Rebels on the Road struggle against Riders
The Essex Rebels Women’s basketball team kicked off their WBBL campaign with a road trip to Leicester Riders this weekend. The two teams clashed throughout the first quarter, but it was the home team that couldn’t seem to miss, racking up 26 points. The Rebels, who were missing key players including American import and last season’s standout first-year Megan Haines, had no true point guard and it showed in the Rebels committing costly turnovers. Despite this, the quarter concluded with only a 10-point gap between the teams. However, the second quarter saw much the same as the Riders scored another 18 points, while the Rebels just couldn’t get into any rhythm and the half concluding with the Rebels facing a 22-point deficit.
The second half began with Leicester not missing a step and continuing their dominance on the offensive end, tallying another 23 points in the quarter and 38 points for the half. Some bright spots emerged for the Rebels but were short lived as they finished with 28 points for the half and dropped their first game with a final score of 82-50.
Head Coach Tom Sadler had this to say after his team’s performance, “It’s tough to take on a team like Leicester, who is going to pressure the ball hard and push the ball in transition, without a true point guard. But there was really no excuse for how sloppy we were with the ball, giving it away 21 times that led to Leicester scoring 24 points and shooting just 15% from 3. The one positive is I know we can play better than what we showed today and once we get all the pieces in and comfortable with our style of play I only see us getting better and more competitive.”
The Rebels take on newly created Caledonia Gladiators for their first home game of the season next Sunday at 4pm. Tickets available across the Rebels social media platforms.
Top Performers Rebels:
*Tia Freeman – 12 points, 8 rebounds
*Andrea Kohlhaas – 10 points, 4 rebounds
Top Performers Riders:
*Ashley Arlen – 25 points, 11 rebounds
*Oliana Squires – 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists
*Hannah Robb – 13 points, 4 assists
