ALTHOUGH the result is not what the Eastern Mavericks were looking for in their clash against the North Adelaide Rockets in the National Basketball League (NBL)1 Central Women’s on the weekend, the performance of young gun Airlie Ramsey was a big positive.

The match took place at St Francis de Sales Community Sports Centre on Saturday night, and both teams came in with some strong form to their name of late. The Rockets have been just about unstoppable over the past month, while the Mavericks had won two on the trot and faced a true test against the form side of the competition.

After a tight start that lived up to the hype, the game was essentially decided in the second quarter, when the Mavericks were restricted to just four points as their offence came to a grinding halt. This allowed North Adelaide to break away en route to a 26-point win.

Despite falling well short of a win, Ramsey’s performance was a shining light for Eastern, and will encourage the team moving forward.

Eastern Mavericks (45) def. by North Adelaide Rockets (71)

Airlie Ramsey – 16 points, eight rebounds, one steal

Ramsey was the strongest performer for Eastern on a tough day at the office, stepping up and showing maturity beyond her years.

Although she is one of the youngest players on the team, she was simply outstanding in defeat and showed why there is so much promise surrounding her basketball future.

She poured in 16 points, which was a game-high total, showing how well she performed among her peers with some seriously experienced talent on the court.

This number was boosted by her shooting from behind the arc, as she knocked down four triples on eight attempts from behind the arc. Confident in her shooting rhythm, Ramsey was not afraid to fire off shots from distance, and she was one of the most consistent avenues to scoring.

The youngster also flirted with a double-double after pulling down eight boards for the match in an impressive display of hunting the basketball. Most of these came on the defensive end, as she used smart positioning to box out her opponent and get first hands on the ball.

It was a mature performance from Ramsey, who looked truly at home for the Mavericks and was the team’s best performer in the loss to the Rockets.