The Founder interview with Captain Ian Jeffery and President Nick Heff

Men's publicist Alfred Tan digs into the history and motivations of basketball's Ian Jeffery and Nick Heff in a revealing interview for Royal Holloway's independent newspaper The Founder.

Click the link and read about the season so far, what it's like having an ex-NBA player as coach and why RHUL students should come watch the Bears play:

The Founder interview!

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RHUL vs UCL

By Jo Svensson

After Sunday's crushing of UCL 2nds, Royal Holloway Lady Bears surely expected a vengeful 1st team to come to Nobles on Wednesday. As if our ladies needed any extra spark! UCL and Royal Holloway enjoy a long history of rivalry and given last season's five (!) defeats, Lady Bears had no plans on breaking their winning streak. Today was just another day. Final score: 71-65 to Holloway and, yet again, the voices echoed as UCL left Nobles with gloomy faces: "UC-WHAT?"

What a start of the game! As UCL were occupied missing free-throws, RHUL's Shanty Cheung and Alice Couten had the time of their life, scoring Holloway up to a 16-7 lead with help from Jocelyn Lau and Levke Rickmers. It was evident that UCL had lost many players from the previous season and found it difficult to merge together and play as a team. Which Royal Holloway did not mind; not at all. The second quarter proved more troublesome. Some misses in defence and a zone defence which needs to be worked on, RHUL fouled and fouled again and UCL shot themselves up to 31-27, still leaving Holloway in the lead.

Second half. The Ladies walked out of the changing rooms and looked -tired. This tiredness translated onto court and UCL took advantage, as you would expect, and a sloppy defence from Holloway led them once more repeatedly to the free-throw line to score. A number of unchallenged shots and the score was 48-46. The game promised a thrilling ending. "I'm going to have a heart attack if we continue like this," said coach Green afterwards. Quite understandable. With no more than 3 minutes left, the score was 65-63 to RHUL after a 3-pointed by a wide open UCL player. An impressive 6/8 free-throws made by Kristine Flyvholm, Jocelyn Lau and Alice Couten in the last minutes kept UCL at the distance of 6 points and determined the final result. Yet another excellent effort by Iv Hrstova, who had to step in as a core component of the zone defence when Levke Rickmers and Alice Couten both found themselves on four fouls.

Final score: 71-65 and RHUL Lady Bears are STILL undefeated in BUCS League 1A!

Scorers: Alice Couten 18, Shanty Cheung 17, Jocelyn Lau 16, Kristine Flyvholm 12, Luisa Miranda 2, Vicky Bright 1

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RHUL Lady Bears remain undefeated in BUCS

By Jo Svensson

Last Wednesday saw one of the most hyped up games of the season when RHUL Bears welcomed University of Kent to Nobles. Many were the memories from last season's first, and only, defeat in BUCS for the Lady Bears when the last game of autumn term was played at Holloway against just Kent. That game was lost in the last five seconds of the game and for a while it looked as though Kent were to repeat history. However, with 12 players fully determined not to grant them that lucky shot again, our ladies pulled it together to win by 59-58 in a game where a minute never has seemed longer than that final one.

Royal Holloway cut right to the chase and shocked Kent with two straight 3-pointers signed Kristine Flyvholm and Jocelyn Lau and continued to dominate the first quarter, much thanks to a tight defence. As a humble gesture, Kent, although repeatedly sent to the line, missed 5/8 free-throws and thereby landed RHUL a lead 20-13 after 10 minutes. Holloway's women struggled with the height disadvantage but fought bravely under the basket against Kent's post players.

In the second quarter, Kent stepped up their game and edged nearer RHUL on the scoreboard to a half-time score of 53-51. It was now RHUL's turn to miss free-throws and consequently Kent seized the opportunity to get back in the game. Half-time, coach Tasha Green led her team into the changing rooms to cool down, allow them to gather their heads and speak strategy for the second half. If possible, the ladies seemed even more shattered when stepping onto the court in the third quarter. Kent were allowed easy baskets and after a concluding 0-5 in the last 2 minutes, the fourth quarter began with, for the first time, Holloway lagging behind, 47-48.

And what a final quarter. Royal Holloway reclaimed the lead within the first four minutes with Alice Couten scoring 7 points and Iv Hrstova putting up a good fight in defence, leaving the score at 56-52 in the home team's favour. The game seemed in control of the paws of the Bears. Until Kent scored. And scored again. Suddenly it was 58-57 and evil memories from the previous season surely entered one or two old minds. Finally, however, with less than two minutes left, Kristine Flyvholm scored on a 3-point play and thereby left Royal Holloway winners.

Scorers: Alice Couten 22, Kristine Flyvholm 20, Levke Rickmers 6, Vicky Bright 4, Iv Hrstova 2, Jocelyn Lau 3, Shanty Cheung 2

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RHUL Lady Bears vs UCL 2nds

By Alfred Tan

As the opposing team UCL started their game with a battle chant of “UC-what?! UC-L!”, “UC-what?” was how it ended.

The central London university students proved to be no match for the home squad as they managed to only score 4 points in the first quarter compared to Holloway’s 18. The basketball match up ended at 77-32, in favour of our very own ladies on the hardwood.

Shanty Cheung ended the first quarter with a turn around fade away jumper at the buzzer. The game would then eventually proceed with Captain Alice Couten leading the pack of the femme fatales as they gave themselves continuous free looks to the basket spurring from the beautiful flow of their offense. Also noteworthy of mention were Grace Shaw and Louisa Miranda, who both combined to nail shot after shot stemming from the incompetence of UCL’s zone defence.

In the last quarter, UCL played with a mental note of desperation as they heaved 3 pointer after 3 pointers in the hopes of cutting down Royal Holloway’s massive lead. But this was to no avail and was most evident from the amusing antics of the opposing team’s coach during the game where all his efforts of a comeback where thwarted by the home team’s execution of their strategy.

What is most noticeable from this game is the vast improvement of the women’s team from last year. In this game, the ladies moved the ball around like seasoned veterans. A quick penetration here, quick kick out to the wing, capitalizing on picks, this indeed was quality basketball that the coach had wanted.

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RHUL Men’s Basketball feeling Christmas-y.

By Alfred Tan

As the festive season of Christmas looms near, the feeling is felt throughout campus. It is the season of giving they say, and give indeed, is what the Royal Holloway Bears did when they gave Goldsmiths University basketball team a trashing they would always remember.

The final score, 94-29 in favor of Royal Holloway, says everything. Throughout the match, Royal Holloway came out with guns-a-blazin’ as they seemed to connect on almost every shot attempt they did.

But the feeling was reciprocal, Goldsmiths felt like they had to return the favour, only in other aspects. Turnovers were abundant this game as the opposing team looked more like a netball team, immobile on the hardwood, giving way for Royal Holloway to capitalize on their mistakes. the Bears held Goldsmiths scoreless for at least 5 minutes every quarter as a reflection of the final tally.

Zippin’ and zaggin throughout the match, the game featured some highlights including numerous penetrations by Van Yao and a power move off a fast break from Captain Ian Jeffery.

Nick Heff gave everyone a shock start as he fell to the floor in the first few minutes writhing in pain from a ligament strain. He would eventually return like a soldier to his battlefield and proceed to deliver 4 long range bombs from beyond the arc, finishing with 20 points and 8 assists.

But the revelation this game was the prowess of rookie Billy Drakeley, the American exchange student flashed the crowd with his crafty ball handling. In one instance, he ran almost the full length of the court of a steal as he slips by the whole opposing team’s defence topped off by a finishing move that featured remarkable hang time. Drakeley came out as the leading scorer with 23 markers.

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Interview: Kristine Flyvholm, Lady BEARS Basketball

The Founder Volume 5 Issue 4 2010

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