East London’s Women’s Basketball first team suffered a heavy defeat to Bournemouth University, losing 65-50 at SportsDock yesterday afternoon. Both sides entered the match with only one win on the season, but Bournemouth took their revenge after UEL had won the reverse fixture.
East London found themselves immediately on the back foot, as Bournemouth scored 10 unanswered points to start the game. Similarly in the second quarter, it took UEL over four minutes to score their first point of the quarter. East London’s slow starts dug themselves a hole that they struggled to play out of, as they found themselves constantly chasing the game.
Sluggish
Defensively, UEL looked sluggish all day. Bournemouth’s Tiffany Valentine proved to be an issue for East London’s defence, as they were unable to find an answer to Valentine’s physical play in the paint. Bournemouth won the majority of rebounds, frequently finding open looks for shots as the hosts were regularly caught ball watching.
East London wasted many of their chances to get back into the game with their poor shooting efficiency, shooting just 32% from the field. Nikita Lopez and Esther Oluade both struggled from the field, shooting only 4-for-17 and 1-for-10 respectively. However, Lopez proved to be UEL’s lone spark on defence, finishing with seven rebounds, three blocks and four steals.
Underutilised
Despite an efficient offensive performance, shooting 4-for-7 from the field and 4-for-5 from free throws, Jessica Beeler felt underutilised all game. Finishing the game with 12 points, East London could have benefited by trying to feed Beeler the ball more as they tried to cut down Bournemouth’s lead. Guard Brenda Kipewu led the scoring for East London on the evening, finishing with 14 points and four assists, while also grabbing four rebounds.
East London face an uphill battle if they are to survive relegation this year, sitting three points adrift from safety with only three games remaining. UEL’s next fixture comes after the Christmas break, when they host Cardiff Met at SportsDock on Wednesday January 19th.
