MK Breakers Women (68) vs Nottingham Wildcats Women (53)
MK Breakers Women finished the year with a solid 68-53 win against Nottingham Wildcats despite missing a number of key players.
With the Wildcats fielding just seven players, MK’s game plan was to speed the game up by fast-breaking at every opportunity and playing up-tempo defence. On the flip side, it was in Nottingham’s interest to slow the game to conserve energy and avoid fouls, hence the 2-3 zone defence they played for all 40 minutes.
Neither team kept the Table Officials busy in the first quarter as they were unable to get their offences going and their defences cancelled each other out.
Nottingham’s size made it difficult for MK to get to the rim and their long range attempts were unsuccessful. At the end of the first quarter they had only managed to score seven points. However, MK knew how influential Wildcats talented guard, Macy Cook, would be so paying close attention to her stifled Nottingham’s offence and limited the visitors to just four points.
In the second quarter, MK lit up and kept the Table Officials very busy indeed. They quadrupled their score from the first period pouring in 28 points thanks to their zone offence working much better and the three-point attempts dropping. Nottingham also improved their scoring efficiency but found themselves trailing by 18 points at half time (35-17).
Wildcats persisted with their zone defence in the second-half but the spacing and ball movement of the Breakers gave them wide open three-point opportunities which they continued to convert. It was difficult for Nottingham to work out who to focus their defensive attention on as so many of the MK players were knocking down three-point shots and seven players contributed to the team’s 20-point quarter score. Nottingham continued to improve as they posted their best quarter score of the game in the third with 19 points, but they trailed by 19 points going into the final period.
It was more of the same in the final quarter other than Wildcat Rosie Porter hitting a trio of three-pointers and helping her team to reduce the gap by four. However, it was too little, too late and MK secured a well-deserved 15 point victory (68-53) in front of their enthusiastic supporters.
The reliable duo of Lauren Dabbs and Sarah Round led the scoring for the home team with 15 and 14 points respectively. Other highlights included Diane Addo hitting three of the team’s ten three-pointers and Jess Lee, who played last season, making a return to the team.
Reflecting on the season so far, Coach Round commented, “We’ve made tremendous progress since we first got together in July and it’s great to finish the year at the top of the table, but there’s still a job to be done.” He added, “We know there are still gains to be made so I’m looking forward to seeing what this group will achieve in 2026.”
The team return to action in 2026 with a trip to North Herts Knights on the 3rd of January.