Tees Valley Mohawks Women (62) v MK Breakers Women (58)
MK Breakers suffered their first loss of the season after making the long trip up to Middlesborough to play Tees Valley Mohawks. MK travelled with a depleted squad as three of the normal starters were unavailable, but there was still confidence going into the game as Tees Valley could only field six players – two less than the eight required according to the league rules – but they made it clear that they weren’t going to make it easy for the visitors.
With Tees Valley playing a 2-3 zone defence for 40 minutes, the game was more frustrating than entertaining. MK struggled to break through the zone in the early exchanges and Tees Valley benefitted from several fast break opportunities. The Breakers energy levels seemed to be low, probably as a result of the early start and long journey, but they were able to establish a five point lead by the end of the first quarter (21-16).
Tees Valley fought back at the start of the second period to take a 29-26 lead and the teams then traded baskets for most of the rest of the quarter. A gutsy late run from the Breakers gave them a 36-29 half-time lead, but it was all still to play for.
MK started the second half with what appeared to be some new-found energy. A switch to a 1-3-1 zone forced their opponents to take some tough shots and some great defensive rebounding combined with improved positivity on offence resulted in the Breakers opening up what should have been a secure lead (44-29). However, halfway through the third quarter it was Tees Valley’s turn to change their defensive strategy and the introduction of a full court press proved decisive. A series of MK turnovers allowed the hosts back into the game and going into the fourth quarter, MK’s lead had been cut to just two points (49-47).
The final period followed a similar pattern to the third with MK having more success for the first five minutes and re-establishing a five point lead (54-49). To their credit, Tees Valley refused to accept defeat and continued to cause the Breakers players issues with the press through the latter stages of the game. With less than two minutes left, the Mohawks wrestled the lead from the Breakers one more time and never let it go. The game finished 62-58, although it will be up to Basketball England to decide whether or not the result will stand due to the eight-player rule. Either way, it was a game that MK let slip through their fingers.
The highlights for the Breakers were Vanessa Obanor’s 16 point, 16 rebound double-double and Lauren Dabbs’s 14 points which included shooting 40% from three-point range (4 from 10).
The overall stats for the game make interesting reading as MK had the better two-point shooting percentage (45.2% v 33.3%), the better three-point shooting percentage (27.3% v 18.4%) and they out-rebounded Tees Valley 60 to 47. One of the more relevant stats was the free throws as Tees Valley hit 13 of 23 attempts (56.5%) whereas MK only hit 3 of 8 attempts (37.5%). However, the most important stat of all was the turnovers as the Breakers committed 33 compared to Tees Valley’s 15, which gave the Mohawks what proved to be a significant number of additional offences.
The MK women can now focus on training for a couple of weeks as they don’t have a game in the coming weekend.