Trafford Mystics Women (49) vs Milton Keynes Breakers Women (65)
With the two teams at opposite ends of the league table, it was easy to assume that the Breakers were going to return from their trip up the M6 with a comfortable win against the Trafford Mystics in their back pocket, but the young Manchester team had other ideas. Despite the fact that the MK team was more experienced, the well-coached youngsters fought valiantly for three quarters of the game and gave the visitors a much tougher contest than they were expecting.
There wasn’t much between the two teams in the early minutes and arguably Trafford had the better start, but by the end of the first quarter, the Breakers had opened up a modest four point lead (8-12). As the game moved into the second quarter, MK continued to frustrate Trafford’s offence and rebounded well under their own boards, but they struggled to score at the other end of the floor. Trafford momentarily closed the gap, but MK pulled away again to take a nine point lead into the mid-game break (22-31). Coach Round was happy with the fact that the defence had held Trafford to just 22 points, but he was hoping for a better shooting percentage from his players in the second half.
The Breakers extended their lead to 13 points early in the third period before the Trafford players suddenly raised their game. Their excellent offensive spacing opened up driving lanes and when they failed to score off the drives, they earned themselves trips to the free throw line. In front of their enthusiastic supporters, they clawed their way back into the game and finished the quarter trailing by just one point (45-46). To their credit, they managed to score more points in the third period than they did in the first half.
To avoid what would have been a shock defeat, MK needed to re-group and re-focus. The team came out for the fourth quarter with a level of energy and determination that had been lacking in the first three periods. Three-pointers from Tetiana Shevchyk, Charleen Tom and Sarah Round forced Trafford to take an early time-out, but this did little to halt the momentum of the Breakers. Their smothering defence forced a number of turnovers that were converted into fastbreak points and they continued to pull down defensive rebounds off missed Trafford shot attempts. In the final period, MK matched their best quarter total with 19 points and managed to limit Trafford to just 4 points.
The final score (49-65) somewhat flattered the Breakers as Trafford had played well for three quarters of the game, but when the game was on the line, MK were able to dig deep, pull together and get the job done. Sarah Round led the charge with 20 points and Vanessa Obanor turned in another solid offensive performance with 14 points.
Reflecting on the result, Coach Round commented, “We have a team full of talent and experience, but we need to continue to work on how we gel as a unit, how we find the best options on offence, how we stay tight on defence, and how we do all of that consistently for 40 minutes every game.”
Next game for the Breakers Women will be at home to West Yorkshire Hawks at the Bletchley Leisure Centre on Saturday 6th December at 1:15pm. Entry is free.