As some said, playing two games on one day was not to the advantage of the injury-plagued ProBuild Lions.
It turned out not to be a problem.
ProBuild put Challenge Sports/Binnenland.Rotterdam aside with a surprising ease. The Lions beat Binnenland 63-81.
Ilana Vergunst led ProBuild with 24 points, including five 3-pointers. Molly McDowell and Kati Harty both came close to a triple double. McDowell had 23 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assist. Kati Harty contributed 21 points, 9 steals and 8 rebounds. Harty played through a light ankle-sprain.
Coach Laki Lakner said he was proud of his team. "We showed heart. This team never gives up, we simply do not want to lose. The last month we asked a lot of some players and they handled it quite well. This is a great victory."
Binnenland took a 12-3 lead, but ProBuild hit four 3-pointers (McDowell, Harty, Vergunst 2x) to change it to 18-23 after the quarter.
In the second period Binneland took the lead again, 31-27, but ProBuild used a 0-13 run to make in 31-40. At the break the Lions led 36-43.
Binnenland had no answer to ProBuild's zone defense, as the third quarter painfully showed. Binnenland committed many turnovers, and the Lions used easy lay-ups to widen the margin to a maximum of 40-63. Binnenland did not score for six whole minutes.
ProBuild led 42-63 at the start of the 4th period and cruised to the end. Coach Laki Lakner put all his players on the court. Eline Vink hit a pair of free throws to seal the 81-63 win. A few minutes later Molly McDowell was able to show the new-won Cup to the fans.
ProBuild Lions had no trouble reaching the finals of the Final Four tournament, beating HLB Accountants 72-55. Within a few hours the Lions will meet Challenge Sports/Binnenland.Rotterdam, who reached the Finals with a win over CTO Amsterdam.
Kati Harty suffered a light ankle sprain in the third period. It is still unsure if she will be able to play in the finals.
Maaike van de Bovenkamp led the Lions with 15 points. Molly McDowell scored 14 points and had 8 assists. Kati Harty had 13 points, all in the first quarter. Belinda Bos contributed 8 points and 11 rebounds.
ProBuild never trailed and led 25-15 after the first period. Dewi Keppy hit two 3-pointers in the second to help putting the Lions up 48-32 at intermission.
In the third period Maaike van de Bovenkamp nailed a trey to mark the largest lead of the game, 59-34. After this ProBuild slowed down a little and cruised.
The organizational committee of the Final Four tournament has decided to reschedule the tournament. All games will be held on Saturday. The schedule is as follows:
Due to extreme weather circumstances in the west of the Netherlands the semi-finals of the Final Four tournament are being cancelled. We experience heavy snowfall and there are huge traffic jams over here.
Coming weekend the Lions are off to Barendrecht near Rotterdam to participate in the Final Four tournament.
This year's is the 17th edition of the tournament. ProBuild joined the elite four teams of the league for the first time in 1996 and participated ten times since that year, including six straight times from 2005 on.
The Lions won four times. Last season, when the tournament took place in Landsmeer, they beat HLB Accountants in the Finals. Kati Harty shined with 37 points that game.
This year ProBuild meets HLB in the semifinals on Friday, 9 PM. The other matchup is the home team Challenge Sports/Binnenland.Rotterdam vs CTO Amsterdam.
The winners battle each other in the Finals on Saturday.
Lions widen margin to eight points
Author: Henk Wals
Video: Johan Kaal
Photographs: Tine Sierink
Date: December 11, 2010
ProBuild Lions posted a 97-87 win over STOL Grasshoppers. As CTO, HLB Accountants and Wereldtickets all suffered surprising losses, the margin between the flawless 11-out-of-11 Lions and their pursuers has grown to eight points.
Kati Harty had another impressive game with 35 points, 8 rebounds, 7 steals and 6 assists. Belinda Bos and Molly McDowell both posted a double-double. Bos had 13 points and 10 rebounds and McDowell 11 and 10.
Ilana Vergunst scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Romy Stijsiger grabbed 12 rebounds.
Grasshoppers' Heather Stec scored 21 points, of which 15 in the last period.
ProBuild trailed 15-25 after the first quarter. Grasshoppers even widened the gap to 28-42 in the second, before Ilana Vergunst hit her third 3-pointer to spark a 19-6 run. At intermission the Lions had narrowed the margin to just one point: 47-48.
Early in the third quarter Kati Harty and Ilana Vergunst both nailed 3-pointers, helping ProBuild to build a 59-48 lead. Kati Harty scored 14 consecutive points at the end of the quarter to make it 75-59. Maaike van de Bovenkamp drained a trey in the buzzer, putting ProBuild up 82-60 at the start of the 4th quarter.
In the 4th period center Heather Stec came alive, scoring 15 points for Grasshoppers. Meanwhile, after fighting two battles in three days with a line-up of seven the Lions slowed down a little. As a result their lead withered away to just 6 points with 60 seconds on the clock, 93-87.
Coach Laki Lakner already had let in his juniors by that time. It was veteran Molly McDowell who secured the game form the charity stripe, making it 97-87.
ProBuild Lions advanced to the quarter finals of the Dutch Cup competition by posting a 85-96 win over HLB Accountants.
Kati Harty led the Lions with 36 points, 9 steals and 8 assists. Molly McDowell scored 14 points and Romy Stijsiger had 12.
Harty played at the point guard position during long stretches of the game, because Molly McDowell ran in early foul trouble and spent more time on the bench than usual. She fould out in the 7th minute of the last period.
Just before the game the Lions received the news that a MRI earlier today showed that Nadine Boesaart's cruciate ligament is not torn after all. Consequently Boesaart is expected to return within a few weeks.
"This is excellent news", coach Laki Lakner said, "Tonight's game showed it is hard to play without players like Nadine and Karen. HLB scored most points out of second chances. They just grabbed the rebounds above our heads."
HLB led 6-2 at the start, but Kati Harty and Belinda Bos both nailed a 3-pointer to tie it and the Lions never trailed from that moment on, leading 18-21 after the period.
At intermission the margin had grown to nine points, 52-51. Leading 60-70 after the third quarter, ProBuild stayed ahead in the fourth. After Maxime Essenstam had made it 82-90, Zera Butter hit a 3-pointer for HLB to cut the margin to 85-90.
Maaike van de Bovenkamp split a pair of free throws before Kati Harty was fouled and sent to the line. A protest from the HLB bench was rewarded with a technical by the refs and that meant two more free throws for Harty. She hit three out of four, making it 85-94 to secure the win.
This week there are two games scheduled for the ProBuild Lions. Thursday they travel to the city of the Helder (home of the Dutch navy) to battle nr 2 HLB Accountants for the next round in the Dutch Cup Competition.
Saturday ProBuild hosts 6th seeded STOL Grasshoppers for a regular competition game.
With five players injured (Boesaart, Heinen, Vergunst, Vink, De Vreede) and one abroad for five months (Hoogstraten, returning in January) the coaching staff has just six or seven players available, apart from juniors Beau Baars, Delicia van West and Marloes Soffner.
It was a small wonder that the Lions remained unbeaten in their last two games. It probably says something about the mental toughness of the team.
Monday coach Lakner - after consulting condition coach René Wormhoudt - gave his team a night off. "With just seven player available rest is more effective than practicing", Wormhoudt said. "Due to the circumstances we're forced to overburden some of the players, and we have to be careful now."
Thursday's game in Den Helder starts at 8:30 PM. At Saturday the home game starts at 7:30 PM CET.
Kati Harty scored 26 points and had 8 steals to lead the ProBuild Lions to a 69-71 victory over Wereldtickets Leiderdorp on Sunday afternoon. Molly Mcdowell scored 23 points, going 4 of 8 from 3-point rage, and grabbed 7 rebounds.
Bridget Yoerger had 29 points for Wereldtickets, but missed a potential game-tying pair of free throws with 6 seconds remaining.
The Lions did not celebrate their win too enthusiastically, because they realized their performance hadn't been up to their usual standard.
Despite shooting a not-so-bad 42.6% form the floor, too many easy lay-ups were missed. On defense the light-weight frontcourt consisting of Belinda Bos, Dewi Keppy and Romy Stijsiger could not contain the long and bulky centers and powerforwards of Wereldtickets.
That was also the opinion of coach Laki Lakner. "But it's not only a matter of centimeters and bulk, but also of smartness and sharpness. And we were not sharp enough today, I am afraid. I don't want to take the credits away from Wereldtickets, but I think that's why we played our worst game of the season."
The Lions trailed 11-2 after 5 minutes before Belinda Bos and Kati Harty made it 11-6. After the first period Wereldtickets led by 6 points, 15-9.
In the second quarter Bridget Yoerger proved to be unstoppable for ProBuild, scoring 11 points around a 3-pointer of Kim Hartman to put Wereldtickets up 31-19. Molly McDowell answered with a 3-pointer and Romy Stijsiger and Belinda Bos converted free throws to make it 25-31 at intermission.
Kati Harty and Molly McDowell combined for 12 points to cut the margin to 40-39 before Romy Stijsiger put the Lions up for the first time in the game, 40-41. After that Wereldtickets and ProBuild exchanged baskets to reach a 50-50 tie at the end of the period.
In the last period ProBuild gained a 55-64 lead, but 6-4 center Marloes Nieuwveen went to work for Wereldtickets to put her team in the lead again, 69-68.
With 90 seconds remaining Molly McDowell split a pair of free throws before Ilana Vergunst hit a short jumper to make it 69-71. On the other side of the court Vergunst fouled Bridget Yoerger with 6 seconds on the clock. Yoerger missed both attempts from the charity stripe and let the Lions get away unbeaten.
Sunday December 5th ProBuild Lions meet Wereldtickets in Leiderdorp for the first game of the second half of the competition.
ProBuild beat Wereldtickets 74-55 in Landsmeer. Wereldtickets went to a forced rebuilding process after a group of young talented players decided to leave and joined HLB Accountants. As a replacement the Wereldtickets management signed more than a handful of veteran players, including ProBuild's Jasmijn Overbeeke.
Expectations were high at the start of the season but, probably partly due to injuries, Wereldtickets did not live up to it. After the first half of the competition they rank 5th and did not make it to the half-season Final Four tournament.
Wereldtickets as well as ProBuild Lions are plagued by injuries. Apart from Nadine Boesaart and Daniëlle de Vreede, who are both out for the season, it looks like Karen Heinen also will not be able to play due to a hamstring injury.
Braakman Financiële dienstverlening
Ruud en Marjan Nassette
Hans Larooi
Vincent Post
mevr Roele
Inge Schaft
Tine Sierink en
Henk Wals
Hans van Veen
mevr de Vries
Anneke Wals en
Ferdinand v. Veen
