Endeavour Ipswich Basketball moved to 16-3 on the season, and within two wins of the WNBL Division One league title with a 89-70 win over City of Birmingham Rockets. The loss for the Rocket’s also doomed them to relegation back to WNBL Division Two after just a single season in the top flight of the National League.
Ipswich have played their best basketball of the season over the last fortnight, with a 40 point win against CoLA followed up by a 35 point win on the road at Brent Bulls, putting the Suffolk side in the driving seat for the league championship with just four games to play. However, with Birmingham fighting for the Division One lives, and Ipswich not quite firing on all cylinders, it made for an entertaining game at Copleston. The home side struggled for points early in the game, something that is very out of character for this Ipswich team, while Birmingham found themselves on fire. Eventually, in the second quarter Ipswich finally found a bit of rhythm and opened something of a lead - albeit a small one.
The third quarter saw Ipswich extend that lead well into the 20’s, with an attack spearheaded by top-scoring trio Liv Forster, Yazmin Edwards and Harriet Welham. By the end of the third period, Birmingham had again clawed it back – Ipswich still leading 65-50.
The fourth quarter again saw Ipswich win the period, but allowing COB some easy buckets entertaining the Copleston crowd with a back-and-forth battle. Ipswich eventually took the win 89-70.
“I don’t think it is realistic to expect us to play like we have the last two weeks every game – credit to Birmingham who really pushed us today. We did enough to get the win and that’s the important thing, and we move onto Barking away next weekend, which is another game we will need to be ready for as they are battling for a playoff seed” said Ipswich Head Coach Nick Drane.
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