Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball winning streak of 16 games was brought to an end as Leeds Carnegie won 67 – 75 in the Leeds and District Basketball League Handicap Cup semi final.

Dragons has previously beaten Carnegie 59 - 38 in the league and so the league had awarded Carnegie a 0 – 25 start in the game giving Dragons the handicap.   

Dragons started the game at a fast pace with tough defence giving away no easy baskets for the first 4 minutes whilst Louise Hunte, Isalie Bloemen and Alicja Dejewska started to chip away at the 25 point deficit.  Steph Jones [EBL Division 1 player for Leeds Carnegie] kept her team in the game making 4 of 5 free throws but Dragons continued to play at high intensity with Sammy Drake, Laura Moloney, Dana Kima and Aleksandra Mazjakina also adding to the score to bring the deficit down to 12 points.  In outscoring Carnegie 27 – 14 the challenge of coming back from 25 points down was starting to seem possible but Carnegie’s Wallis hit a last second 3 pointer to extend the deficit back to 15 points and end the first quarter 27 – 42.

Alicja opened the second quarter making the 3 point play after being fouled on a tough made basket but with both teams fighting for every rebound and contesting each shot neither team could take full control of the game.  Dana suffered a hard fall on her ankle close to half time but with a 15 point deficit maintained the win still seemed achievable for the Dragons, once again though Carnegie had the last shot with Steph making 1 of 2 free throws to extend the Carnegie lead back up to 16 points.

Following a quick half time break Dragons came out knowing what they had to do and managed to lockdown Carnegie for the first 6 minutes on a 7 – 0 run [Alicja hitting 4 of 4 free throws and Claudia Caramidaru attacking Carnegie’s defence coming away with 3 points] to bring the game back within 9 points but in missing several key shots and not getting many second opportunities once again the door was left open for Carnegie to get back into the game as they ended the quarter on a 0 – 6 run.

With one quarter left and 15 points down it would seem an ever increasingly tough challenge but following trading baskets with Carnegie, Alicja and Aleksandra hit back to back 3 pointers to bring the game back within 8 points followed by Carnegie’s key player, Steph, fouling out of the game.  At this point the game could have gone either way but Carnegie managed to re-group themselves to withstand the Dragons attack scoring 4 of 12 free throws to hold onto a 67 – 75 win and progress through to the cup final.

Coach Gunn commented, “The 3rd quarter's scoring drought with a 7 - 6 split was tough to come back from but well done to all the players who should be proud of a 17 point win [before the handicap] versus one of the higher standard teams we have faced this season! Good luck to Leeds Carnegie in the LDBL Handicap Cup Final versus either Deighton Diamonds or York Vikings.”

BDWB Scorers = Alicja Dejewska (16 – FTs 8 of 13), Aleksandra Mazjakina (16 – FTs 3 of 4), Sammy Drake (9 – FTs 1 of 2), Dana Kima (7), Laura Moloney (4), Claudia Caramidaru (3 – FTs 1 of 2), Isalie Bloemen (2), Esther Nabikolo (DNP), Charline Poirson (DNP) & Rachel Tunnacliffe.

Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball next game is on Thursday 23rd February, 8:30pm tip off at Bradford College versus Sheffield Gems in the Leeds & District Basketball League – come and support your local team in action for free!