UCL’s ’mission impossible’ accomplished

By Jo Svensson.
The rivalry has been an epic tale of bloodshed and prestige over the past years. UCL versus Royal Holloway always makes the blood rush a bit quicker, a bit hotter through the veins. This time was no different as RHUL Lady Bears travelled to London in the early hours of the Sunday morning to play UCL in the first game of the ULU Cup. Unfortunately, the ladies were not able to defend their title from last year – won in the final against just UCL – and found themselves defeated, for the first time in two years (!) with 43-48. 
The game had been postponed from last term, cancelled, and then postponed again. Finally, UCL had Holloway come in for 10am tip-off at Somerset Sports Centre. The ULU Cup round one and a repeat of last year’s final where RHUL came out on top to secure the title. Previously, UCL has never been in the lead even in a game between the archrivals (perhaps there was that one time where they had a minute of glory one point ahead), so when the first quarter finished 10-9 to the home team, the ladies looked perplexed. What was happening? At half-time, after a step-up from the Bears in the second quarter, the score stood 20-19 to UCL.
So it was time for the infamous third quarter. Time and time again this year have games wavered, and even fallen apart, in just this stage of the game. Accordingly, there seemed to be a lid on the left-hand side basket in Euston. The ladies moved perfectly in offence, swinging the ball and forcing the daring UCL defence to move. Trouble is, if you can’t make the easy chances generated by the excellent offence, the score will stand still. There are no comfort points. The crucial moment in the game was when RHUL missed four straight stupidly easy scoring opportunities, thereby losing eight points in their favour. Instead of going into the fourth quarter with one point up on UCL, the score was 35-28 and Holloway had to fight.
And fight they did. Jocelyn Lau and Kristine Flyvholm found the basket from the perimeter and scored 9-0 on a shocked UCL. The awakening came a little too late, however, and time was not on the ladies’ side. With a final score of 48-43 for the home team, the Bears are now out of the ULU Cup and will have to focus on the ULU League where they remain undefeated.
UCL will now most likely face Imperial College or King’s College in the next round; two teams they’ve lost to previously this season. In the BUCS League 1A, UCL finished in fifth place out of six teams and will therefore be shoved back into 2A for next season. That’s too bad for them.
Scorers: Kristine Flyvholm 18, Alice Couten 9, Jocelyn Lau 6, Iv Christova 4, Shanty Cheung 4, Levke Rickmers 1

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