Sublime St Hilda’s trounce the Teddies
Cuppers Women’s Basketball
St Hilda’s..................................................51 Teddy Hall................................................9
Friday morning’s knockout Women’s Basketball Cuppers game featured a well-rounded St Hilda’s squad against an inexperienced and undermanned St Edmund side. A valiant effort from Teddy Hall was not enough to curb Hilda’s relentless attack, and St Hilda’s advanced on a 51-9 rout. St Hilda’s broke out early in the game, as an attack led by Blues guard Victoria Tam passed the ball crisply around the perimeter.
Tam consistently found open teammates all game long, and especially Caroline Sherrington in the paint early on. Sherrington dropped 10 points in the first half—and 16 in the game—and dominated the St Edmund forwards for rebounds as well. On the other side of the ball, Teddy Hall had great difficulty passing against a stingy St Hilda’s scheme.
Teddy Hall stars Caroline Hickson and Natalie McManus looked for openings to exploit, but were often blocked to the basket by the strong efforts of Sherrington and fellow powerhouse Rota Vavilova. Teddy Hall’s frustration led to frequent errant passes, and the swift Claire McDonald was often there to whisk the ball away down floor on the fast break. McDonald had five steals in the game, converting most for easy lay ups down court.
Her 16 points— along with Sherrington—led the way for St Hilda’s. The home side simply dominated in the early going and built up an insurmountable 28 point lead at halftime. Down 31-3, a distraught St Edmund captain begged her team to lock down at the break and not allow the home side to 50 points, but her pleas were to no avail. Victoria Tam once again took control of the floor, showing no mercy against a tiring Teddy Hall team.
Though the rest of the squad had trouble putting home easy shots under the hoop for much of the second half, Tam took the ball from the perimeter on her own. Scoring eight in the second frame, she finished with 14 on the game, and added countless assists as well. Caroline Hickson provided flashes of brilliance for the otherwise overwhelmed Teddy Hall team. Hickson scored five of the team’s nine points and was tenacious on the glass at both ends of the floor.
Constantly on the defensive, she was simply overwhelmed by the number of offensive weapons sported by St Hilda’s. Hickson was content to slow the game down in the back court, but to no avail. Rota Vavilova chipped in five points for St Hilda’s, and both Abby Schlageter and Yong Jae performed well off the bench. St Hilda’s, with the impressive 42 point victory, advance to the next round Tuesday morning at Iffley Road., and will sure to be full of confidence following this performance.
8th Jun 2006