The Bears were able to take advantage of Kingston’s slow return to their half-court in order to set up their defence, thus allowing our players to score easy baskets in fast breaks. The Bears’ point guard, Shanty Cheung, ran relentlessly up and down the court, exhausting the opponents. Unfortunately for Kingston, they arrived with a squad of only seven players to our twelve, so many of them ran out of breath very quickly and did not have time to recover. Due to such disadvantage, Kingston players, tired and confused by the intensity of the game, let their defence slip and left space for our players to penetrate inside the key. Moreover, their offensive drills were met with resistance and pressure from the Bears’ strong defensive structure, denying the ball on the help-side and guarding their players in a man-to-man defence at the same time. Ultimately, the exhaustion of Kingston players resulted in multiple turnovers. The Lady Bears steadily increased the gap on the scoreboard, especially thanks to top shooters Shanty Cheung (23 points), Alice Couten (18 points), Elle Hughes (15 points) and Johanna Svensson (12 points).
The season has started well for the Lady Bears, with an easy win and without any major injuries. There are things to work on, but there is certainly a solid foundation which can be developed for the coming fixtures.
Words by Anna Dyachenko
RHUL Lady BEARS 89 – 66 Kingston University
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
The Lady Bears kicked off the new season with a bang, defeating Kingston 89-66 last Wednesday afternoon.
On top of an advantage in height, our team has certainly made use of better communication skills in defence as well as offence. This is particularly striking considering that over half of this year’s team is composed of ‘freshers’. The game against Kingston University was the first opportunity for the old and new members of the Lady Bears to play competitively with one another. The outcome of the game proves that the Bears have taken a lot from the two weeks of pre-season training and established a strong bond and team spirit on as well as off court.
The Ladies’ new Head Coach, Natasha Green, was ecstatic with the game result and the amount of effort the girls have put in during training. She is determined to keep the intensity up, especially now that the standard has been set with RHUL Women’s basketball winning their first game of the season with a score to match that of WNBA standards – the highest score yet for the team.
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