The East won the U17 Girls Regional Development Tournament (RDT) in dramatic fashion after a 90-81 double overtime victory over the North West on Sunday at Nottingham Wildcats Arena.

 

Having an 18 point lead in the third quarter, the East thought they had the game wrapped up only for the North West to storm back and tie it up by the end of regulation. The game remained even at 80-all at the end of the first OT but the East took control in the final five minutes to win that second extra session 10-1.

 

British Basketball Head of Performance Warwick Cann said:

 

"The RDT and the regional development program are especially important for the women's game in England as it underpins not only the national U18 squad but the senior elite women's competitions. Therefore I was pleased with a few aspects of this year’s tournament.

 

“Firstly players were in better physical condition and generally played the British style which helped their development and competition standard. Team offence was noticeably better across all teams, games were close at the playoff stage which indicates increased competitiveness and coaches generally tried to work to the Areas of Emphasis.”

 

Event organizer Graham Blankley said:

 

“Another exciting weekend of basketball with five periods of overtime made it a very good tournament. With another 29 games of basketball this past weekend the events are proving very popular with good crowds coming to the tournaments.”

 

The British Shooting Competition (a three point competition) was won by the South East’s Natalie Busch, who scored 11 of 21 shots from behind the arc, which narrowly defeated the East Midlands’ Georgia Elliott-King.

 

Full results from this year’s U17 Girls Regional Development Tournament can be found here and the final standings are outlined below.

 

1.	East
2.	North West
3.	East Midlands
4.	Yorkshire
5.	South
6.	South East
7.	London
8.	West Midlands
9.	South West
10.	North East