On Saturday, the Endeavour Ipswich Basketball Club Senior Women made history by beating the reigning Eurocup, and all conquering Women’s Super League Basketball (formerly WBBL) Champions, London Lions on what was, on paper at least, one of the greatest upsets in British Basketball history.
Of course, some context is necessary when telling this story – it’s not the same, big budget set of stars that enjoyed perhaps the greatest win in the history of British Basketball just six months ago. The Lions have been through a difficult offseason, with new ownership and seemingly far less investment into their women’s programme. But is it the same club, same name, same brand and for this season at least, they will remain the Eurocup Champions as well as the champions of the British professional women’s basketball league, cup and playoffs. And let’s not pretend that Ipswich are a team full of established stars. The Suffolk side can boast a squad with a grand total of three players that are not still at school! One of which (Vicky Gray) suffered a nasty ankle sprain just thirteen minutes into her Ipswich debut. However, fellow debutant, Maddy Wormald wasted no time in introducing herself to her new fanbase, scoring the first eight points for Ipswich, while the other ‘senior’ player for Ipswich is three-time WNBL Division One league MVP Harriet Welham, who doesn’t need a great deal of motivation to get her competitive juices flowing. Welham finished the game with an impressive 31 points, yet again provoking questions about why the GB Senior Women’s programme continues to not so much as extend her an invitation into training camp.
The game itself saw Ipswich lead from start to finish in front of a packed Copleston, with sixteen-year-old debutant, Maisie Keyes making an instant impact as the team’s new starting point guard. Ipswich won the first period 27-22 and the second 26-12, building a lead that Lions would struggle to eat into. Things didn’t get any better for the Lions in the third, as IBC extended their lead by a further ten points, taking an unexpected 80-51 leading into the game’s final period. With the game all but won, Ipswich Coach Nick Drane was able to offer senior debuts to two more sixteen year old academy players as Angel Whyte and Kaiya Bateman took the court. Bateman in particular shone with an incredible fourteen points in just nine minutes of play, as Ipswich pulled off one of the great upsets in recent basketball history.
Final score: Endeavour Ipswich 104–80 London Lions
“We are under no illusions that this wasn’t the same Lions team that has been playing in recent seasons, but they are still a team full of talent and will be a competitive SLB team this season, so this was a great way for us to get our season, and fantastic for our programme be a part of this competition”.
Top Scorers:
Harriet Welham: 31
Maddy Wormald: 19
Kaiya Bateman: 14
Ipswich turned their attention to the WNBL’s season opener on Sunday hosting a much improved Barking Abbey team. However, behind another 30 points from Welham, and a huge 21/16 double-double from Louisa Gibbins, Ipswich emerged victorious 85-50. Louisa's dominant performance earned her the league's Player of the Week award for game week 1. She was joined in the Team of the Week by Harriet Welham, who, between the two games, had a 61 point weekend!
Final score: Endeavour Ipswich 85-50 Barking Abbey
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