Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball 1st team took the advantage in the VCARS.co.uk Women’s Division 2 North league title race with a 46 – 65 away win versus Sefton Starlights on Sunday 3rd March 2013.
Sefton Starlights were coming into this game full of confidence on their home court following a 59 – 46 win versus Bradford Dragons just a week ago plus a 65 – 59 win versus Mansfield Giants the day before but Dragons, playing Sefton for the 3rd time in as many weeks, were ready to get back to business and regardless of missing 3 key players knew what needed to be done!
Sefton’s player coach Ruth Cass won the tip off passing to playmaker Jess Ross but after seeing Sefton taking a 1st quarter 25 – 5 lead in yesterday’s game Dragons knew team defence was the priority and in shutting down Sefton’s key shooters whilst slowly building the lead it was left up to Sefton’s Michelle Adu to keep her team in the game scoring 7 of Sefton’s 1st quarter 9 points.
Dragons’ defence continued to disrupt Sefton’s challenge to regain the lead whilst Dragons’ Vilma Jurgaityte and Isalie Bloemen shared 15 points but in turning the ball over several times invited Sefton back into the game with a 2nd quarter 16 – 17 split.
After a half time 10 minute break in the cold sports hall (warmer outside!) Sefton took to the court looking to turn around the 8 point deficit until stunned by Dragons team intensity fronted by Rosie Pearcy pressuring every possession, loose ball and rebound whilst Vilma, Isalie, Aleksandra Mazjakina and Natalia Laing helped build a 17 point lead.
The final quarter was closely contested with Dragons captain Laura Moloney and Isalie maintaining the lead whilst Lizzie Malek entered the game for Dragons catching Sefton by surprise converting the outlet pass whilst securing rebound after rebound. The game drew to a close with a somewhat hostile crowd following a double technical foul committed by Dragons Laura and Sefton’s Nadine Adu followed by in game tussling for positioning as well as Sefton physically trying to shut down Dragons’ shooters but Vilma ended the game with a deep ‘feel good’ 3 pointer over the Starlights resulting in Dragons maintaining their position at the top of the league on a 10 – 2 record taking the advantage over Bury Blue Devils (9 & 4), Mansfield Giants (7 & 4) and Sefton Starlights (6 & 4).
Coach Gunn commented, “Following unexpectedly dropping a game last week the Bradford players were given a challenge at both ends of the court and met these whilst implementing a few defensive aspects we had been working on during the past week thanks to the help of currently injured Men’s 1st team player and BDWB 1st team assistant coach Rihards Sulcs. In looking forward we will focus on what we can control whilst striving to keep progressing session by session towards the goal of securing the 2012/13 league title.”
Elsewhere in the league on Saturday 2nd March; Doncaster Danum Eagles lost 33 – 94 versus Bury Blue Devils whilst Sefton Starlights helped Bradford Dragons in the title race with a 65 – 59 win versus Mansfield Giants leaving Bury, Mansfield and Sefton all on 4 losses compared to Bradford’s 2.
BDWB Scorers = Vilma Jurgaityte (26), Isalie Bloemen (18), Aleksandra Mazjakina (7), Laura Moloney (10), Natalia Laing (2), Lizzie Malek (2) & Rosie Pearcy.