By Jamie Thomas
Arguably the WBBL season’s biggest surprise package, Caledonia Pride go into the WBBL Play-offs with a real buzz about them as the Scottish side get set to face Vanessa Ellis’ Sheffield Hatters this Sunday.
Bart Sengers has masterminded quite the year for the Pride as they’ve undergone a huge turnaround in form after bringing in high-quality reinforcements to compliment his young core, and we caught up with Sian Phillips to discuss the team’s excitement ahead of the post-season.
“It has been such a good run and I think to build up from where we were at the beginning of the season, our progress has been so visible because we were at the bottom of the league for so long but we’ve built a team that has now gone on to qualify in a good position for the Play-offs.
“The last few months have been successful, but it was a tough experience in itself to build our team through the season, because change is hard to get used to, but we overcome all of that, learned how to get the best out of each other and we’ve been able to get those wins and show everybody what we’re really capable of, so it has been great.
“When we’ve been able to find that consistency the results have come for us and that’s where our biggest progress has been recently, but we’re always learning. Even last week against Cardiff, it was such a tough game and we just had to find a way to stick with it and get a result, which is an important experience for us.”
“To be a Scottish team making the play-offs is a great thing.”
Securing a best-ever finish in the WBBL Championship of sixth place, topping the seventh spot that Pride secured in the 2017/18 season, Caledonia have done exceptionally well and played some great basketball this term with their imports shining alongside a spirited Scottish core that has a high ceiling.
Phillips, who has represented Scotland recently in winning the 3×3 Commonwealth Games Qualifiers, discussed the team’s improvement throughout the year and how significant Pride’s success is for the Scottish game.
“We’ve had times this season where we’ve made a lot of mistakes, conceded a lot of turnovers and missed easy buckets and those things can throw a team off, but we’ve done well to find ways to keep scoring, keep getting stops, and dealing with those things that we can control is something we’ve improved on and is going to be big for us going into the play-offs.
“For the past few years we’ve obviously missed out on getting to this stage of the season, so to make it and to do so with the best finish Caledonia has ever had in the table, I’m excited to see how far we can go and we can definitely do well.
“To be a Scottish team making the play-offs and giving the game that platform is a great thing and something we’ve not been able to do for some time. Glasgow are obviously there in the men’s league as well which is brilliant and with the Commonwealth Qualifiers being successful it is a great time for the game up here right now, for sure.”
“This experience is important to us as we look to keep growing.”
The Hatters await on Sunday and will be well aware of the challenge that Pride pose as the Scots bested the Yorkshire side in their last encounter, and with this being a third-versus-sixth matchup, there are obviously expectations that this will be one of the closer games in the quarter-finals.
Phillips concurs, as she feels her Pride side have enough about them to get the win if they approach the game with the right mindset, as she goes on to discuss the significance of post-season exposure to the club’s growth.
“It is an interesting match-up for us because we’re obviously below them in the table but we did beat them last time we played them, so it could be anybody’s game in my opinion and we’ve just got to make sure we turn up and play our best basketball and if we do that we’ve got a great chance.
“The last time we played them was definitely a real battle. They came out strong and played aggressively and so did we, so it was a very intense game and I expect the same again this weekend. We’ve just got to stay composed, play our game and focus on ourselves as we have done all season and if we do those things then we’ve got a good chance of being successful.
“A win would be huge for us and give us some momentum for the next round. We’ve seen this year that the league is so unpredictable, so who knows what could happen, but this experience is important for us as we look to keep growing and climbing the table.”
Get your tickets for the WBBL Playoff Finals and join us for the showpiece finale to an epic season at London’s 02 Arena on May 15th here!