Basketball: Caledonia Pride have hearts broken | Edinburgh Kings reign

By The Newsroom
Published 29th Oct 2018, 11:54 BST
Updated 29th Oct 2018, 11:58 BST
..
.
League leaders City of Edinburgh Kings beat Boroughmuir Blaze by a single point at The Crags, while there was another epic finish in the Women's British Basketball League as Caledonia Pride had their hearts broken by Nottingham Wildcats.

Kings put their unbeaten record on the line against Blaze in a repeat of January’s Scottish Cup final and Blaze looked certain to take revenge when they led by seven points with barely a minute left.

In a frantic Kings fightback, Ali Mackay draw them level at 74-74 and although Blaze nudged ahead again, Konrad Kantorski made it 76-75 to the visitors with 3.1 seconds remaining. Boroughmuir’s Chris Arazim still had a chance to repeat last month’s winning three-pointer against Falkirk, but this time he missed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Kings continue their cup defence this Saturday when they visit Ayrshire Tornadoes in the quarter-finals, while Blaze host league champions St 
Mirren next Tuesday.

Edinburgh University remain winless after going down 79-56 to Dunfermline Reign, while Edinburgh Lions imploded in the third quarter as Falkirk Fury thrashed them 107-59.

In the women’s league, champions City of Edinburgh Kool Kats outclassed Polonia Phoenix 85-38, with Emma Findlay top-scoring with 22 points.

Lady Rocks joined Kats at the top of the table with a win over Edinburgh University. The students led 54-41 in their first match in over a month, but 
eventually lost 68-62.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nottingham’s Chelsey Schumpert did the damage from long range as Caledonia Pride were denied in agonising fashion in Grangemouth on Sunday.

Having beaten Oaklands Wolves 66-59 in Paisley on Saturday, Pride had a double in their sights when Pollyanna Storie put them 11 points up in the final quarter.

The gap had shrunk to four with under a minute to go and Shumpert’s three-pointer then gave Wildcats the edge with nine seconds left.

Pride coach Bart Sengers called a time-out and Tia Weledji restored their lead with four seconds remaining, yet there was still time for Schumpert to sink the winning shot and seal a 75-73 win for the visitors.

Pride welcome Manchester Mystics to Oriam this Sunday.