Endeavour Ipswich Basketball Club’s Senior Women secured a key win in their title challenge, pulling off arguably their best performance of the season on the road to their closest rivals, Brent Bulls.
Ipswich went into the game with a 14-3 record, while Brent, undefeated in 2024, boasted a 13-3 record and were undefeated at home. A win for Ipswich would see them in a very strong position with just four games to play, while victory for Brent would have put them in the driving seat with less than a month of regular season play remaining.
Ipswich flew out of the blocks, with Danni Cazey connecting on a three to open the scoring - a lead that they would never relinquish throughout the whole game with an offensive and defensive onslaught that caught Brent completely off guard. Ipswich’s relentless assault at both ends saw them holding a 23-9 lead after the first quarter, before extending that advantage to an incredible 49-15 by half time. No one Ipswich player filled up the scoreboard, with a balanced attack that included key plays from Harriet Welham, Liv Forster, Yazmin Edwards, Liv Partridge and Christabel Osarobo as the Ipswich performance, coupled with an out-of-character showing from the hosts, meant that the game was almost over by half time.
Ipswich further increased their lead at the start of the third quarter, allowing Head Coach Nick Drane to rest key players and give valuable minutes to youngsters such as DeAnna Carrington, Cerys Leach, Maia Wiseman, Lauren Liddamore and Kara Bassil, with such an unexpected one-sided score line, especially so early in the game.
“This was a good win against a very good team. I’m pleased with how locked in the team is at the moment, with everyone’s focus firmly set on how they can contribute to the team success” said Head Coach Nick Drane.
Ipswich now find themselves very slightly ahead of the chasing pack, with a 15-3 record. Brent and Thames Valley are tied for second (13-4) while CoLA are in fourth (11-5). Importantly Ipswich also hold the head to head advantage over all three teams, meaning for anyone to finish above Ipswich, they would need the Suffolk side to lose more games than them. Ipswich have four games remaining knowing that winning three of them would secure a third National League Division One title in five years.
“We are taking nothing for granted and will continue to prepare for every game as if we are playing a championship game” added Drane.
Comments