This after a severe beating by the AGA Matlosana Lions who prevailed 89-41.

Then, poor shooting by the Visa Wings saw the Blades being given a life-line in the final game of the weekend’s programme. This saw the Bladerunners coming up tops 49-40.

The weekend action sees the Bladerunners topping the series with 25 points, two points ahead of the Lions and with the Eagles a further three points in arrears. Rounding off the top four are the Visa Wings with 17 points.

The big showdown on 1 August is between the Blades and the Discovery Eagles which takes place at 9am on Sunday followed by the Lions and the Wings at 11am.

Log positions don’t look like changing too much but the four top teams deserve recognition for making it into the quarter finals.

Weekend results were:
Pumas 49 Wings 48, Eagles 61 Lions 49, Blades 78 Pumas 56, Wings 57 Eagles 53, Eagles 54 Pumas 49, Lions 45 Bladerunners 61, Lions 89 Pumas 41, Wings 40 Bladerunners49

The transfer period now opens on 2 August and closes on 9 August for any player that was eliminated from the top four to be inducted into the remaining franchised teams.

Here are a few dates to diarise up-coming events

6 -9 August                           – Club Championships Men & Women in Port Elizabeth
29 August                             – SuperSport Semi-finals play-off
11 September                       – SuperSport Live Bronze and Gold play-off
21-26 September                 – Vodacom Nationals Pretoria & Johannesburg
27 September to 2 Octobe    – Under-18’s Provincial School Championships in Port Elizabeth
2 October                               – Vodacom Cup live at Mandeville
25 October to 31 October      – French tour of SA

The tournament aims at promoting the sport in the province and is open to all women’s club teams who participate in the local league.

As the tournament continues to go from strength to strength each year, organisers are for the first time extending the invitation to clubs or provinces from other regions.

The tournament also features women’s wheelchair basketball.

Interested parties can call the Eastern Cape Basketball Association on 041 462-7674 or fax inquiries to the same number.

The clinic will be facilitated by the first and second teams Tuks Basketball coaches. The coaches will be ably assisted by the Tuks Basketball first womens’ and men’s teams’ players.

This camp is open to both male and female participants (coaches and players), and more specifically, learners from schools in and around the City of Tshwane.

The purpose of this camp is to train participants in Basketball’s fundamental skills, technical and tactical basics that guarantee better and improved performance in both playing and coaching. As such, the programme should give both players and coaches an added advantage when it comes to playing Basketball.

The camp will be held as follows:
Date: 14-18 June 2010
Venue: St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria
Age Groups: U13 to U18, boys and Girls
Registration Fee: R 585.00 per player

For more information please contact:

Ms. Sibongile Maswanganye
Office: 012 420 6061
Email: sibo@up.ac.za

Mr. Neo Mothiba
Email: nkmothiba@gmail.com

The game of the weekend was the Visa Wings against the Ricoh Pumas where the Wings clawed their way back into the game after being down in the first quarter by 15 points.

As the buzzer sounded for the half, Wings were one point behind the Pumas and by the fourth quarter the Pumas woes continued and yet again, could not sustain the pressure losing the game by four and forcing a do or die play-off with the Transnet Saints to maintain a Top Five finish at the end of the month. Their saving grace was scoring 69 points in the 73-69 defeat that gave them a bonus point to level them on the log table with Saints.

The rest of the weekend result’s were par for the course where DHL Flyers played against Blades and Eagles over the weekend. The Eagles struggled to make a game of it on Sunday but a healthy first quarter lead kept them in the running to take the game 58-42 at the final whistle.

Saints again rose to the occasion and forced Eagles into reality with a first quarter 10-11 point spread. But Grant Waites impressive personal tally of 27 points killed the Saints spirit as he single headedly dominated the box with rebounds and goal scoring. Leon Fleiser & Marcus Retief’s pin point passing was the final nail in the coffin for Saints captain Ralph Williams whose 16 points was not enough for a fight back.

The Matlosana AGA Lions hosted the Allpay Wildcats in Orkney and dominated the young pups, taking a bonus point and securing their position as real contenders for the finals as they finished the game scoring 86 to 45 points.

The Bladerunners remained top of the log with a comfortable win over the Flyers taking the game 66-37 with Stuart Jellows topping the score with an impressive 24 points.

The Flyers and Wildcat will finish off their campaign at the end of the month as they face relegation and the Saints and Pumas face off to determine the third team to cut from the Top 5.

Pumas David Curle and Jaco Velloen should be back from their overseas clubs and this may be the determining factor against the Saints who lack height. If Saints William Ruba and Ralph Williams are on form, this game could be decisive for both teams’ future.

The match scores were 25-22 25-23 22-25 and 25-21.

The Botswana club’s women’s side were also triumphant, beating another South African outfit, Cigma 3-1 (15-25, 25-23, 25-21 28-26).

In the women’s bronze medal match, Cape Town’s University of the Western Cape beat Zambian club Government Printers 3-0 (25-22 25-21 25-20).

The men’s bronze medal match between the Durban University of Technology (DUT) (South Africa) and BDF6 from Botswana did not take place because of the late arrival of  BDF6 at the playing venue.

INDIVIDUAL  SPECIAL AWARDS

Best Setter:  (women) Lekedzani Bayi (Kutlwano);
(men) Tsimpo Madeluka (Kutlwano)
Best Attacker (women) Zandy Erasmus (UWC)
(men) Ricky Govender (Liberte)
Best Receiver: (women)  Sthembile Cele (Cigma)
(men) Shaien Govender (Liberte)
Best Blocker: (women) Dimakatso Mokhachane (Cigma)
(men) Thatayaone Serema (Kutlwano)
Best Server: (women) Tracy Chaba (Kutlwano)
(men) Thabo Seitshiro (Kutlwano)
Most Valuable Player (MVP): (women) Mosego Mosea (Kutlwano)
(men) Shadrack Kapeko (Kutlwano)

South Africa, ranked 56th on the world rankings, now play Nigeria in their second game on Thursday.

The other team in Group A are the Ivory Coast.

The championships continue until the final on August 15.

The men’s side have an international training camp in Angola in preparation for the William Jones Cup in Taiwan from July 18-28.

In August they’re off to Tripoli, Libya for the African Nations Cup.

The women’s side are in Angola from May 15-22 for a Four Nations tournament. In June they play three friendly games in Mozambique and then they join their male counterparts in Taiwan for the William Jones Cup.

Later in the year the team heads for Madagascar for the African Nations Cup.