Newcastle Eagles bounced back in tremendous style in Saturday’s Super League Basketball Women’s Championship game against the Nottingham Wildcats taking a well deserved victory by 89 points to 64 to move to third in the table with a 5 wins 2 losses record

The Wildcats made things difficult for Newcastle especially in the first half. They employed a 3-2 zone defence that player-coach Chloe Gaynor’s side found difficult to break down, but gradually her players found a way and three in particular shone.

Guard Jada Guinn forming a great 1-2 punch with forward Tierra Hodges proving to be the biggest thorns in the Wildcats side. Guinn had 34 points adding in 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Hodges with a powerful 24 points and 9 rebounds. However, two players alone very rarely win you a game.

The third wheel that helped cement Newcastle’s victory came from the bench with rookie Kendall Currence, who ended with 16 points and 7 rebounds, giving a huge energy spark to the team when on court.

“I thought communication was big, as considering last game I felt like we didn’t talk much,” the US guard said.

“This game we played a lot more together, communicated better and in the last two quarters really got our second motor.

“We had to work out their zone and just needed to find the gaps and read their defence.

“At first it caused us to be a little bit stagnant but once we got into our flow and really got going.

“We talked with Chloe [Gaynor] at half-time and she kept saying we had another level and I think we showed that in the second half.”

Currence had already made an impact in the first twenty minutes, but her continuing effective presence at both ends of the court and the energy she brought enabled Guinn and Hodges to flourish.

“I just try to do the dirty work. We have plenty of capable scorers, capable rebounders”, Currence added.

“For me it’s to come in and try to be as impactful as I can. I’m happy anywhere in this team.

“Anywhere I can make an impact and quite frankly whenever we get a win I don’t care whether I start or not.

“Our chemistry as a team has come together really well for us in the last four months and I think there’s still more in the tank for us to be together and keep working and see where that takes us by the end of the season.”

Kendall has been developing across her rookie season and is really starting to make a big impact on games, coming off the bench to tremendous effect. Over the seven Championship games now played she’s now recording 14.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.

The Temple University graduate’s emergence and continuing progress is certainly marking her out as a player to watch on the Eagles roster this season and showing exactly why Newcastle coveted her signature for her rookie professional season.