8 Apr 2017: Pride 70-86 Suns

Cat Carr dominates as Sevenoaks Suns keep their WBBL Championship title charge alive with victory over Caledonia Pride.

WBBL Championship
Caledonia Pride 70 (11,26,51) (Bastian 16, Oakes 15, Thomson 11)
Sevenoaks Suns 86 (26,45,70) (Carr 29, Pedersen 20, Busch 15)

Sevenoaks Suns beat Caledonia Pride 86-70 in Edinburgh on Saturday, to take a share of third and keep their outside shot at the WBBL Championship alive. Suns are top of the form table, having won 10 of their last 11 games in all competitions, and remaining unbeaten on the road since November.

They were led to this win by Cat Carr’s 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists – she is now the league’s third leading scorer. Renee Busch added 15, all from three-point range, as she and Carr combined for ten triples.

And Suns showed their form from the outset to end a run of three straight home wins for Pride. Carr scored 11 points in the first six minutes, including a trio of three-pointers, as an early run of 12 unanswered points was capped by consecutive Anne Pedersen scores for 22-9. The quarter ended with Carr scoring back-to-back – already on 15 – for a 26-11 Sevenoaks lead.

The damage was done, although the hosts did stem the flow until Busch hit a three-pointer just before halftime, and then opened a very high-scoring third quarter with two more to see the lead peak at 54-30.

But Pride, who slip out of their Play-off place with this defeat having lost the head-to-head with Cardiff Met Archers, scrapped to retain it late on. A 12-2 push got them back to 56-42 as Tricia Oakes scored five, and they were as close as 79-67 when another such run was sparked in the fourth period by Robyn Lewis’s three-pointer, and capped by one from Hilary Wood.

But triples from Busch and Gabriel Nikitinaite towards the end of the third ensured that Suns’ lead was never threatened, and Pedersen halted the momentum of that late run to keep them in control.