Dragons lose 68 – 81 away to Leopards while the women's team walk off with cup
Published on: 24th October 2011
Bradford Dragons lost on the long road trip away by 68 -81 against London Leopards in their last EBL National Trophy pool game. Dragons started brightly but Leopards pulled it back to take a 23 – 20 lead at the first break. A poor second quarter by Dragons saw Leopards pull further ahead to lead 40 – 31 at half time. There was no improvement from Dragons as the London side also won the third quarter to lead 61 – 48 and the end of the third. However Dragons finally raised their game to tie the last quarter as Leopards ran out worthy winners 81 – 68 on the night.
For Dragons, Michal Ciesla scored 15, Bobby Edmunds made 13 and Chris McGrew hit 11 points.
After the game Coach Chris Mellor said, ’We were good for the first five minutes and the last five minutes but for the other 30 we were awful. We allowed them too many easy transition baskets and didn’t get physical enough on the boards. We had already qualified for the final knock out phase of the competition but I don’t think this was a factor in anyone’s mentality. Leopards were better than us in most departments on the day, simple as that’.
Elsewhere for Dragons, in a full week of competition there was a mixed bag of results Dragon 3 lost 42 – 100 away to Mandela Warriors in the Leeds league knock out cup, Dragons U14 were losing heavily at home to Leeds Carnegie when the game was abandoned following a serious injury to a Leeds player, Dragons U18 lost 54 – 70 at home to Leeds Carnegie U18 and Dragons U16 spilled an early lead to lose 70 – 75 to visitors York Vikings. Dragons women’s won away against Manchester Slam Dunkin Divas 77 to 12 in their opening game in the National Founders Women’s cup and Dragons 2 recovered from trailing 28 – 40 at half time with a third quarter blitz to power their way to their first EBL division 4 league win by 71 – 60 away to Oldham Titans with Valdis Kravalis top scoring for Dragons 2 with 16 points. The following day, Dragons U16 lost 68 – 96 away to Leeds Carnegie U16 in the Sureshot U16 Cup and Dragons U18 also went down 34 – 99 away to Trafford in the Sureshot U18 cup
Dragons next home game is the first EBL division 1 game against Worthing Thunder on Saturday 29/10/11, tip off 6.15pm at the Trinity Green sports hall, Bradford College, Trinity Road, Bradford BD5 0JE.
This will be followed the next day Sunday 30/10/11 at 4.15pm at Trinity Green by the eagerly awaited National Cup round 3 game against Leeds Met Carnegie for a place in the quarter finals of the National Cup. This local derby game is one not to miss
Admission is £5 adults, £2.50 under 16s, concessions and students and family tickets [adults + 2 children] are £10
For more details on the Bradford Dragons go to www.bradforddragons.co.uk or visit Bradford Dragons for the Community on Facebook
Bradford Eurocamp takes place between Monday 23/7/12 and Friday 27/7/12 based at Bradford College, visit www.bradfordeurocamp.co.uk for more information and contact info@bradforddragons.co.uk to pre order a free colour brochure
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GREAT START FOR BRADFORD DRAGONS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL IN THE INAUGURAL ENGLAND BASKETBALL NATIONAL FOUNDERS CUP!
Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball team travelled to the University of Manchester on Saturday 22nd October to match up against the Slam Dunkin’ Divas in the inaugural England Basketball Women’s National Founders Cup coming away with a 12 – 77 victory!
In highly anticipating this game all week, Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball team were looking forward to stepping up to the National Founders Cup level against Slam Dunkin’ Divas who were coming off a great summer of preparation in international tournaments. Dragons started the game in complete control taking a 0 – 20 lead though the combined efforts of Katie (captain), Sammy, Rachel and Natalia plus Lynda and Dana in their 2011/12 Dragons debut. After a second quarter lapse of concentration [3 – 9], Dragons continued to rotate all players into the game sparking a 0 – 23 run in the third quarter to extend the game lead to 09 – 58. Slam Dunkin’ Divas continued to work hard to create shooting opportunities for each other finishing the game 12 – 77 resulting in Dragons jumping to the top of the National Founders Cup North league.
BDWB Points = Sammy Drake (19), Lynda Alderson (12 – FTs 2 of 6), Natalia Laing (12 – FTs 2 of 2), Dana Kima (11 – FTs 3 of 4), Claire Doherty (10 – FTs 0 of 4), Rachel Tunnacliffe (8), Katie Vaines (3 – FTs 0 of 2), Esther Joyce (2), Laura Moloney & Marta Wrzalik-Ciesla.
BDWB Head Coach Mark Gunn [recently appointed as Assistant Coach with the English Universities Women’s Basketball Team], said:
“Prior to the game we expected a challenging fixture especially with several key Dragons players being unavailable due to injury and awaiting international clearance to play but this plight was mirrored by Slam Dunkin’ Divas suffering from less depth than us in only fielding seven players. Coach Verges [Slam Dunkin’ Divas] continued to positively encourage her team throughout the game with the Divas setting effective high ball screens and attempting to drive to the basket, I expect they will develop into a threat as the season progresses – good luck to them next weekend versus Derby Trailblazers.”
Georgia Tsakiri [Slam Dunkin’ Divas Chair] commented:
“It was a great pleasure playing against such a strong and talented team! For the return fixture in February 2012 we hope to have our full squad!”
Coach Gunn continued to say:
“All players demonstrated how they are starting to come together as a team with Claire, Esther, Katie, Marta and Rachel all improving upon their last game performance. On a sad note though, we [Dragons] will be losing a player with Marta moving back to Poland. We all wish her the best of luck in her new job and she will be missed by all the team.”
Bradford Dragons Women’s Basketball next game is on Thursday 27th October away to York Vikings in the Leeds & District Basketball League.
