Women basketball team successfully defend both their titles

Hackney White Heat women’s basketball team won the London Metropolitan Basketball League Cup final against Westminster Warriors earlier this month at the University of East London’s SportsDock in the Docklands.

This success came on top of the east Londoners winning the league title again for the second season in a row.

White Heat didn’t look prepared for this final game against Westminster and it wasn’t until the third quarter, when the title looked to be slipping out of their hands, that they pulled together and fought for the victory.

Heat’s missing inside player J Maignomo meant that there was a lack of height inside the paint, and Westminster’s post player M Sloane dominated the boards throughout the entire game, racking up her total score of 35 points to become her team’s MVP.

In the first two quarters, Heat missed open lay-ups, forced shots, turned the ball over several times and played catch-up, as Westminster took the first quarter 18-17 before dominating the second 18-12, as Hackney’s N Wallis got into trouble with four personal fouls.

However, the game changed in the third quarter, as Heat turned on a full court press, forcing Westminster to turn over the ball twice.

Lwazi converted two lay-ups before O’Milegan and Samuels also scored as Hackney took the third quarter 18-16, but Westminster still held an overall lead at 52-47.

With the game now back within Heat’s grasps and the team in the ascendancy, Hackney continued with the press and double teamed the Warriors’ top scorer Sloane, eventually tying the score in the second minute of the fourth quarter.

The east Londoners continued to dominate the quarter, running out 25-16 winners, for a final score of 72-68 in favour of Heat.

This cup victory helped Heat to successfully defend their double title as they emulated their success of last season.

In the league, Hackney won an impressive 16 out of their 18 fixtures, suffering losses to second-placed Camden Panthers and London Phoenix.

The women scored 1,285 points, almost 200 more than the Panthers, while condeding just 967 for a points difference of +318.

Heat amassed a total of 50 points to clinch the title, four ahead of Camden and 12 points more than Twickenham Tigers, who finished in third place.

White Heat Squad: Fawah, Rodriguez, Abrahamova, Lwazi, O’Milegan, Walllis, Wilson, Akintokun, Samuels. Coach: Wilson.