March 28, 2004 Lions Lose at Katwijk, 64-52
Jildis Pronk scored 16 points, Zuzana Sakova added 11 and Trish Patterson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, Still it was not enough to beat the red-hot Katwijk Grasshoppers, who stretched their winning streak to 6 games now. Jen Kerns did not play due to a calf injury. Coach Brian Benjamin showed himself very disappointed after the game. "We didn't came out aggressively and our defense was far below the normal level. Offensively we also played very poorly. It looked like we didn't want to win the game." The Lions ended the first period with a 3-point deficit, 19-16, which didn't change much after the second, 40-37. In the third quarter the Grasshoppers managed to stretch their lead to 55-47. Coach Benjamin changed to a zone defense then, with some success, holding the Grasshoppers scoreless for six minutes, but on the other side the Lions couldn't score either. As a result the gap stayed the same. In the last minutes of the game the Grasshoppers rolled to an easy victory and sent the Lions home with a another stunning loss.
March 25, 2004 Grasshoppers
Saturday the Lions will visit Grasshoppers in Katwijk, a fishing town on the coasts of the North Sea. The Grasshoppers didn't win much games in the first part of the competition, but since the beginning of February they're doing remarkably well. They're on a five-game-winning-streak now and won their games against Perik Jumpers, Celeritudo Groningen, 3Es Lieshout, Wildcats and Shooters. So there seems to be another difficult game ahead for coach Brian Benjamin and his team. The Lions enjoyed a few days off after the Dutch Cup Final and started to practice on Wednesday again.
Game starts at 7.30 PM CET.
March 21, 2004 Lions Lose in Finals Dutch Cup Competition, 82-73
For the fourth time in five years the ProBuild Lions couldn't win the Finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. The Cup went to Dressguard Binnenland from Barendrecht this year. Jen Kerns scored a season-high 19 points and had 5 steals, while four other Lions were in double figures. Zuzana Sakova added 12 points and Trish Patterson scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. The Lions stayed in the game for three quarters, as both teams stayed close and seemed pretty evenly matched, never trailing or leading by more than five points. Offensively things ran smoothly for the Lions, shooting a decent 44% from the floor and turning over the ball no more than 11 times. Only from the free throw line the basket seemed small for the Lions players, hitting just 11-21. Coach Brian Benjamin pointed to that fact as one of the factors in loosing the game. "Obviously we faltered in the fourth quarter", he said. "But if we had hit some more free throws by that time and had played some smarter defense, not allowing Dressguard to score so many uncontested lay-ups, we would have been in another situation then. But I think offensively we played well for three quarters. In the fourth quarter we made some mistakes, bad passes, turning over the ball, committing offensive fouls, again missing free throws, and things like that. Dressguard played more consistently and came out as the winner. It's a deserved win and I congratulate them for that."
The Lions lead at halftime by one point, 41-42. Trish Patterson scored 7 of her 11 points in the third quarter to keep the game close, 65-64 after the period. In the sixth minute of the fourth period things started to go wrong. Dutch MVP center Marloes Roetgerink, who scored 23 points for Dressguard, made 69-66. Next Trish Patterson missed two shots from the line and Jen Kerns was called for an offensive foul, after which Erin Malich and Roetgerink both scored for Dressguard, 73-66. Zuzana Sakova missed an open lay-up, but next had a three-point-play, 73-69. Scores from Dressguard's Petra Rutgers and Inge Huitzing around an offensive foul from Jildis Pronk were decisive next, 77-69. With one minute left on the clock the Lions weren't able to erase this deficit and had to watch how the 2004 Cup was handed to the Dressguard-players after the game.
March 15, 2004 Dutch Cup Competition Finals
Saturday March 20th the Lions play the Finals of the Dutch Cup Competion against Dressguard Binnenland. The Finals are being held on neutral ground, in de Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam. Well, maybe not so neutral, because from Landsmeer it's only 20 minutes driving. It's also possible to take a free ride by bus, which departs from the Indoor Centrum Landsmeer. Anyone from Slovakia, the USA or Canada is most welcome to join the Dutch Lions supporters…
March 13, 2004 ProBuild Lions rout Wildcats, 84-42
Trish Patterson scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds and led the Lions to a lopsided 84-42 victory on the Nijmegen Wildcats. Marte Linthout and Jolanda Jansen both contributed 15 points and Jildis Pronk was the fourth Lion in double figures with 14. Jen Kerns had 8 points and 5 assists. ProBuild shot 47% from the field and had 38 rebounds and a season-high 38 steals. Coach Brian Benjamin said he liked what he saw. "Though our offence was somewhat inconsistent, our defense was really good tonight", he said. "It showed our bad performance on Wednesday was an incident." Wildcats stayed in the game for 6 minutes, 11-8, but then the Lions placed a 10-0 run, 22-8. Marte Linthout swished a trey and the first quarter ended in a 25-10 Lions lead. Miriam Benjamins, Trish Patterson en Jolanda Jansen all scored in the second period to stretch the lead to 31-10, before Zairah van Hooijdonk could score a 3pointer for Wildcats, 31-13. At halftime the Lions' lead was 44-23. Jolanda Jansen scored 9 of her 15 points in the third quarter to lead the Lions to 62-31 in the 8th minute. A 10-0 run followed and when the period was over a 72-31 lead was on the scoreboard. The last period was a formality, concentration slipped away a bit, and the Lions could match Wildcats' 11 points only by 12 in the quarter. Nevertheless ProBuild had its most lopsided victory of the season.
March 11, 2004 Big cats, little cats.
Saturday ProBuild Lions hosts the No 10 seeded Wildcats from Nijmegen. The Wildcats have won only one game this season, against the last-seeded Breda Barons. To think the Wildcats are a bad team though, is a mistake. The Cats debuted in the eredivisie this season and it takes a while to get used to the higher tempo and more physical style. They seldom lose by more than ten, fifteen points and given the fact there are no foreign players on the roster, that's quite an accomplishment for a new team. Nevertheless the Lions won the road game without much trouble, 51-69.
Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
March 10, 2004 Disappointing Loss in Tubbergen, 78-71.
The Lions wasted a season-high 25 points from Nadine Boesaart, losing their midweek game in Tubbergen from Perik Jumpers. Jen Kerns and Zuzana Sakova both had 12 points. The Lions shot 50 percent from the field, but it was not enough to beat the Jumpers, who got an almost perfect game from Rhona McKenzie. The Canadian power forward scored 32 points against a dazzling high percentage. At halftime the Lions, who defended not very well, trailed by 46-39. In the 3rd quarter the defensive pressure was turned up a little, but the Lions were not able to close the gap. By the end of the third period the Jumpers led by nine points, 59-50. Coach Brian Benjamin was disappointed after the game. "We lost the game because our defense was very poor, especially in the first half", he said.
March 8, 2004 Lions meet Perik Jumpers in Midweek Game
Wednesday the ProBuild Lions travel to Tubbergen, in the East of the Netherlands, to battle the 8th seeded Perik Jumpers. In 2000 the Lions and the Jumpers fought a heroic 5-game battle in the Finals of the Playoffs, from which the Lions emerged as the Champions. Sort of a rivalry was built up then and it stayed that way. The Perik Jumpers normally belong to the top teams of the eredivisie, but this year for some reason they are not doing so well. No shortage of talent, however, with four Canadian players (McKenzie, Smulders, Hudec and De Menezes) and also some good Dutch players (Van der Zee, Orsel, Elferink). Pointguard Natalie Hudec also has a Slowakian passport and played for the Lions last year. Center Anita De Menezes is injured (knee) and probably is out for the rest of the season.
Game starts at 9 PM CET.
March 7, 2004 Lions rout Dutch Juniors, 80-57
Sunday afternoon ProBuild Lions played a practice game against the Dutch Junior Team. In the first period the juniors could not handle the defensive pressure the Lions put on them and turned over the ball a lot. The quarter ended in a 26-8 Lions lead. At halftime the lead was stretched to 23 points, 43-20. During the third quarter the Lions lost some of their concentration, and due to this and an improvement on the side of the juniors, the Lions lost the period 13-22 (42-56 after the quarter). In the last quarter the Lions stepped up on defense again and widened the gap to 80-57.
Zuzana Sakova and Jildis Pronk each scored 15 points, Jen Kerns contributed 13 and Miriam Benjamins 12. Trish Patterson played 16 minutes and had 6 points and 4 rebounds.
March 6, 2004 ProBuild Edge Leiderdorp in Road Win
Zuzana Sakoka was 3-3 from behind the arc and scored 20 points to lead the Lions to a 59-76 victory on Leiderdorp. The Slovakian forward shot 66,7% from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Jen Kerns added 16 points and dished out 7 assists. Jildis Pronk, who is at 5-3 the smallest player on the Lions' roster, grabbed 8 rebounds and had 8 points and 6 assists. Marte Linthout chipped in with 11 points. Trish Patterson was kept on the bench by coach Brian Benjamin, who felt the Canadian center was not in game-shape yet. "We've got 11 good players on our roster, and ten of them are in shape", he said. "It's not a difficult choice then. Trish didn't play the first half of the season and it takes more than a week to get back in shape."
Leiderdorp managed to stay in the game one quarter, 15-16, but in the second period the Lions' 3pointers started to fall. Jildis Pronk, Zuzana Sakova en Jen Kerns started to hit shots from long range and the Lions gained a 32-40 lead by halftime. In the third quarter the bombardment from behind the arc continued, with Jolanda Jansen, Leonie de Vlieger, Marte Linthout en Zuzana Sakova (2x) all scoring treys. On the other side of the court ProBuild had no answer to the length and strength of Dutch 6-4 star-center Lonneke Bransz, who, with help from American forward Theresa LeCuyer, managed to keep her team in the race. The third quarter ended in a 51-59 ProBuild lead. The Lions had no trouble to stay in the lead in the fourth period. In the last minute Jildis Pronk and Marte Linthout both scored a 3pointer to stretch the lead to 59-76.
March 4, 2004 Leiderdorp
Saturday the Lions visit Leiden, with the oldest University of the Netherlands (1575) and a First Division Women's team, Leiderdorp. In the first half of the season ProBuild and Leiderdorp met in Landsmeer and the Lions came out with an 80-65 victory then. Expectations were high in Leiden at the beginning of the season, but Leiderdorps record is a little bit disappointing with seven wins out of seventeen games and a 9th seed. Especially when one takes into account that Leiderdorp contracted two American players, Theresa LeCuyer and Jessica Wilhite and has one of Holland's best centers in 6-4 Lonneke Bransz. She's one of the reasons ProBuild needs a good game from its new 6-2 Canadian center Trish Patterson, who is wholly recovered from her jetlag now and has a whole week of practicing behind her Saturday.
Game starts at 5.15 PM CET.
January 29, 2004 Lions Slip in Overtime
Zuzana Sakova had a strong game, scoring 24 points and grabbing eleven rebounds, but the ProBuild Lions were outscored 2-10 in overtime and lost 75-83 from Dressguard Binnenland on Saturday. Jen Kerns added 16 points, Jildis Pronk 11 and Marte Linthout was one point shy of a double double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Both Sakova and Kerns fouled out during overtime, leaving the Lions with not enough firepower to match the Dressguard offence. The ProBuild Lions shot 35% from the floor and 19% from behind the 3point line, but stayed in the game playing hard-nosed defense, grabbing 46 rebounds and protecting the ball well, committing not more than 13 turnovers.
Coach Brian Benjamin could not hide his disappointment after the game, having watched his team lose in OT for the third time in the second half of the season, but he remained positive. "To shoot 35% and still be in the game is an accomplishment. We also played a lot of basketball out there with only 13 turnovers. We hung around well enough to put ourselves in a position to win, but in the end we didn't. We needed to play hard from the beginning and have the will and desire to win. We just didn't shoot the ball well tonight. We had good looks but the ball didn't fall for us."
Forward Marte Linthout also saw a positive side. "If our shots would have fallen like they use to, we could have beaten them. They're not a better team than we are. Now we know that, we have every confidence in winning the Cup Finals against this team."
The Lions ended the first period with a small deficit, 14-16, but then slipped away in the second quarter, trailing 31-38 at the break. In the third period the Lions were able to close the gap, 56-56. At the end of the game the score still was even, 73-73. In OT Zuzana Sakova and Jen Kerns were fouled out and the Lions lost 75-83, scoring just two points.
ProBuild's new Canadian addition Trish Patterson arrived on Schiphol Airport Friday and played three minutes in the first quarter, scoring a nice jumper from the top of the keyhole.
January 26, 2004 Dressguard Visits Landsmeer
Saturday the ProBuild Lions will host Dressguard Binnenland, the second seeded team of the Dutch eredivisie. There's much at stake, because ProBuild needs the points to stay in fourth seed and in March both teams will meet each other in the finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. Dressguard's 6-4 center Marloes Roetgerink, MVP at in the Dutch All Star Game, is the absolute star of her team. Speaking of centers, Friday the arrival of Trish Patterson is expected, Anna Lemke's successor, a 6-2 Canadian center who played at Florida State University. According to her bio on the Florida State website Trish is "an ideal post player (…) quick, strong and very physical inside." That's good. Last game against Celeritudo showed the Lions need someone like that. Saturday Trish will have to play her first minutes in order to be eligible to play the rest of the season, because the closing date for adding new players to the roster is February 29th. Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
January 22, 2004 ProBuild Lions Advance to Finals of Dutch Cup Competition
Marte Linthout scored three of her four 3pointers in the last period and scored 18 points to lead the ProBuild Lions to a 63-65 victory on Celeritudo Groningen in the semi-finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. Zuzana Sakova and Jen Kerns, who played through her illness, both contributed 13 points and Nadine Boesaart chipped in with 11. It was not an easy win for the Lions, who shot 6-14 from the line and couldn't grab more than 26 rebounds. On the other hand, ProBuild turned the ball over no more than 15 times and shot a decent 49% from the floor. Celeritudo's Corrie-Anke Brandsma missed a crucial 3pointer with two seconds on the clock. Said coach Brian Benjamin after the game, "Brandsma was just between me and the basket and I was convinced her shot went in. But then her 3pointer turned out to be short by a foot or so." Jildis Pronk grabbed the rebound and the Lions started to celebrate. "It was our most important win until now this season," Benjamin said. "We did not play particularly well, but we stayed in the game and in the end Marte and Jildis came up with some key-3pointers and Nadine scored on a very important moment. And this time we had the luck we didn't have in some of our recent games."
Zuzana Sakova scored the first seven points for the Lions, who led 4-10 after five minutes. A 3pointer and a score from Monique Anbergen brought Groningen back on track, 9-10. The first quarter ended in a 13-17 Lions deficit. Marte Linthout had a lay-up and a free-throw and Jildis Pronk made a driving layup to score 20-20 in the second period. A score by Gerda Heinen and Linthout's first 3pointer of the game brought the Lions to a 27-25 deficit at halftime.
In the third period both teams never led or trailed by more than three points. Nadine Boesaart battled Sarah Zdesar under the boards, scoring 5 points and allowing 6. In the 5th minute of the 4th period the score was even again, 56-56, but next Jen Kerns scored a lay-up and Jildis Pronk added a 3pointer and a free throw, 56-62. But again Groningen was able to come back, 61-62.
A breathtaking last minute followed. Nadine Boesaart scored a fade-away jumper, 61-64, before leaving the game with five fouls and 27 seconds to go, allowing Corrie-Anke Brandsma to go to the free throw line to close the gap to 63-64. Next Jen Kerns was fouled and hit one of her two free throws, 63-65. With four seconds on the clock Brandsma took her last 3point-attempt of the game, with the above-mentioned result.
For the fourth time in five years the ProBuild Lions advance to the Finals of the Dutch Cup Competition.
January 19, 2004 Lions in Semi-Finals of Dutch Cup Competition
Sunday ProBuild travels to Groningen in the north of the Netherlands to battle Celeritudo in the semi-finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. An important game for the Lions, because reaching the finals is one of the goals coach Brian Benjamin and the ProBuild-management set themselves this season. The finals will be broadcast on national television, and televised games are rare occasions in Dutch Women Basketball. Both games against Celeritudo in the regular competition ended in victories for the Lions, who won 49-66 in Groningen and 73-59 in Landsmeer. Last week Celeritudo lost by big numbers from Leiderdorp, 76-50, partly due to the absence of American Sarah Walsh, who hurt her knee and is out for the rest of the season. So Groningen lost some rebound power under the boards - just like the Lions, who haven't found a replacement for Anna Lembke yet. Game starts at 5 PM CET.
February 14, 2004 ProBuild Makes Shooters Pay
Zuzana Sakova and Marte Linthout each scored 22 points as the ProBuild Lions outgunned the Bunschoten Shooters 69-56 to revenge their 59-67 home loss earlier this season. Both forwards showed remarkable pieces of marksmanship with Linthout shooting 9-11 from the floor and Sakova 10-13. Offensively Sakova dominated the first half and in the second half Linthout took over. Jen Kerns chipped in with 15 points and 8 steals and Nadine Boesaart pulled down 14 rebounds. Boesaart and Rachel Witkamp had to play big minutes to fill the void at center left by Anna Lembke, who took a flight home earlier the day. Both frontcourt-players did a good job combining for 21 of the 35 rebounds and playing a key role at the defensive end.
It was just the third time this season Shooters lost a game on its own court. Coach Brian Benjamin was pleased with the victory. "It was an important game for the ranking", he said. "We now are alone in fourth seed and just two points behind Lely." Benjamins thought his team won the game on the defensive end of the court. "Our defense was excellent tonight, especially the last two quarters. In the first half we couldn't stop their fast break on some occasions, but in the second half we took away their ability to score from transition completely. Offensively we struggled sometimes, but fortunately we have two reliable scorers now in Marte and Zuzana."
Shooters ended the first period with a 19-15 lead and extended the gap to 28-20 in the second quarter. Behind two scores from Sakova and two jumpers from Marte Linthout the Lions were almost able to even the score at halftime, 34-33.
In the third quarter ProBuild gained its first lead of the game when Zuzana Sakova hit a jumper, 33-34. The lead was stretched to 43-53 at the end of the quarter fueled by Jildis Pronk's 3pointer and six consecutive points from Marte Linthout.
In the fourth period the Shooters fought themselves back one more time, 54-58, but next Marte Linthout swished a trey, Nadine Boesaart hit a short jumper and Jen Kerns made a driving lay-up followed by a steal of Jildis Pronk, who fed Kerns for another score, 56-66. Marte Linthout then sealed the victory with three hits from the line.
February 12, 2004 Shooters
Saturday the Lions visit Bunschoten-Spakenburg, a small fishing-village on the coast of the IJsselmeer, to battle Shooters. It should be an interesting game, with both teams in fourth seed with 18 points out of 15 games and ProBuild eager to revenge the loss in Landsmeer. Shooters' American guard Heather Cusick scored 26 points on that occasion, of which 24 in the first half. And in the pre-season ProBuild lost in Bunschoten, 52-41. Also interesting is that Bunschoten is Gerda Heinen's hometown and her sister Bettine is playing for the Shooters. Game starts at 7.00 pm CET.
February 9, 2004 Marte Linthout and Zuzana Sakova All Stars
Marte Linthout and Zuzana Sakova are voted to be All Stars. The Dutch All Star Game is taking place on February 21st in Groningen. The 10 best Dutch players will play against the best 10 foreign players, so Marte and Zuzana will battle each other. The Dutch eredivisie coaches were responsible for voting the twenty All Stars.
February 7, 2004 Lions Steamroll Barons
Zuzana Sakova and Jen Kerns helped their new team to snap a two-game slide as the Lions routed the Breda Barons, 75-39, Saturday. Sakova, who started on the power forward position, had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 7 steals and 5 assists, Jen Kerns overcame her not-so-good debut of last week and scored 16 points to go with 7 steals. Marte Linthout, 12, and Miriam Benjamins, 10, were the other two Lions in double figures. In total ProBuild had a season-high 42 steals. Rachel Witkamp started at center, while Anna Lembke, who's leaving next week back to the USA, watched the game from the stands awaiting her farewell party later in the evening.
Coach Brian Benjamin praised the effort of his team. "I liked the defensive intensity", he said. "Offensively we could have done better, shooting 38 percent, but on the whole I'm satisfied. Zuzana and Jen are fitting in nicely, and with Marte Linthout healthy again we have much more firepower than the first half of the season."
Sakova and Linthout fuelled a big first quarter, as the Lions climbed to an 18-0 lead before Aniek Balemans scored the Barons' first two points in the 8th minute. In the second quarter Jen Kerns and Marte Linthout scored consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 34-10. Two steals and scores by Kerns widened the gap to 30 points at halftime, 42-12. In the third period the Lions struggled somewhat, scoring just 13 points and allowing the Barons the same amount, 55-25. Jen Kerns opened the last quarter with a 3-pointer and a score, followed by a score and two treys by Sakova, leading the Lions to a lopsided 75-39 victory over the woeful Barons, who haven't won a game this season yet.
February 5, 2004 Barons
Saturday the ProBuild Lions host the Breda Barons. The Barons are in last seed of the Dutch eredivisie, having lost every game in the fist half of the season. ProBuild met the Barons twice until now this season, and won both games easily. In Breda the Lions won by 15 points, 45-59, and not so long go ago coach Brian Benjamin's team routed the Barons in the Dutch Cup Competition, 79-37. With Marte Linthout healthy again, averaging 21 points in the last two games, and Slowakian forward Zuzana Sakova getting back in shape, scoring 16 points and grabbing 7 rebounds last game, Saturday's game shouldn't be too difficult for the Lions. Now if ProBuild's new American guard Jen Kerns also gets her game together Saturday, future looks bright for the Lions…
February 5, 2004 Anna Lembke resigns
Today the ProBuild-management announced center Anna Lembke has resigned earlier this week due to, among other things, family circumstances at home and a chronic knee pain she suffers from for some time now. ProBuild's coach Brian Benjamin said he was surprised by Lembke's sudden resignation, but that he respected her decision. "I don't like to see her go, she's a good player and a very nice person, but I can understand her reasons", he said. In the fourteen games she played for the Lions, Anna Lembke averaged 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. The ProBuild management is looking for replacement by another American player.
February 1, 2004 Overtime and referees unkind to Lions
Marte Linthout hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting against her former team, but the Lions couldn't contain BC Lely in overtime and lost 72-70 Saturday on the road. ProBuild's Slowakian forward Zuzana Sakova had a season-high 16 points to go with 7 rebounds. Anna Lembke had her third double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. ProBuild's new American guard Jen Kerns, however, had an unlucky debut, scoring just 1 point and committing 6 turnovers.
On Lely's side Molly McDowell was unstoppable as ever. Lely's American pointguard scored 32 points, accounting for almost half of her team's total production.
The first period ended in an 18-14 Lions deficit. Molly McDowell scored the first seven points for her team and had 11 in the quarter. On the Lions' side Zuzana Sakova didn't miss and scored eight points. In the second period Lely stretched their lead to 11 points, 30-19, but Jildis Pronk's 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 Lions-run to almost even the score at the break, 32-31. In the third quarter ProBuild gained a 32-41 lead behind two scores of Anna Lembke and two jumpers of Marte Linthout. But Lely was able to close the gap again and both teams stayed close through the fourth quarter, until Molly McDowell scored a potential game-winning jumper with a few seconds to go, 60-58. But Anna Lembke was fouled on the other side and didn't miss from the free throw line to take the Lions to overtime, 60-60.
In overtime Lely took a 70-67 lead, but with 17 seconds on the clock Marte Linthout hit a 3-pointer from the corner to even the score again, 70-70. With eight seconds to go Lely went to Molly McDowell again, who scored a running jumper, 72-70. The Lions had enough time to set up a play and in the last second Marte Linthout took a 3-pointer, which swished through the net. No buzzer sounded however, due to what seemed to be a malfunction. Confusion everywhere, but the referees ruled that the ball left Linthout's hand after time had expired. Coach Brian Benjamin claimed that the victory was stolen from his team by the referees. "This was not the only bad call they made tonight. Particularly in the last quarter and in overtime I had the feeling we were up against seven opponents instead of five. But I don't want to take any of the credits from Lely. I thought we played an excellent game tonight, shooting 43% from the floor and grabbing 41 rebounds. But theirs was pretty good too."
Trish Patterson scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds and led the Lions to a lopsided 84-42 victory on the Nijmegen Wildcats. Marte Linthout and Jolanda Jansen both contributed 15 points and Jildis Pronk was the fourth Lion in double figures with 14. Jen Kerns had 8 points and 5 assists. ProBuild shot 47% from the field and had 38 rebounds and a season-high 38 steals. Coach Brian Benjamin said he liked what he saw. "Though our offence was somewhat inconsistent, our defense was really good tonight", he said. "It showed our bad performance on Wednesday was an incident." Wildcats stayed in the game for 6 minutes, 11-8, but then the Lions placed a 10-0 run, 22-8. Marte Linthout swished a trey and the first quarter ended in a 25-10 Lions lead. Miriam Benjamins, Trish Patterson en Jolanda Jansen all scored in the second period to stretch the lead to 31-10, before Zairah van Hooijdonk could score a 3pointer for Wildcats, 31-13. At halftime the Lions' lead was 44-23. Jolanda Jansen scored 9 of her 15 points in the third quarter to lead the Lions to 62-31 in the 8th minute. A 10-0 run followed and when the period was over a 72-31 lead was on the scoreboard. The last period was a formality, concentration slipped away a bit, and the Lions could match Wildcats' 11 points only by 12 in the quarter. Nevertheless ProBuild had its most lopsided victory of the season.
Zuzana Sakoka was 3-3 from behind the arc and scored 20 points to lead the Lions to a 59-76 victory on Leiderdorp. The Slovakian forward shot 66,7% from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Jen Kerns added 16 points and dished out 7 assists. Jildis Pronk, who is at 5-3 the smallest player on the Lions' roster, grabbed 8 rebounds and had 8 points and 6 assists. Marte Linthout chipped in with 11 points. Trish Patterson was kept on the bench by coach Brian Benjamin, who felt the Canadian center was not in game-shape yet. "We've got 11 good players on our roster, and ten of them are in shape", he said. "It's not a difficult choice then. Trish didn't play the first half of the season and it takes more than a week to get back in shape."
Saturday the ProBuild Lions will host Dressguard Binnenland, the second seeded team of the Dutch eredivisie. There's much at stake, because ProBuild needs the points to stay in fourth seed and in March both teams will meet each other in the finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. Dressguard's 6-4 center Marloes Roetgerink, MVP at in the Dutch All Star Game, is the absolute star of her team. Speaking of centers, Friday the arrival of Trish Patterson is expected, Anna Lemke's successor, a 6-2 Canadian center who played at Florida State University. According to her bio on the Florida State website Trish is "an ideal post player (…) quick, strong and very physical inside." That's good. Last game against Celeritudo showed the Lions need someone like that. Saturday Trish will have to play her first minutes in order to be eligible to play the rest of the season, because the closing date for adding new players to the roster is February 29th. Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
Marte Linthout scored three of her four 3pointers in the last period and scored 18 points to lead the ProBuild Lions to a 63-65 victory on Celeritudo Groningen in the semi-finals of the Dutch Cup Competition. Zuzana Sakova and Jen Kerns, who played through her illness, both contributed 13 points and Nadine Boesaart chipped in with 11. It was not an easy win for the Lions, who shot 6-14 from the line and couldn't grab more than 26 rebounds. On the other hand, ProBuild turned the ball over no more than 15 times and shot a decent 49% from the floor. Celeritudo's Corrie-Anke Brandsma missed a crucial 3pointer with two seconds on the clock. Said coach Brian Benjamin after the game, "Brandsma was just between me and the basket and I was convinced her shot went in. But then her 3pointer turned out to be short by a foot or so." Jildis Pronk grabbed the rebound and the Lions started to celebrate. "It was our most important win until now this season," Benjamin said. "We did not play particularly well, but we stayed in the game and in the end Marte and Jildis came up with some key-3pointers and Nadine scored on a very important moment. And this time we had the luck we didn't have in some of our recent games."
Offensively Sakova dominated the first half and in the second half Linthout took over. Jen Kerns chipped in with 15 points and 8 steals and Nadine Boesaart pulled down 14 rebounds. Boesaart and Rachel Witkamp had to play big minutes to fill the void at center left by Anna Lembke, who took a flight home earlier the day. Both frontcourt-players did a good job combining for 21 of the 35 rebounds and playing a key role at the defensive end.
It was just the third time this season Shooters lost a game on its own court. Coach Brian Benjamin was pleased with the victory. "It was an important game for the ranking", he said. "We now are alone in fourth seed and just two points behind Lely." Benjamins thought his team won the game on the defensive end of the court. "Our defense was excellent tonight, especially the last two quarters. In the first half we couldn't stop their fast break on some occasions, but in the second half we took away their ability to score from transition completely. Offensively we struggled sometimes, but fortunately we have two reliable scorers now in Marte and Zuzana."
Zuzana Sakova and Jen Kerns helped their new team to snap a two-game slide as the Lions routed the Breda Barons, 75-39, Saturday. Sakova, who started on the power forward position, had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 7 steals and 5 assists, Jen Kerns overcame her not-so-good debut of last week and scored 16 points to go with 7 steals. Marte Linthout, 12, and Miriam Benjamins, 10, were the other two Lions in double figures. In total ProBuild had a season-high 42 steals. Rachel Witkamp started at center, while Anna Lembke, who's leaving next week back to the USA, watched the game from the stands awaiting her farewell party later in the evening.
Coach Brian Benjamin praised the effort of his team. "I liked the defensive intensity", he said. "Offensively we could have done better, shooting 38 percent, but on the whole I'm satisfied. Zuzana and Jen are fitting in nicely, and with Marte Linthout healthy again we have much more firepower than the first half of the season."
Sakova and Linthout fuelled a big first quarter, as the Lions climbed to an 18-0 lead before Aniek Balemans scored the Barons' first two points in the 8th minute. In the second quarter Jen Kerns and Marte Linthout scored consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 34-10. Two steals and scores by Kerns widened the gap to 30 points at halftime, 42-12. In the third period the Lions struggled somewhat, scoring just 13 points and allowing the Barons the same amount, 55-25. Jen Kerns opened the last quarter with a 3-pointer and a score, followed by a score and two treys by Sakova, leading the Lions to a lopsided 75-39 victory over the woeful Barons, who haven't won a game this season yet.
The first period ended in an 18-14 Lions deficit. Molly McDowell scored the first seven points for her team and had 11 in the quarter. On the Lions' side Zuzana Sakova didn't miss and scored eight points. In the second period Lely stretched their lead to 11 points, 30-19, but Jildis Pronk's 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 Lions-run to almost even the score at the break, 32-31. In the third quarter ProBuild gained a 32-41 lead behind two scores of Anna Lembke and two jumpers of Marte Linthout. But Lely was able to close the gap again and both teams stayed close through the fourth quarter, until Molly McDowell scored a potential game-winning jumper with a few seconds to go, 60-58. But Anna Lembke was fouled on the other side and didn't miss from the free throw line to take the Lions to overtime, 60-60.
In overtime Lely took a 70-67 lead, but with 17 seconds on the clock Marte Linthout hit a 3-pointer from the corner to even the score again, 70-70. With eight seconds to go Lely went to Molly McDowell again, who scored a running jumper, 72-70. The Lions had enough time to set up a play and in the last second Marte Linthout took a 3-pointer, which swished through the net. No buzzer sounded however, due to what seemed to be a malfunction. Confusion everywhere, but the referees ruled that the ball left Linthout's hand after time had expired. Coach Brian Benjamin claimed that the victory was stolen from his team by the referees. "This was not the only bad call they made tonight. Particularly in the last quarter and in overtime I had the feeling we were up against seven opponents instead of five. But I don't want to take any of the credits from Lely. I thought we played an excellent game tonight, shooting 43% from the floor and grabbing 41 rebounds. But theirs was pretty good too."