Durham League

Unbeaten East Durham and Houghall Academy passed a big test at Billingham when they defeated Teesside Huskies A 99-79 in a pool game of the Division One cup.

The first-half was evenly-balanced as both sides ran set offences, both teams working hard with pressing man defences and the result was a pleasure to watch, the Academy easing into a 51-45 half-time lead. The second half was a different ball game. The cracks in Huskies armour came in a third quarter which scored 22-14 to Academy and set them on the path to victory. Keith Dolby, from the point, was the key as he got the best from the Academy players and by the end Huskies were overpowered by the speed and skill of the visitors.

Academy: Simpson (16), Butler (13).

Huskies A: Dolby (16), Hanson (25), Applegarth (17).

Nissan gained a 107-50 success in their First Division Cup game at Peterlee against East Durham and Houghall College A. The die was cast early. All five starting players hit baskets as Nissan raced into a 17-4 lead after four minutes. College briefly rallied through Ian Barrow before Bill Spragg and Steve Dixon shared a good spell to stretch the Nissan lead to 33-10 by the 13th minute and basically that was it, game over. Nissan finally killed off the College challenge in the third quarter as Neil Thorne and Arran Hope supplied the ammunition for a 28-4 ten minutes spell which put the Sunderland visitors well and truly in charge at 79-33.

Nissan: Hope (23), Neil Baxter (18), Chris Maddison (14), Lee Davie (13), Spragg (12) and Thorne (12).

East Durham College A: Barrow (14), John Hardin (13), David Wylie (11).

There's no stopping Tyneside as they gained an emphatic 87-39 Women's League demolition job on guests Whickham.

Zoe Vickers, Vicky McMurray and Tasha Brown all hit baskets in a 16-0 burst which gave Tyneside match control at 24-7 in the first quarter. From then on Whickham had a mountain to climb, something they could never conquer as Tyneside led 43-21 at the break and 62-33 with ten minutes to play.

Tyneside: Brown (27), Vickers (17), Hindmarch (15), McMurray (12), Geach (10).

Whickham: Chisholm (10).

Judith English played only her second game of the season for Sunderland Nissan and she had a spectacular time to net 55 points, leading her team to an 81-36 victory at Middlesbrough over Nunthorpe Boro Bruins. Sunderland opened on fire to lead 15-0 after five minutes and despite a Nunthorpe revival, English finished them off in the third quarter with a run of fast-breaks which stretched the gap to 51-25. English was the only player in the game to finish in double figures.

Hartlepool Hornets A kept up the pressure at the top of the Second Division with an 82-76 win at home to Old Houghtonians.

Hornets: Murphy (15), Robinson (13), Marshall (12) McBean (12).

Houghtonians: Carr (30), Williams (19), Kitching (11), Thom (10).

In one of the best games, Willington Parkside beat guests Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A 76-70 after extra-time. With two minutes of normal time left Hydraulics were six points adrift at 65-59. But Gary Keith produced a pair of three-point baskets as the match finished at 65-65. Grant Wakefield, who finished the game with 32 points hit three baskets in a row to give Willington the extra-time edge.

Division One: East Durham and Houghall College A 50 Nissan 107 ; Teesside Huskies A 79 East Durham and Houghall Academy 99 .

Division Two: Hartlepool Hornets A 82 Old Houghtonians 76 ; Willington Parkside 76 Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A 70 ; Peterlee Video 69 Shildon Strollers 34 .

Division Three: East Durham and Houghall College B 58 Hartlepool Hornets B 52 ; Spennymoor Exiles 67 Durham Saints 60 ; Young Houghtonians 71 Trimdon CCA 78 ; Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 88 Teesside Huskies B 112 .

Women's Division: Tyneside 87 Whickham 39 ; Newcastle College Wildcats 56 South Tyneside 50 ; Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 36 Sunderland Nissan 81