Nunthorpe Boro Bruins picked up the first silverware of the Durham League season when they beat Durham Knights 96-91 to win the Womens Handicap Cup. Nunthorpe even did it the hard way in giving their opponents a 40 point start and agreeing to play the game on Knights home court at Maiden Castle.

The 40 point handicap gave Knights the conviction to start well and with Kat Abrashkina and Saori Inomata matching Nunthorpe, they led 58-18 by the end of the opening period. All changed in the second quarter as Nunthorpe knuckled down to the task of chasing the deficit. That chase was led by Sarah Hindmarch and Ruth Barron with 34 points for Nunthorpe, but as Alison Turner and Tamara Davies helped net Knights 19 they were still up at 77-52 at half-time.

Nunthorpe won the game with an awesome second half. This time there were no mistakes as they took a grip at both ends of court. Hindmarch and Barron did the damage on offence with 22 and 16 points respectively over the twenty minutes, but added to that was some intense defence which restricted Knights to just 10 points in the third quarter and a measly four in the last. Even then it did look as though Knights might just hang on and it was as late as the thirty-ninth minute of the game that Kath Ashwell finally gave Nunthorpe the lead, for the first time in the game, at 93-91.

Nunthorpe Boro Bruins also found time during the week to fit in a womens league match with East Durham and Houghall Academy who needed extra-time to win 87-77.

The 40 minutes of normal time was a right royal battle. The first quarter scored 15-15 and a couple of three-point baskets from Sarah Hindmarch gave Nunthorpe a 32-30 cushion at half-time. The third quarter was all Academy who stretched out a 53-39 lead as the phase ended. Nunthorpe hit back in the final quarter through Hindmarch, Elizabeth Pate and Kath Ashwell and it was Academy who were grateful when a field-goal in the dying moments put the contest into overtime at 73-73. Everything which could go wrong for Nunthorpe did so in the extra five minutes as Academy stormed home with a 15-4 finish.

Norton, by their standards, have not had a brilliant division one campaign, but this week they were indebted to Teesside Mohawks Steve Butler, who collected 42 points in leading them to only their third league win of the season, a 87-73 success over Belmont Reds at Durham.

The first half was even as Andrew Knox and Steven Graham kept the Belmont side of the scoreboard ticking over whilst Butler and Liam O'Dohohue replied for Norton who had just edged ahead at 42-37 as the second quarter finished. Norton won the game in the opening five minutes of the second half as Butler and O'Donohue did well in a 11-6 spell which stretched their advantage to 53-43. Ten points isn't many, but it is a big psychological gap and it was enough to keep Norton in front despite a frantic chase led by Richard Huntley and Graham during the rest of the half.

Steve Whitehead Joinery and Double Glazing Middlesbrough Mavericks look set to take the first division runners-up spot and they kept that hope alive with a 88-72 win at home to Hartlepool HQ Engineering Hornets.

Mavericks blitzed the opening four minutes thanks to Marek Pawlak and Andrew Swanson and by the time Hornets called the very necessary time-out in the sixth minute they were 14-2 down. The enforced break did have the right effect and Graham Ord and Luke Thompson combined to cut the deficit to 27-21 with four minutes of the first half left only for Pawlak and Andy Buchanan to ease Mavericks away again at 40-29 by half-time. The third quarter was even, scored 22-22 and left Mavericks up 62-51 as the final quarter opened. Hornets started it slightly the better and points from Leon Thompson helped bring them back to 69-62 with five minutes to play. Unfortunately for the visitors it was Mavericks, through Andy Reid, who finished the stronger.

After last weeks win University of Teesside went into their clash with guests Willington Wasps with high hopes, but following a good start in which they led 7-2 after three minutes and 17-11 by the seventh, all those hopes came crashing down when an injury robbed them of the services of Mohawks Jon Stonebridge and Wasps were happy to cash in with a 120-62 victory.

Wasps did take time to work up to full power and University were still in with a shout when they took the interval just 49-30 down. The second half was a different ball game as Luke Somerville, Paul Campbell and Ben Scorer led the Wasps romp through a 35-11 third quarter and a 36-21 last.

In the best second division game of the week a three-point basket, on the final buzzer of the fifth minute of extra-time, from Anthony Burdis, gave Old Houghtonians a dramatic 92-91 victory over hosts Hartlepool Hawks ND.

Houghtonians led 21-14 by the end of the opening period, but Hawks recovered to tie the score at 23-23 just three minutes after the second restart. Hawks were on a roll and a 18-6 last five minutes took them into the interval 41-37 to the good. The second half was breathtaking as three-point baskets from Luke and Leon Thompson for Hawks were countered by good work from Burlison and Rob Taylor and the third break passed at 59-59. With two minutes of normal time left the teams were still locked together at 75-75 and a basket each set up overtime at 77-77. Hawks charged into a 86-79 as the extra five minutes opened and it was Taylor who brought Houghtonians back to 91-89 down as the final few seconds ticked away and Burdis popped in his last gasp winner.

The Middlesbrough College Academy B season has taken a distinct turn for the better over the last few weeks and they clocked up another win, this time at 97-89 success against Consett Steelers.

Excellent team-work, six different players in double figures; Sloane Francis (18), Martin Downing (18), Michael James (17), Cameron McGrain (16), Geoff Hill (14) and Carl Colmer (10) and some flat-out individual defence all added up to a great win. Consett Steelers are one of the better teams in division two and despite trailing through each of first three breaks they were always in with a shout at 30-25, 57-50 and 79-71 respectively. Only in the final quarter did Academy finally inflate a match-winning cushion at 97-81.

Chris Plummer produced his best performance and, at 40 points, his highest solo score of the season in leading Durham Saints to a 97-72 triumph away to Shildon Strollers.

Saints won as Strollers tired in the second half. Ten minutes had scored 22-22 and half-time arrived with Saints having just edged in front at 44-41. 12 points in a row from Plummer then helped give Saints a 62-50 advantage nine minutes after the restart and a 12-2 burst in the opening four minutes of the last quarter finally killed-off Strollers resistance at 77-57.

David Storey did most to give Specsavers Wear Valley Wolves an 80-61 success away to Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A as the Hartlepudlians produced their best display for some time.

Three-quarters of the contest was relatively even as the first, second and last scored 19-11, 14-13 and 20-15. Unfortunately for Hydraulics, Wolves won the third 33-16 as all of this season's offensive and defensive frailties were exposed. Storey had used all of his height and strength to get Wolves underway with ten of the 19 points which they scored in the opening quarter, but it was baskets from everyone who came off the bench in the decisive third quarter which put Wolves out of sight at 65-41.

The demise of both Steelers and Hawks during the last couple of weeks seems to have cleared the way to the second division title for Trimdon Community College Association and they took one more step towards that goal with a 96-86 win at home to East Durham and Houghall College A.

Jamie Paul and Lee Norton gave Trimdon the better start before Andrew Bains and John Harding led the College fight-back and the first quarter scored 26-25 to Trimdon. College were first to show on the restart through David Wylie and only a strong finish from Lee Armstrong kept Trimdon in touch at 50-47 as the interval arrived. The third quarter was nip-and-tuck. The nip came from John Anderson and Martyn Longstaff for Trimdon and the tuck from Colin Dockrell and Wylie for College and it was they who led, by the smallest possible margin, at 69-68 as the third quarter closed. Only in the last ten minutes was the College resolve broken as Norton and Tom Wood combined in a match-winning 14-4 burst which left Trimdon 92-80 up with three minutes on the clock.

In the third division, East Durham and Houghall College B beat Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards 71-58 at Willington.

Eleven points without reply in the first four minutes of the second half put College in charge at 38-27 and with four minutes left on the clock they were still in front at 58-50. Despite missing nine free shots in a row they had gone to 71-53 with ninety second left.

The Durham University term finished this week, so Durham Knights rounded off their third division campaign with a 60-41 victory at home to Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors, a win which could well net them the runners-up spot in the division three table.

Womens Handicap Cup Final: Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 96 Durham Knights 91.

Division One: Belmont Reds 78 Norton 87; Middlesbrough Mavericks 88 Hartlepool HQ Engineering Hornets 72; University of Teesside 62 Willington Wasps 120.

Division Two: Hartlepool Hawks ND 91 Old Houghtonians 92; Middlesbrough College Academy B 97 Consett Steelers 89; Shildon Strollers 72 Durham Saints 97; Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A 61 Specsavers Wear Valley Wolves 80; Trimdon Community College Association 96 East Durham and Houghall College A 86.

Division Three: Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards 58 East Durham and Houghall College B 71; Durham Knights 60 Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors 41.

Womens Division: Tyne and Wear Juniors 41 Tyneside 116; Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 77 East Durham and Houghall Academy 87