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Match Report by Jed Forson
Gladiators suffer a tough loss on the road in France in the second game of their EuropeCup Women’s campaign.
The Gladiators were down by double digits early on, and despite a late rally, they were defeated by a strong BLMA in Montpellier.
They entered the game off the back of a large victory against Durham on Saturday and were looking to get their European campaign off the ground after a narrow loss on game week one.
The starting five for the game was Mathilde Domenger, Hannah Robb, Maya Price, Kat Tudor and Kirsty Brown.
The game got off to a rough start for the Gladiators. BLMA opened the game on a 14-0 run, and the Gladiators did not put their first points on the board until seven minutes into the quarter.
Sloppiness with the ball lead to turnovers and shooting struggles shooting just 19% from the field and 0/10 from three meant Caledonia ended the quarter down by 14.
The offence continued to be stagnant in the second quarter and the half ended with the Gladiators 0/21 from the three-point line.
The defence did improve and begin generating turnovers but failure to capitalise on the offensive end meant the deficit was increased going into the half.
In the third quarter the shooting did improve, making four 3 pointers whilst still generating turnovers at a similar rate. Caledonia ended up winning the quarter after again starting slow as the lead was increased to 32 at one point.
For a brief moment, a miraculous comeback didn’t seem out of the question- especially after early threes from Mcghee and Lewis- as the Gladiators fought to bring the lead back under 20 for the first time since the early second quarter. However, BLMA were able to stabilise and see out the victory
MVP on the night for Caledonia was Erin McGarrachan off the bench who finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.
It’s another European tie up next for the Gladiators as they look to bounce back against Neptunas in Lithuania next Thursday.
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