Sevenoaks Suns’ trip to Sheffield ended in victory as they beat the Hatters 69-55 in a very hard-fought game.
The win made it 14 in a row for the league’s best side as they increased the gap between themselves and their opponents in third place, inflicting just their third defeat of the season.
It was a very different test to the one they faced last week against the Oakland Wolves, however, it was another that they passed, led by captain Cat Carr’s 20 points and 8 rebounds.
As they often do, the Suns raced into an early lead and established their dominance on the game. They quickly put up a 10-3 run which set the pace for the rest of the afternoon. Every starter contributed to building an 11-point margin after the first quarter.
The second period was just as dominant, restricting the usually high-scoring offense of the Hatters to just 15 points, and a total of 26 at half time. The Suns continued their consistent offensive output, having another 20-plus point quarter spearheaded by Carr’s eight to extend the lead to 17 at the half.
Having won the reverse fixture by only three points just two weeks ago, the Suns knew how strong of an opponent they were up against and despite being down, they are more than capable of producing big numbers.
In what was another great collective effort in the third on both ends of the court, the Suns managed to extend their already healthy lead by a further 5 points to give them a comfortable cushion going into the fourth.
Sheffield ramped up their defense in the final quarter, allowing the Suns to score just eight points, but the damage was already done as they cruised to a 14-point victory over their Championship rivals.
Renee Busch and Judit Fritz both scored 11 points whilst Julia Koppl and Frankie Wurtz amassed 28 rebounds between them. Janice Monakana once again provided a spark off the bench, scoring 10.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, but the Suns took advantage of the Hatters’ difficulties from the field as they converted an efficient 60% of their 2-point shots in comparison to their 35%.
Following the game, Coach Len Busch and guard Judit Fritz shared their thoughts on the win.
Busch commented, ‘Today was a good win over a very good Sheffield team, second time we’ve played them in two weeks.
‘We had a very tight game only winning by three points in the first one and we felt like we needed to score more points and play just as good defense as we did last time and I think we succeeded in that.
We played three very good quarters and got ourselves a nice comfortable lead. We had outstanding play up and down the roster and I’m proud of what we did and we’re looking forward to playing Leicester in the trophy semi-final next week.’
Fritz added, ‘I’m really glad we won. I think we started really well, but then we had some ups and downs during the game but ultimately we came to win and we did win so I’m very happy.’
The Suns now take a break from league duty as they seek to reach the final of the WBBL Trophy next weekend, taking on a Leicester Riders team who they have yet to face this season.
Author: Angelia Ronayne
