The East London Phoenix hosted the Worcester Wolves on the 19th of February in both teams’ third game of the BWB season. The Phoenix were looking to get back to winning ways following their result against Loughborough Lightning the week prior, while the Wolves were hoping to get their first win of the year.
Exciting Defense
The first bucket of the game came from Phoenix’s Freya Levy, as she drained a shot from the top of the key, in a first quarter which saw both teams play exciting defense and hold each other to just the six points each.
Alice McHaffie explained after the game, that she believed the reason behind such a low scoring first quarter was due to the players finding their shot and warming up.
However, the second quarter was when it got serious as both teams found their shooting form and started scoring. Both sides kept playing a physical game on defense, but Amy Conroy zoned in offensively and started finding her way through the Wolves, scoring 17 points in the second quarter alone and grabbing 11 rebounds before half-time. Conroy chipped in with three brilliant steals while McHaffie found her way around the basket and added four points to the tally in the second.
The first half finished 31-18 in favour of the in-form Phoenix. Sarah Hope and Jade-Louise Loughlin both combined for a total of 16 points, scoring the majority of Wolves team’s points by half-time.
Beth on Fire
Beth Wheeler opened the second half with a three-pointer, her first of the season, and continued to score the first seven points of the quarter, which saw her finish the third quarter leading the charge with 10 points. The Phoenix established a full-court press which seemed to work well, allowing them to build on the lead even more. The East London side were up by 16 points at one point in the third before the Wolves gained some momentum and closed the quarter with three straight buckets from Hope and Keyla Bell.
The third quarter finished 42-28 for the home side.
Wheeler continued her stellar performance as she came up with a couple of great reads defensively which led to her grabbing two steals in the fourth. With a little over five minutes left in the last quarter the Phoenix side felt confident in their lead and made sure that every player got at least 10 minutes of action to close out the game. The young duo of Emily Braithwaite and Alice McHaffie scored the last six points of the game leading the Phoenix team to a 53-42 victory at home.
The two teams will go head-to-head again once again this Saturday the 26th of February, however this time Phoenix will make their way to Worcester.
