strength, determination as a team, and the will to win got us over the line with George Andrews putting the team on his back when we needed a stop a Leicester surge. Onwards to next weekend as we play Trafford Magic which again will be a similar game, but hopefully more ready.”

Sunday 1st October 2023

York Eagles V East Durham Lions

U16 Jr NBL Boys North Conference 1

Result: 55-42 (W)

Player of the game: Tristan Charman (5pts/4asts/5rebs) 

Coach Reece Horton commented on the U16s Performance:

“Great to get our first win. The boys are steadily progressing with 2/3 good performances. Good to have Samson and Alex H back from illness and injury. The team chemistry will come as we play more together which will help create some consistency in our scoring.”

Rounding off Week 3 of the season, Associate Head Coach Tyler Paton-Pottage was satisfied with how the club has started and how we are developing our younger teams:

“Great to see 5 of our NL teams win at the weekend, highlighted by the U16s Prem getting a BIG win at Leicester on Saturday Evening. Again, our 3 U14 teams all got wins – our coaches are doing a fantastic job of developing their team and it is now starting to show signs of real progress and having 3 teams still unbeaten is a credit to the players.”