Week 2, Day 2 of the Hoopsfix Pro-AM Summer League delivered as expected following on from a highly competitive Week 1.
The day started off with the women as is the format for the Summer League, with Team Emerald (1-0) who are composed of the likes of Jenelle Grant, Molly Lavin and Jessica Bakhsh taking on Lindsey Cleary, Loren Christie and Katie Cox for Team Diamond (1-0). With both teams already with a win under their belt, this was expected to be a closely contested fixture and it was exactly that. Team Emerald would come away with the 56 - 53 win following a late go-ahead 3-ball by the class of 2023's Jessica Bakhsh. Team Emerald now go 2-0 at the top of the women's summer league table.
Next up was Team Sapphire (0-1) and Team Ruby (0-1), both looking to secure their first wins of the Summer League. Team Sapphire had some fresh faces step on the court for them this week with the likes of Shanice Beckford-Norton (London Lions) and CoLA standout, Isi Ozzy-Momodu. Despite a great all-around effort from Janice Monakana, Shequila Joseph and others, Team Sapphire were able to come away with the 7-point victory, taking them to .500 with a 1-1 record.
Next up were the men's games. The first game saw Run & Jump take on the Elite Bulldogs with R&J looking to maintain their unbeaten record whilst the Bulldogs looked to do the same. Despite the records being the same, the game ended in a blowout, with Run & Jump dominating by 28 points. Cheshire Phoenix's Kyle Carey ended up with 15 points and 7 rebounds to lead his side to the win.
London United went up next against the Worthing Thunder, two sides which were looking to get their first wins of the Summer League. It would be the London side which came out on top behind the top scoring performance of the day from Romario Spence who dropped 21 points along with 7 rebounds.
It was then time for TVC to face-off against CoLA, two teams who were also looking to claim their first wins. This game had a different level of intensity to the rest. As the crowds started to pack in to the City of London Academy sports hall, the level of competition went up a notch. This game would be tightly contested and even had one of the highlights of the day with Charles Acquah-Davis taking flight for Team TVC.
It would end up being a 5-point victory for the Cavaliers, as they go to .500 with their first win of the Summer League.
The final game was a highly anticipated one between the Glacier Boys and HoopSpace. Both teams were looking to remain unbeaten and that energy could most certainly be felt throughout the CoLA Sports Hall. Despite some strong surges from the HoopSpace boys, the experience of the Glacier Boys was enough to ice the game fairly early into the 4th quarter, with a deficit that was too much to overcome for the opposition. Flynn Boardman-Raffet along with the likes for Plymouth Patriots guard Joe Hart led their side to a 58-44 win.
This week's atmosphere was most definitely the best it's been out of the two weeks thus far, which gives a good prospect for the weeks to come.