Sevenoaks Suns secured their 16th win of the season with a hard fought 86-75 victory at home over the Caledonia Pride.
Led by a season-high of 27 points from guard Cat Carr, the Suns regained second place in the Championship table behind London Lions.
It was a high-scoring, back and forth beginning to the game with both teams exchanging buckets throughout the first quarter to keep it close. After what was an aggressive start from each side, Pride took a slender lead to begin the second up two points.
Pride started the second quarter promisingly, retaining their slim lead for the first four minutes of the period. However, the Suns soon took control with Janice Monakana scoring 7 of her 15 total points to help put them up by 8 heading into half time.
A quick 5-0 run for Caldeonia cut the lead to just three points early in the third, but two 3-pointers from Carr got her team back on track and kick-started a strong offensive quarter. A great collective effort saw six different Suns contributing points.
Exchanged buckets from Millie Watkins and Sian Phillips made it a 15 point game going into the final 10 minutes.
The Suns’ Scottish opponents put up a valiant fight in the last quarter even cutting the lead down to 7 at one stage. Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t reduce the deficit any further as six points apiece from Carr and Frankie Wurtz led Sevenoaks to an 11-point victory.
Alongside Carr’s 27 on a very efficient 60% shooting, and Monakana’s 15 off the bench, there were notable contributions elsewhere, with Wurtz scoring 13, and Julia Koppl posting a near double double with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Afterwards, Coach Len Busch gave his thoughts on what was a successful weekend.
‘Today was a good win against a tough Caledonia team. I actually believe they are a top 3 or 4 team in the league with a couple of good guards. I thought we played pretty well. They shot extremely well which kept the game competitive. I think they shot better than they have in previous games.
‘But we were in control most of the game and did what we set out to do, coped with a little bit of adversity early.
‘Cat was outstanding offensively, scoring pretty much at will. We had enough people play good games to get us through. It’s not about how many points you win by, it’s just do you do enough to win the game, and I think we’re still improving and we’re ready for the home stretch of the season. I think we have 7 games left.’
Following this well-earned victory, focus now shifts to next Saturday’s fixture away at Newcastle Eagles as the Championship push continues.
Author: Angelia Ronayne
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