Varsity: Basketball losses derail winning start

Coventry Women’s Basketball 52-50 Warwick Women’s Basketball

The Warwick women’s basketball team were left distraught after a buzzer-beater three-point attempt, thought to have won them the game by players and fans alike, was ruled to have been shot after time had run out.

The match was exciting throughout. Both sides started reasonably well, with most of the points coming in the first quarter by the way of fouls and free-throws. Warwick point guard Angela Torres immediately caught the eye with her sidewinding, hop-and-stutter dribbling. To close a tight quarter she teed it up to Joella Appiah who gracefully sunk the following three-pointer. It was 17-18 in favour of Warwick going into the break.

The second quarter followed on similarly to the first with neither side managing to stretch out any meaningful lead. Coventry were especially effective and fast on the counter; whenever Warwick scored they always seemed able to muster an immediate response. At half-time the game was poised at 33-34.

Into the third and fourth quarter and Coventry put their foot down on proceedings. A succession of threes saw them go ahead on the scoresheet, while an emphatic block sent the Coventry fans wild. Warwick, on the other hand, began forcing their shots under the increasing pressure. With one minute left it was 52-48 to the hosts, with Warwick missing two crucial free throws

As the clocked ticked down, however, momentum seemed to shift back to Warwick. A well-placed mid-range shot brought them within two, with the crowd screaming them on. From there it was all mayhem. Miruna Dudeac, trying her best to keep within the time limit, went for the last ditch three. Her shot was on the money and Warwick were off celebrating.

Sport, however, can be so despairingly harsh sometimes. In actuality, her shot came half a second too late. It took a while for the Warwick fans to realise and when they did they could not believe it. The score line still read 52-50 and all of a sudden Coventry were the ones celebrating. Agonising stuff.

Greg Moore

Warwick Men’s Basketball 60-74 Coventry Men’s Basketball

Warwick Men’s Basketball were comfortably beaten 74-60 by local rivals Coventry on the first night of Varsity on Friday evening, at the Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre.

Warwick fell behind early on, as the hosts raced to a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter and the visitors never really recovered from the early setback.

Warwick’s primary scoring outlet Shaq Amon-Ra led the team with 27 points, but with a lack of support from his team-mates, the Bears never threatened to close the gap between themselves and their local rivals.

Coventry never let Warwick reduce the gap to anything smaller than 13 points, and much of their success can be pinpointed to the lack of success Warwick had from beyond the arc. Fewer than 20% of the away side’s shots were from three point range, with much of the long-range-shot-burden resting on Shaq’s shoulders, who made just five of his 18 attempts.

Amon-Ra was effervescent in his point guard role, and when he re-entered the fray in the fourth quarter, there was a mini-revival where Warwick reduced the gap to 14 with six minutes to play, but it wasn’t enough as Coventry held on with ease.