28 Apr 2018: Pride 73-70 Palatinates

Tricia Oakes leads Caledonia Pride to the WBBL Championship Play-offs.

WBBL Championship

Caledonia Pride 73 – 70 Durham Palatinates (17-16, 33-39, 60-60)

Caledonia Pride have qualified for the WBBL Championship Play-offs after beating rivals Durham Palatinates 73-70 at Oriam Arena in Edinburgh.

The win snaps a run of four consecutive defeats, and gives them a season double over Palatinates, for whom the Play-offs are now out of reach.

Leading scorers – Oakes 17, Reynolds 17, Phillips 8 (Pride); Fong Lyew Quee 24, Ceazer 17, Quintas 11 (Palatinates)

Turning point – In an unsurprisingly close game, there were seven lead changes and seven ties in the third quarter which ended with the teams level at 60. But Pride scored the first eight points of the decisive fourth period – four of those for Sian Phillips – holding their visitors scoreless for five minutes to lead 68-60, although they still had to defend to the final play.

Key stat – It was a real team game for Pride as they shared 24 assists for the game, compared to just 10 for the visitors. Rosanna Reynolds handed out eight of those assists, and Robyn Lewis five.

Game hero – Tricia Oakes led the victors throughout with a massive double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, adding four assists while shooting 75% from the field and 83% at the line.

Box score.