With a place in this month's Scottish Cup Final already secured, the Stirling Knights U16 girls were back to league business last weekend when they faced Falkirk Fury and Edinburgh Kats in back to back away games in the Scottish Basketball Championship Division 1.

First up was the short trip to Falkirk, with the Stirling girls starting well leading 20-7 after the first quarter. With Coach Ross Paterson rotating his bench and all girls contributing the Knights went in at half time leading 27-15. In the second half, Knights upped the gears and eventually ran out 63-28 winners over their local rivals. Briony Ferguson led the way for Stirling with 26 points.

The following day, the girls were on the road to Portobello to face top Capital side Edinburgh Kats. Knights again started the brighter and were up 22-13 heading into the second quarter, where the Kats clawed back the deficit to lead 36-32 at halftime. However, the Stirling girls once again upped the anti in the second half and ran out clear winners in the end 73-56 to complete another successful weekend. Top scorers in this game were Briony Ferguson again with 20 points and Captain Ruth Allison with 17. Evie Gallagher and Helen Walker chipped in for 9 points each.

On the male side, the Knights Under 16 boys lost to Fury 62-46 in a sub par performance having gone so close the previous week.

Overall, the basketball club continues to flourish and a change in priorities and focus is clear. The recent addition of the Knights performance Academy is already adding value to the much lauded youth development set up. Knights Chairman Pete Duncan explains "When we started the Knights, the focus was on the Senior team and really getting a buzz about the game of basketball back in the Stirling area to inspire a future generation of players. Five years later, we are really focused on the youth development side and with great success with teams from Under 10 age up to U18. We are working closely with the National Governing Body Basketball Scotland to produce the very best players and athletes Scottish Basketball has to offer. It's not so much about the winning and losing, its about the process and the journey and making sure our young players are the best people they can be."