Durham League, Tyneside once again dominated the recently completed women's season

, and in doing so won the league championship title for the seventh time in the last eight years. Add to that their eighth County Cup win from the past ten seasons and you have some measure of what a dominant force Tyneside have been in local basketball during the last decade. Most of the individual accolades this year have gone to their leading scorer Taacha Brown who collected 602 points at an average of 35.4 points per game during the season. Brown also set a new record at 63 for the number of points scored by a player in a game to top the old record by one point. The driving force behind the success of the club, and the winner of the County Cup 'mvp' award, has been their player coach Deirdre Hayes. Their success is guaranteed for many years to come.

Tyne and Wear Cadettes took the third piece of Durham silverware in their first ever season, with a 114-100 win in the Womens Handicap Cup Final against Nunthorpe Boro Bruins. Tyne and Wear boast no less than four schoolgirl internationals in their ranks and they are without doubt the team of the future.

There were no new records set in the third division, but one thing which was apparent and which will no doubt show up more in years to come was the influence of the Basketball Academies in the area. No less than five of the nine third division clubs field players from one or other of the two Academies. Hartlepool Hawks, with two East Durham Academy players, Luke and Leon Thompson, in their ranks won the third division championship whilst Specsavers Wear Valley Wolves, with Ian Stringer, Kevan Kosoko and Sam Attah in their line-up won the Division Three Cup. Their influence further up the scale has already been recorded as the East Durham and Houghall Academy won the Durham League division one title last year and this year Middlesbrough College Academy swept the board.

Final league tables and a selection of scoring statistics from the womens and third divisions is shown below:

Womens League

P W L Pts

Tyneside 18 17 1 51

Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 18 16 2 50

ED and H Academy 18 14 4 46

Northumbria 18 9 9 35

Tyne and Wear Cadettes 18 6 12 30

Sunderland Nissan 18 8 10 29

Newcastle College 18 6 12 28

Durham Knights 18 3 15 24

Whickham 18 1 17 17

University of Teesside 18 0 18 16

Womens Division leading scorers (League): Taacha Brown (Tyneside) 444, Sarah Hindmarch (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 396, Sally McLure (Newcastle College) 272, Laura Calder (Tyne and Wear Cadettes) 256, Gillian McKimm (University of Teesside) 250, Hermione Wappatt (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 199, Deirdre Hayes (Tyneside) 197, Erica Danis (University of Teesside) 177, Louise Barnes (ED and H Academy) 176, Zoe Vickers (Tyneside) 176.

Womens Division leading scorers (County Cup, Handicap Cup and League combined): Taacha Brown (Tyneside) 602, Sarah Hindmarch (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 532, Sally McLure (Newcastle College) 339, Laura Calder (Tyne and Wear Cadettes) 322, Gillian McKimm (University of Teesside) 282, Hermione Wappatt (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 270, Deirdre Hayes (Tyneside) 266, Emma Ross (Newcastle College) 212, Ruth Cass (ED and H Academy) 207, Tamsin Vicary (ED and H Academy) 207.

Womens Division leading averages: Taacha Brown (Tyneside) 35.4, Zoe Vickers (Tyneside) 35.2, Sarah Hindmarch (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 33.3, Judith English (Sunderland Nissan) 30.3, Adele Gair (Sunderland Nissan) 21.3, Laura Calder (Tyne and Wear Cadettes) 21.3, Sally McLure (Newcastle College) 20.9, Gillian McKimm (University of Teesside) 20.8, Hermione Wappat (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 18.1, Deirdre Hayes (Tyneside) 16.4.

Womens Division leading three-point basket scorers: Sarah Hindmarch (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 35, Sarah Vickers (Newcastle College) 32, Sally McLure (Newcastle College) 27, Tamsin Vicary (ED and H Academy) 27, Jacki Tyerman (Nunthorpe Boro Bruins) 16, Jenny James (ED and H Academy) 15, Zoe Vickers (Tyneside) 10, Gillian Walker (ED and H Academy) 9, Kate Lindsley (Newcastle College) 6, Natalie McKenley (ED and H Academy) 5, Charis Younger (Tyne and Wear Cadettes) 5.

Division Three League

P W L Pts

Hartlepool Hawks 16 14 2 44

Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 16 10 6 36

Durham Saints 16 10 6 34

Wear Valley Wolves 16 9 7 34

Young Houghtonians 16 10 6 33

Norton B 16 8 8 30

Belmont B 16 6 10 28

Spennymoor Exiles 16 3 13 20

ED and H College C 16 2 14 20

Leading individual scorers (League): Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 421, Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 380, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 293, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 287, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 285, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 246, Craig Sowerby (Spennymoor Exiles) 213, Mark Elderkin (Belmont B) 212, Phil Bailey (Durham Saints) 201, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 198.

Division Three Cup

P W L Pts

Hartlepool Hawks 8 6 2 20

Young Houghtonians 8 6 2 19

Wear Valley Wolves 8 5 3 18

Durham Saints 8 5 3 17

Belmont B 8 4 4 16

Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 8 4 4 16

Spennymoor Exiles 8 3 5 14

Norton B 8 3 5 12

ED and H College C 8 0 8 7

Leading individual scorers (Division Three Cup): Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 266, Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 219, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 191, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 189, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 165, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 161, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 144, Craig Sowerby (Spennymoor Exiles) 138, Chris Plummer (Durham Saints) 127, Steve Sanderson (Spennymoor Exiles) 111.

Leading points scorers (League, Division Cup and County Cup combined): Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 707, Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 682, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 536, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 477, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 461, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 452, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 433, Craig Sowerby (Spennymoor Exiles) 351, Phil Bailey (Durham Saints) 331, Mark Elderkin (Belmont B) 312.

Leading averages (League and Cups combined): Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 33.7, Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 31.0, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 28.1, Ian Stringer (Wear Valley Wolves) 23.5, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 23.3, Stephen Graham (Belmont B) 21.4, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 20.5, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 20.0, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 18.8, Sam Butterworth (Norton B) 18.7.

Leading three-point basket scorers (League and Cup combined): Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 69, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 67, Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 58, Mark Elderkin (Belmont B) 48, Lloyd Harrison (Wear Valley Wolves) 31, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 26, Lee Murphy (Hartlepool Hawks) 20, Calvin Bradley (Belmont B) 19, Bruce Marshall (Hartlepool Hawks) 18, Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 18