It was five and out for Head Coach Chloe Gaynor and her players down at Sheffield yesterday afternoon. The fifth time Newcastle Eagles had faced the Sheffield Hatters this season and unfortunately the fifth loss to an excellent Sheffield side.

It meant a season ending loss for the Eagles in difficult and disappointing circumstances as their dream of making a second successive top-flight Play-Off Final were shot down by a red-hot Hatters side that exploded almost from the off.

But there can be no recriminations for Newcastle who have had a fabulous season. If anyone way back at the beginning of the campaign had predicted a third place finish and a place in the Play-Off semi final they perhaps would have drawn strange looks.

But Gaynor’s team have battled adversity all season rising to any challenge set with a determination, resilience and togetherness that has served them well throughout the long hard challenge of a top-flight basketball season.

However, in the end it ended in a way that will disappoint Gaynor and her players as they simply could not stop a well-oiled and explosive Sheffield side that dominated at both ends of the court throughout the contest.

Hatters jumped out early and were in front early as the Eagles started slowly both on offence and defence. Perhaps the most crucial run of the game came in that first period. With the Eagles already down by 8 at 17 points to 9, the home side ripped off 12 unanswered points to lead by twenty.

It made it a long tough final thirty minutes although Newcastle did show some fight to close out the first with a Kendall Currence triple and then finally their SLB Players of the Year Tierra Hodges and Jada Guinn finally got going.

Both had been stifled in the first period but both began to find their feet from that moment on. Guinn in particular showing why she’s earned Team of the Year honours. Hodges was effective but perhaps after a three-game lay-off not as effective as she and Gaynor had hoped she would.

It meant that Eagles nicked the second period by two points but were still down by 15 at 48 – 33 as the sides headed for the locker rooms. A big gap against a Sheffield playing in their own Arena in front of their own fans.

Newcastle needed a big third period if they were to have any chance but they reckoned without Hatters’ Emma Gandini. The Sheffield sharpshooter came up with six triples in that third period to shoot the lights out and condemn Newcastle well before the final period commenced.

Gandini was simply sensational all game. 8 of 9 from 3-point range, 1 of 1 from 2-point range, four of four from the free throw line for 30 points in total and added in six assists for good measure. Indeed some of Sheffield’s statistics were remarkable.

Overall, they shot 15 of 23 from 3-point range to Eagles 5 of 15. They outrebounded Newcastle 44 to 25 and had an incredible 31 assists to Eagles 7. Statistics like that for once don’t lie and in truth can not and could not, for once, be answered by Gaynor’s side.

The final ten minutes really being a procession and just a question of what the final margin would be. At the buzzer it was 34 points. Perhaps not necessarily a reflection of the two sides over the season but definitely a reflection of what transpired during the game’s 40 minutes.

Guinn did manage 25 points and also led her side in rebounds with 7. Hodges battled gamely on her return from injury and managed 15 points whilst Currence had 11. But all Sheffield’s starters made double figures with Nina Krisper who did damage early on for Hatters finishing on 19 points.

For Newcastle when the dust settles and the disappoint dissipates they will eventually look back on a season that started badly with the loss of Coach Matt Welby but ended really well and with lots of credit under rookie Coach Chloe Gaynor.