Rebels take valuable lessons from Lions

The Essex Rebels officially opened their 2021/22 WBBL season on saturday against last years league champions the London Lions in the WBBL Cup.

The Lions came in to this game after making history on Thursday night beating Spanish side Islas Canarias in the first leg of their European cup hunt.

The Rebels looked poised and in control to start the game with a three from club captain Andrea Kohlhaas to open all scores, but London quickly responded with a three of their own from Guard Kennedy Leonard, and never looked back.

Lions controlled the first half building a comfortable 31 point lead going in to the break. 51-21.

The Rebels came out strong in the second half having made some adjustments defensively, and managed to hold London to just 32 points. While the Essex side scored 31 of their own loosing the second half by just a point.

But the 30 point lead the Lions had built early on was enough for them to close out the game. 83-52.

Coach Sadler had this to say about his side after the game –

“We saw a lot of stuff out here today that we didn’t like, and seemed out of character certainly early on. There were some things we did well. But now we have to move forward we have this week to rectify the mistakes and we will look to put on a better performance next week when we take on Sevenoaks Suns.”

Top Performers:

Essex Rebels:

Claire Paxton 15

Andrea Kohlhaas 10

Megan Haines 10

London Lions:

Cassie Breen 17

Kennedy Leonard 16

Stephenie Umeh 13