WBBL Championship
Caledonia Gladiators 76 – 44 Newcastle Eagles (22-9, 37-20, 48-30)
(Gladiators – Jones 17, Ball 17, Lewis 10, Handy 10; Eagles – Gaynor 15, Nolan 15, Willis, 8)

Caledonia Gladiators ushered in a new era for the franchise in their first season following the transition from Caledonia Pride, with a triumphant display against Newcastle Eagles. The Scots were on top for the entire game and never allowed the Geordies to get a foothold in the match.

Although the game started with both defences on top and the score just 6-6 after the first five minutes, Caledonia quickly took the upper hand with two back-to-back 3-pointers by joint-top scorer Marlee Ball, to lead 12-6. From then on Gladiators dominated the opening quarter, with a final score of 22-9.

The second quarter started in much the same way, with Chantelle Handy draining two back-to-back 3s and putting Caledonia up by 15 (29-14).

Gladiators went up by as many as 21 points in the second quarter – their highest lead of the half – when Robyn Lewis made a jump shot with just over two-and-a-half minutes to play until half-time.

The third quarter was the most defensive minded 10 minutes for both teams, with a final score of just 11-10 in favour of Caledonia. The Scots continued to be in control of the match however, driven by their tenacious defence, which forced Newcastle into a game total of 31 turnovers.

Arguably the highlight of the game came when Lewis threw an alley-oop pass to Handy who made the layup and put Gladiators up by 17 (41-24).

Caledonia had saved their best performance for the fourth quarter however, putting up a game high of 28 points, fuelled by their relentless full court defence. One of the key players behind that was 16-year-old Zoe Sharpe, who in her 23 minutes of game time played with incredible passion and showed why she’s one of the future stars of Scottish basketball.

The Scots’ dominance continued throughout the final 10 minutes of action, off the back of Ball’s 50% 3-point shooting, with 3/6 from behind the arc.

Despite Katie Nolan doing everything she could for Newcastle on her competitive debut with the club, posting a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds, Caledonia were ultimately the better team on the night, led by Erin Jones who also posted a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.

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