Sevenoaks Suns Basketball team bounced back at the weekend as they seek to get revenge on last year’s WBBL Trophy loss to Leicester Riders, having beaten them in the same final the year before.
Just one week after being pipped to the WBBL Cup at Arena Birmingham, a disappointed Sevenoaks Suns took a stride in the direction of another showpiece final as they defeated BA London Lions and Essex Rebels in a Trophy double-headed weekend.
Sevenoaks put the Cup Final disappointment firmly behind them with an emphatic 80-55 win over BA London Lions on Saturday afternoon in Barking.
The dominant victory saw Suns take an early lead in their WBBL Trophy group, with Barking bottom and Essex Rebels to play their first Trophy game against Sevenoaks on the Sunday.
Sevenoaks dominated London in almost all categories, with 25 points coming from turnovers, 12 on the fast break, 28 from the bench and 10 from second chances.
Although that wasn’t before London opened the game with a promising 8-4 lead within the first couple minutes, but then the Suns exploded on a 11-0 run, which gave them the lead which they would never surrender.
Cat Carr put 22 points on the board for Sevenoaks and also provided eight key assists to return them to winning ways.
Sevenoaks spread the points around the squad once again with Carr high-scoring on 22, Janice Monakana (17), Tayani Clark (16), Vanessa Da Silva (11), Julia Koppl and Judit Fritz (6).
Essex Rebels come to town
Essex Rebels felt the full force of Sevenoaks in the second of two Trophy games at the weekend, as the Suns completed a 94-45 demolition.
They edged towards the semi-finals of the Trophy as they went 2-0 in their Group as they stormed past Essex Rebels to follow up Saturday’s win at BA London Lions.
Sevenoaks were in control at both ends of the floor as they recorded a massive 17 steals and shot 50% from the floor, showing the massive difference between the two teams.
There was no turning point in this game as Suns bolted out of the blocks right from the tip and within minutes were already out of sight.
Carr was on fire for the second time in as many days and garnered 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds, while Monakana top scored with 19 points. As ever, the points were shared around the players and Fritz was back on the board with 17 first half points. Koppl (12), Clark (11), Jessica Good and Renee Busch both added seven apiece as well.
The Trophy competition
Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a loss. The team that is top of each division after a round-robin of matches goes into the semi-finals at the end of February.
It is highly anticipated that Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters and Leicester Riders will join Sevenoaks in the semis, although the North 1 Division will have to be decided between three evenly matched teams in Newcastle Eagles, Durham Palatinates and Caledonia Pride.
There will then be an open draw determining the semi-final match ups.
• For a full Cup Final review please see our ‘On the road with… Sevenoaks Suns’ feature in the February issue of Sevenoaks Sports, out this week.
