St Mirren West College Scotland 66

West Lothian Wolves 71

St MIRREN West College Scotland Cadette Women suffered a Scottish Cup quarter-final exit after an agonising five-point defeat to Lothian Wolves at the Lagoon Centre last Friday.

A poor start by the home side gave Wolves an early boost and they took full advantage to race to an early 3-19 lead before coach Rebecca Cleary could adjust her line-up and alter the home side’s tactics to halt their opponents. Kate Galloway was introduced to the side and, allied with Emma Jackman and Heather Ritchie, the trio brought much-needed stability as Saints fought back to end the first quarter 11-23 down.

Saints continued to push after the break as point guard Kirsten Read started to run at the West Lothian defence, with both Galloway and Jackman making good baskets.

It was end to end stuff with both sides in full flow in front of a capacity crowd. Wolves started to get in to foul trouble as they found themselves under pressure and St Mirren began to turn the screw from the foul line.

With the game on an knife edge, Saints reduced the deficit to six points on a couple of occasions, before Wolves clawed back some baskets.

Galloway went on a run as the clock ticked down to half-time and grabbed seven vital points for the home side who found themselves down 29-39 at the break.

St Mirren kept up their press in the third quarter as Kirsten Read found her range and Wolves’ lead was slowly reduced as the tension grew.

Saints had most of the play in the third quarter, but were not taking all the chances they made. Jackman continued to run at the Wolves defence and was rewarded with eight points as the Paisley side got to the break only four points down at 52-56.

With all to play for in the final session, both teams traded baskets in an enthralling encounter.

The game ebbed and flowed and at one point Saints almost got it back to level before losing a couple of late baskets to lose by 66-71.

Saints’ top scorers were Emma Jackman with 25 points, Kate Galloway on 15 points, Heather Ritchie with 14 points and Kirsten Read on 12 points.