2015/16 Game Report
Team
Opposition
Home/Away
Competition
Date
Score
Newcastle Eagles Under 18 Women
Leeds Force
H
EBL Under 18 Women National Cup
18th October 2015
Newcastle Eagles
50
- 53
Leeds Force
Report
The first home game of the season for the U18 Women against a short-handed Leeds Force team. The away team only
travelled with six players but a very good six turned up. Their number 4 opened her 23 point scoring night with a quick two.
Eagles responded with a Sally Mills three pointer. Both teams exchanged baskets until the Eagles went on a small scoring
run with Beth Wilson scoring an and-1 and Sally Mills adding to her scoring. After being told by her coach to shoot the ball,
Orieoma Chukwu-Etu duly obliged the next time down the floor and nailed a three to extend the lead for the Eagles. Ellen
Totton came off the bench with an instant impact with a great drive to the basket for which she was fouled and made one of
the free throws. Eagles however failed to stop their number 4 from scoring as she got a couple more baskets to cut the lead.
Two great free throws from Jess Ingles and another basket from Ellen Totton meant the quarter finished with the Eagles
leading 18-13.
At the start of the second quarter Leeds scored seven in a row to go up two. It was very much the same story as previous
matches for the Eagles who struggled with scoring in the second quarter. A great pass by Beth Wilson however found Jess
Ingles on a back door cut to even up the scoring. Both teams exchanged a few more baskets with Leeds going into the half
winning 26-25.
Period 3 started very much like the rest of the match with both teams going back and forth with baskets. Ellen Donaldson
opened her scoring account which added to a great rebounding night for her. Chelsea Eddowes showed great hustle on
defence to force a few Leeds turnovers which turned into baskets for her teammates. At the end of the third the Eagles were
now down by three.
Leeds went on a small run and extended their lead to 7 points at the start of the fourth. The Eagles however fought back
with Ana Amezaga Kutija giving a solid few minutes on defense at the start of the fourth quarter. Sally Mills continued her
strong scoring and when one of the Leeds players fouled out the Eagles managed to cut the deficit to two with two minutes
to go. Some great free throw shooting by Leeds however extended their lead back to 5. Orieoma Chukwu Etu hit back
straight away with a quick basket. Eagles were therefore down three with one minute to go. Beth Wilson at that point got the
steal and raced down the floor but missed the contested lay up. This was the start of a frantic 20 seconds for the Eagles in
which they had a number of offensive rebounds and opportunities to cut the deficit to 1. It was not converted however and
Leeds finally got the ball and fouled after an interesting out of bounds play. They hit the two free throws with 9 seconds to go
and went up by 5. Beth Wilson got fouled on the buzzer and scored the two free throws for a final score of Leeds 53 - Eagles
50.
Lauren Mumford, captain for the day, said she was very proud of how the team performed and the team were unlucky with
the end result in such a tight game. The Eagles are again showing promise and are hoping to get their first win of the season
against Hatfield next week.