Rebels fight back in second half rebellion
The Essex Rebels women’s basketball team battled it out this past Sunday night as they took on top of the table Sevenoaks Suns in a game that looked wrapped up in the first but proved to be a thriller in the second. The first half went in favour of the home team, as they got out to a strong start, going up 40-22 entering the second half. Despite the deficit the Rebels faced, they came out full of energy using a mixture of defences to disrupt the Suns, forcing them into committing 14 turnovers. However, every time the Rebels began to claw back into the game, tightening the gap to as little as eight points, Sevenoaks reigning league MVP Cat Carr seemed to have an answer. Even with the Rebels outscoring their opponents by 10 points in the second half, and having five players in double digits scoring, it just wasn’t enough to capture the win, as they ended 79-71.
Head Coach Tom Sadler had this to say about his team’s performance, “I thought the second half showed that we are capable of competing with top teams in this league. We just dug ourselves too big a hole to start the game and although I give the team a lot of credit for staying locked in and getting us back into the game, we have to put together a full 40-minutes when competing against teams of Sevenoaks calibre. I do think this performance gives us some confidence heading into the backend of the season and a bit of belief that we can come away with a win against Sevenoaks when we meet them in the quarterfinals of the Trophy.”
Top Performers Rebels
C. Paxton – 12 points, 8 rebounds
T. Freeman – 10 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds
L. Costa – 11 points, 5 rebounds
A. Munns – 10 points
A. Waithe – 10 points, 3 steals
Top Performers Suns
J. Fritz – 16 points, 3 assists, 3 steals
C. Carr – 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
J. Monakana – 12 points, 4 rebounds
J. Koppl – 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
J. Thompson – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
