Inverness basketball club Highland Bears set to take on St Mirren in Scottish Cup final at Dundee
HIGHLAND Bears will look to be crowned national champions when they take on St Mirren in the Under-16 Scottish Cup final.
The Inverness club are aiming to claim a Scottish title for the first time in over 20 years when they play at the Regional Performance Centre in Dundee on Saturday with tip-off at 12.45pm.
The club are going into the final in good form having already knocked out top opposition out of the competition on their way to the final.
Highland Bears have defeated Falkirk Fury in the quarter finals and Boroughmuir Blaze in the semi final to reach the final.
They have also defeated St Mirren earlier in the season in league competition defeating them 61-57 at Inverness Royal Academy where they play their home games.
Highland Bears chairman and coach Ryan Devlin says the team are going into the competition full of confidence that they can be crowned national champions on Saturday.
He said: “It is the main cup tournament of the year and we have beaten Falkirk Fury and Boroughmuir Blaze who are undefeated in their league.
“We are the only team that have beaten them this season.
“We had a narrow win against St Mirren a few weeks ago, they travelled up and we have pulled out all the stops against a really strong team.
“We have a young squad going up against what is an established team in St Mirren.
“But we are quite confident going into the final, the girls have pulled out all the stops and working hard in training and playing well in games.
“They have bonded really well and have played in the same squad for years.
“We know that they are good enough to do it, it is about them performing on the day.”
The Highland Bears under-16 girls squad has around 20 players who train twice a week at Inverness Royal Academy and play matches during the weekend.
The under-16 squad also has a number of players who have been promoted from under-14 level. The club in total has eight different age group where they field teams.
The success of the club has also been shown in the number of players who have been selected to play for Scotland at various age levels.
They have also had former players who have been called up to play for Great Britain, which have included Alix Henderson and also players such as Zoe Sharpe, who have been signed by Caledonia Gladiators, Scotland’s only professional basketball team.
Devlin says victory in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday would prove another boost to basketball in Inverness.
“It would be huge for the club to become Scottish champions,” he said.
“Success breeds interest and we hope to see the younger kids wanting to be part of that. We do a lot with schools and the more we can get people into the sport the better. Basketball is buoyant in the Highlands right now and we want to embrace that and get more interest with the kids.
“We have a few girls playing for Scotland and have also had players at Great Britain trials. We have had great success and we want to achieve more.”