Recap
Newcastle Eagles played at home against unbeaten Northern Premier leaders Manchester Mystics on Sunday 20th November in an expected tough battle.
A fast start from Mystics gave them an early lead with the Eagles girls struggling to get to the basket due to the hard defence and height they were coming up against. The home team seemed to lack energy in the early minutes and had a high number of turnovers which the Mystics were able to exploit as they made it to the basket and, on the occasions they missed, achieved a high number of offensive rebounds. The Eagles girls continued to dig deep and were finally rewarded when a rebound from Grace Rae led to a quick put back which gave the home team their first points of the game. This was followed by a long two from Katherine Bird and this, along with the two free throws from Sophie Hawkins, gave the Eagles a first quarter score of 6-18.
In the second quarter, the Eagles girls knew they had to increase their intensity and widen their choices beyond ball screens and handoffs. A lack of motion caused the girls difficulties and they continued to struggle in finding their way to the basket. An end-to-end drive from Lexie Walton put another two points on the board but the opportunities for the home team were limited. The second quarter ended 4-25 with a half time score of 10-43.
Newcastle Eagles knew they had to go out hard in the second half and they immediately put in place some good defence and a higher intensity pace to the game. Cleo Wealleans-Watts found space along the baseline to drive to the basket putting up a two. Seraphine O’Neill continued to fight hard on defence forcing some turnovers for the visitors and boxing out strongly. The home team continued to get steals and deflections although there remained a high number of turnovers and they continued to find it hard to gain the advantage when rebounding on defence. Ellison Burke continued to find the space to drive hard to the basket adding to the points total from the free-throw line after being fouled and Sophie Hawkins forced a turnover resulting in an open layup. The third quarter ended with a closer score of 9-16.
In the fourth quarter, Eagles once again lacked a bit of motion although the girls continued to fight hard to find their way to the basket. Ava Bensley worked hard to put away a 2 from a successful set play and a steal from Grace Rae resulted in more points on the board. Erica Elsom put in place some good transition defence during her time on court and the girls reduced the number of offensive rebounds that the Mystics were able to make. However, the skill of the visitors continued to prove too much for the Eagles and the quarter ended 10-28 with a full time score of 29-87.
Next week, Newcastle Eagles head to Bristol for the next away game of the season’s campaign.
