Bradford Dragons women were crowned Leeds & District League champions following their 76-18 victory over hometown rivals Bradford Maroons.

And two days later they were celebrating again, their 63-57 win over East Kent Blitz in the National Founders Cup semi-finals earning them a place in the final in their inaugural season.

Against the Maroons – who they had beaten 61-28 the previous week – Isalie Bloemen top-scored with 19 points, with Claudia Caramidaru close behind with 14.

Bloemen totalled 19 points against East Kent, with Laura Moloney scoring 14 – eight of those coming in the final minutes as Dragons held on to book a final place against either Camden Panthers or Oxford University in April.

Coach Mark Gunn said: “In starting the women’s team from scratch nearly a year ago I could only have dreamed we would achieve such success in local and national competitions.

“A lot of this is down to the players’ passion to play basketball and the challenge now is to continue such winning habits through to the national final.”

Their next game is against Bishop Burton College at Bradford College on Thursday, tip-off 8.30pm.

Bradford Dragons men slipped to a narrow 72-68 defeat at EBL Division One leaders Derby Trailblazers. Dragons led for most the game before a final surge by the home team saw them take the lead with five minutes to go.

Dragons missed key shots from the charity stripe as the clock ticked down and coach Chris Mellor admitted it was a “disappointing loss” having lost the lead so late in the game.

“We did most things well but turnovers down the stretch were our downfall, combined with some poor offensive decisions,” he said.

“They dug deep when they were down and a couple of their younger guys stepped up big in the second half and made some big plays.”

For Dragons, Vance Silcott had another double double with 21 points and 15 rebounds, Rihard Sulcs also scored a double double with 16 points and ten rebounds and Chris McGrew made 13 points.

Dragons travel to Westminster Warriors on Saturday and are home to Tees Valley Mohawks on Sunday – tip-off at Trinity Green sports hall, Bradford College at 4.15pm.

Elsewhere for Dragons, the second team lost 73-71 at home to Liverpool in their final EBL Division Four game of the season, Bradford College Dragons Under-18s won 93-69 at Scarborough Seahawks, the Under-16s lost 71-68 at Sefton Stars and the Under-14s lost 63-49 at York Eagles.