Milton Keynes Women (101) vs West Yorkshire Hawks (48)
After a sub-par performance against Manchester the previous week, the Breakers women were keen to prove to themselves and their loyal supporters how well they’re capable of playing when they welcomed West Yorkshire Hawks to the Bletchley Leisure Centre. The training sessions leading up to the game had given MK the opportunity to re-focus and spirits were high going into the contest.
With the Hawks only able to field seven players, MK knew that their guests would struggle to cope with up tempo defence for 40 minutes so the intensity was high right from the start. The strength in depth of the MK team was apparent in the first period as six players contributed to the 21 points and all ten made positive defensive contributions that held the Hawks to just six points.
West Yorkshire came out for the second period with a level of determination that resulted in a number of successful three-point attempts and several trips to the free throw line. To their credit, Hawks more than tripled their first quarter score, but their 21 points was still six points shy of MK’s quarter total (27) thanks to the double-whammy of Sarah Round’s long-range shooting and Lauren Milne’s inside game which gave the Breakers a comfortable 48-27 half-time lead.
Before taking to the court for the second half, Coach Round challenged his players to maintain a high standard for the rest of the game and they didn’t disappoint. The high energy defence continued to disrupt West Yorkshire’s offence, forced the guests to take tough shots, and once again held them to just six points in the third period. After pulling down defensive rebounds, which MK did consistently throughout the game, they pushed the ball down the floor and successfully converted fast break attempts before the Hawks were able to set their zone defence.
Through the final two quarters, when fast breaking wasn’t an option, the Breakers executed their zone offence very well. The spacing and ball movement often ended with under-the-basket shots that kept the home team’s scoring ticking along at an impressive rate. To add to the 23 points they scored in the third period, they poured in another 30 in the fourth, 10 of which came from Tetiana Shevchyk. The Hawks managed to add 15 points to their total in the final quarter. When MK ran the game out, the scoreboard showed 101-48 in MK’s favour.
In the 53-point win, it was encouraging to see that five players reached double figures – Sarah Round (24), Tetiana Shevchyk (17), Vanessa Obanor (15), Lauren Milne (14), Kirsten Moran (13) – and Charleene Tom was just one basket away from joining them.
After the game Coach Round commented, “This was an important game for us. We know we’ve got a talented, experienced squad but we haven’t always performed at the level we should have done. Today we were able to elevate our game.” He added, “We played very well today, but there’s always room for improvement, so we’ll be looking at where we can make gains a get even better.”
With the first half of the season complete, MK are sitting at the top of the table with just one loss. The first game in the second half of the season will be away on 13th December against Charnwood who MK beat 83-55 back in September.