The Caledonia Gladiators take on the Sevenoaks Suns in the quarter-finals of the WBBL cup this Saturday as the Gladiators look to improve on last season’s letdown in this competition against a familiar opponent on the road to Birmingham!
In last year’s competition, Caledonia played and lost two games, a 50-84 loss against the Newcastle Eagles and a 77-42 loss against the Durham Palatinates finishing 0-2.
Our opponents did one better: they lost 81-76 to the London Lions but ended up winning against the Essex Rebels 79-59, finishing 1-1 in the competition but didn’t get far.
The last time these two sides met was the 22nd of October, earlier this season, Radka Stašová with a solid and effective 18 points in a dominant win, giving the Gladiators a perfect 3/3 start to the season.
Renee Busch had a great game for Sevenoaks that game, she played all 40 minutes scoring 24 points on 8/13 (61%) from the field with four three-pointers on the way, she is someone who is definitely on the scouting report for the game on Saturday.
Something the Suns did well last time out was rebound, looking at the flow of the game – the Suns were behind but always in the game due to their rebounding, even taking the third quarter.
The intensity on both sides of the glass for the Suns, 12 offensive boards led to opportunities for second-chance points, Julia Koppl with six of her own – a game-high.
Janice Monakana led the way with a game-high 10 rebounds, contributing to the 42 overall for the Sevenoaks Suns.
One advantage that the Gladiators will have is having the WBBL’s player of the month for September and October, Erin Jones!
Despite not having the best game last time against the Suns, Jones is currently averaging 14.6 points on a brilliant 57.1% from the field and 53.3% from three, both second-highest in the league.
Jones is also averaging nine rebounds, something that can help counteract the Suns and take the Gladiators over the line and into the WBBL Cup semi-finals.
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