1 Apr 2017: Pride 66-56 Wolves

Natalie Bastian and Tricia Oakes lead Pride to back-to-back wins for the first time in the WBBL.

WBBL Championship
Caledonia Pride 66 (25,33,50) (Bastian 19, Oakes 14, Robb 11)
Oaklands Wolves 56 (12,27,37) (Nelson 15, Harrison 11, Freeman 8)

Caledonia Pride have notched back-to-back wins for the first time in the WBBL, beating Oaklands Wolves 66-56 at the Oriam Arena in Edinburgh and continuing their hunt for a Play-off spot.

Natalie Bastian lit up the third quarter to lead the hosts with 19 points, while Tricia Oakes scored crucial baskets on her way to a huge double-double of 14 points and 17 rebounds.

And Oakes – the league’s second most accurate shooter – scored her first three attempts of the game as Pride began 11-4, Robyn Lewis adding a three-pointer, for a lead that they would never relinquish.

A 14-2 surge before the first quarter was out included further triples for Hannah Robb, Beth Mackie and Sarah Thomson, making the score 25-10 in a massive first quarter for a team that only averages 55 points per game, the lowest in the WBBL.

That all changed as Wolves narrowed the gap to single figures when Tia Freeman came from the bench to score eight in a row, and Pride were scoreless for nearly six minutes in the run up to halftime, the score at 33-27.

But Bastian opened the second half with a triple to set the tone for a third quarter in which she scored 14 points. Bastian scored a further eight in a row in a 12-4 run, including a pair of treys, and added a buzzer-beating lay-up to see the hosts carry a 50-37 lead into the final ten minutes.

Kyla Nelson hit consecutive treys for Wolves as they made one last run, of ten unanswered points, to close to 54-49 in the fourth. But Oakes registered twice in a row, settling the hosts, and sparking an 8-0 burst that decided the game.