Women's Basketball: Scotland v Wales

A routine victory for the Scottish women, behind a balanced offense that saw five players hit double figures, sets up a title clash with England in tomorrow’s match at Heriot-Watt (1:30pm, CSE). Scotland started poorly in this game, though, and led only 10-6 after five minutes of play, despite their pressure defence forcing the Welsh into a huge number of turnovers – 46 in the match as a whole – but went on to build a commanding 28-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. A three from Rebecca Cumming highlighted the Scottish scoring run, and she was to go on to register fifteen points in the match.

A three from Lisa Haldane stretched the Scottish lead to 33-9 early in the second, before the Welsh hit double figures at the 6:40 mark. The highlight of the second period was undoubtedly a massive block by Scotland guard Suzanne Burns, who got up to swat a Welsh shot attempt out of bounds on the baseline, and keep the Scottish lead to thirty points at 41-11 with four minutes left in the half. Two free throws from Gillian Baird, who finished as top scorer with 19, kept the scoreboard ticking over, and the Scottish lead was forty at half-time: 57-17.

The third quarter saw continued Scottish dominance, with the most surprising play an offensive rebound and put-back from Scotland’s diminutive guard, Sarah O’Brien, who was to register fifteen points, four steals and five rebounds in twenty-four minutes of play. Scotland kept up the ball pressure, and Wales struggled to break it. A nice spin move and shot from Joelle Moreno was the highlight of the quarter for the Welsh, who trailed by a massive 73-27 at the end of the third.
Scotland looked to perfect their pressure defence in preparation for their crunch match with the English the next day, and Ali Mitchell did a good job of protecting the basket when the Welsh broke through, blocking two shots in the fourth quarter. Rachel Woods converted a tough lay-up at the basket, and converted the free throw for a rare Welsh highlight, and the only question that remained was whether or not the Scots would rack up a hundred points. They fell just short of that total, though a three-pointer from Baird at the buzzer would have seen them reach triple-figures. As it was, the game finished 97-36 in favour of the Scots, with the game never in doubt after a sloppy opening five minutes.

Players of the game

Scotland: Gillian Baird, Sarah O’Brien, Rebecca Cumming, Lisa Haldane and Emma Findlay all scored in double figures, with 19, 15, 15, 13 and 13 points respectively. Nicola McBrierty grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go with three steals, while Kara Gillies had a productive fifteen minutes on court, with 6 points, 5 steals, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Wales: Rebecca Mole was Wales’ best player in this game, with team-highs of 9 points and 8 rebounds. Rachel Woods, with 7 points and 4 assists also did well, and shot 100% from the free throw line.