Rebels woman tame Eagles in determined performance
The Essex Rebels WBBL team were back in action this past Saturday as they played host to the Newcastle Eagles.
The Eagles came in to this game sitting 7th in the league standings, while the Essex side had dropped from 6th down to 8th place due to the recent losses against Nottingham and Durham.
The game started with both teams looking to establish themselves early. The Visiting side looked in good form as they moved the ball very well to find the hot hand, while the home side looked to dominate the paint, by going inside early to Lu Costa who has had all star perfromances the last two weeks depsite the Rebels recent results. The Rebels also had a big morale boost around the half way mark of the first quarter as they welcomed Carla Beig Salazar back on the court for the first time in over a month, and she did not dissapoint as she quickly made a big three pointer to put the home side up. It was the Essex side who managed to hold on to the lead as they closed out the quarter 22-17.
The confidence boost with the reurn of Salazar seemed to have continued to carry the Rebels through the second quarter and didnt look back as they closed out the first half 39 – 19 holding the Visitors to just two points for the quarter.
The second half started with the home side in control, despite a strong thrid quarter perfromance for the eagles with the Rebels up 47 – 32 going in to the fourth period and not looking back eventually closing out the game 69-44.
Head coach Tom Sadler had this to say ” This was a step in the right direction for us, after the last two weeks perfromances. We showed some real glimpses of how we want to be playing both ends of the floor. Everyone really stepped up in this Win, This was the first time in a long time we had everyone available and healthy to play and i think getting Carla and Dre back on the floor lifted everyones spirits and confidence, the plan moving forward is to build on this and get everyone healthy and where they need to be”
With that win the Essex Rebels have now moved in to 7th place in the wbbl championship.
Top perfromers:
REBELS
Lucrezia Costa: 13 Points, 6 rebounds
Andrea Kohlhaas: 9 Points, 7 rebounds
Angel Waithe: 9 Points 11 rebounds
Ashleigh Munns: 9
EAGLES
M. Fernandez Pardo: 17 Points
D. Cipcic: 12 Points, 9 rebounds
M. Mcvicar:10 Points.
The Rebels are on the road as they travel to Oaklands next weekend.
