9 Apr 2017: Northumbria 67-63 Suns

Team Northumbria pursue a top four spot, and mathematically end Sevenoaks Suns’ WBBL Championship title bid.

WBBL Championship
Team Northumbria 67 (18,32,47) (Gorrell 24, Bonenberger 18, Fong Lyew Quee 11)
Sevenoaks Suns 63 (18,40,53) (Carr 14, Pedersen 14, Busch 9)

Team Northumbria kept their hopes of a top four finish alive, and ended Sevenoaks Suns’ outside shot at the WBBL Championship title, by beating their rivals, one place above them in the league, 67-63 on Sunday afternoon.

The early exchanges were tight, tied at 18 after ten minutes, before Suns – top of the WBBL form table with six wins in their last seven games and no road defeat since November, until today – got on top with a strong finish to the first half, leading 40-32.

But the game really came to life in the second half, with the teams exchanging furious runs. Team Northumbria initially turned things around with an 11-2 surge, to snatch the lead back at 43-42.

However, they couldn’t hold that for long as their visitors bounced straight back, finishing the third period on an 11-4 burst of their own, to take a 53-47 advantage into the final ten minutes after Renee Busch scored a trio of three-pointers.

But there was one more, decisive, swing of the pendulum as Northumbria opened that fourth quarter with an 8-2 push to tie the game at 55 heading into the final five minutes. They were still level at 61 as the last minute approached, before a huge ‘and-one’ play from Alison Gorrell settled it as Northumbria score six in a row, Gorrell also adding a pair of free-throws to lead all scorers with 24 points.

The win means that Team Northumbria remain unbeaten at home in the WBBL Championship against Suns, in three seasons; and, mathematically, are still in with a shot at the top four having won four of their last six games.