| Lely Amsterdam visits Landsmeer |
Author: Henk Wals
Date: February 24, 2005
Dutch
Saturday second seeded ProBuild hosts number one seeded Lely Amsterdam. Two earlier games this season ended in a minimum loss for the Lions. In the regular competition Lely won the first game on their home court, 59-56. Not long ago the teams met in the Final Four tournament, where Lely again was victorious, 69-63. So, hopefully, ProBuild will be able to revenge this in Landsmeer. Every win or loss is important in this stage of the competition, because the differences between the top seeded teams are minimal.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: February 22, 2005
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie was named MVP of the Dutch All*Star game, which took place in Rotterdam on Sunday. Rhona became the star of stars, leading the Northern team to a 70-68 victory on the Southern All-Stars. Kristen Green also was chosen as an all*star. The North was coached by Laki Lakner of Lely Amsterdam.
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| ProBuild's Winning Streak Ends in Tubbergen |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: February 12, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored a season-high 43 points and had 13 rebounds, but got little help from her teammates, as the Lions saw their winning streak ended by Perik Jumpers, 86-83. The only other Lion in double figure was Gerda Heinen, who scored 16 points. Kristen Green was 3-out-of-19 from the floor and finished with just 9 points.
Coach Brian Benjamin was disappointed. "We had a chance to take the first seed tonight, and I expected everybody to be sharp, but instead we came out with absolutely no intensity. We allowed them 83 points, which is the most of the season, if I'm not mistaken. We made a lot of stupid mistakes. On offense Rhona obviously did a great job, but apart from Gerda, nobody else was there. To be honest, I'm really angry."
Melissa Pater scored 14 points as the Jumpers took a 29-22 lead in the first period. In the second period the Lions tightened up their defense a little and closed the gap, 36-36. A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Sally Kaznica gave the Jumpers a five-point lead at halftime, 46-41. In the third quarter the deficit grew to 6 points, 59-53, but Rhona McKenzie led the Lions back to 65-63 at the end of the third period.
In the 4th period the teams stayed close, until Kristen Green was fouled on a 3-point-attempt with 1.14 minutes to go and a 82-79 score. Green made two-out-of her three attempts from the line, 82-81. Next Julie Smulders fouled Natalie Hudec on the other side of the court. Hudec didn't miss, 84-81. After Rhona McKenzie scored 84-83, Anna Bekkering managed to score for the jumpers with a few seconds on the clock. Julie Smulders last-second 3-point-attempt hit nothing but air.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: February 10, 2005
Dutch
Saturday the ProBuild Lions visits their old rivals from Tubbergen, Perik Jumpers. The Lions are on a 9-game-winning-streak in the regular competition, having not lost a game since November 20, when they dropped a game against Lely Amsterdam, losing by 70-66. It's the Lions' longest winning streak since the 2000-2001 season, when the won 16 games in a row. Apart from the regular competition ProBuild lost two games, one in the Final Four and one in the Dutch Cup Competition. The latter game Perik Jumpers came out victorious 70-66 and advanced to the next round of the DCC. This weekend the Lions set out to revenge this loss. Perik's coach Rob Steenbergen retired two weeks ago and was replaced by Harold Langereis, who debuted with a convincing 67-86 away-victory against Groningen last week. In December Perik added it's 5th foreign player on the roster: former Lion Natalie Hudec, who returned from Canada to lead the Jumper's offense.
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| ProBuild Dumps the Dutch Champion, 68-46 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: February 6, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Kristen Green scored 21 points to lead the Lions to a 68-46 rout of Cape Holland Den Helder. ProBuild's American guard sank 4-out-of-7 3-pointers and had 5 steals. Rhona McKenzie, who had to fight double teams the whole game, added 13 points, 9 rebounds and 7 steals and Gerda Heinen had 15 points. The Lions are 10-12 now and share the first seed with US/Binnenland and BV Lely.
Coach Brian Benjamin said he's seeing improvement. "In the first game of the season we played Cape Holland in Den Helder and we didn't stand a chance, losing by 12 points. Today we won by 24 and we held them to 46 points, while they're averaging almost 80." Benjamin, who usually is a hard-to-please-coach, said he was proud of his team. "Defensively we were awesome. We took their game away from them and we dominated the second half of the game. Offensively we didn't even play very good, shooting 39% from the floor, but we shut down their offence completely. I mean, they're a very good 3-point-shooting-team, but tonight they just had two, not because they missed shots, but they just couldn't get them away."
Cape Holland took an early lead behind six points from their 6-4 centre Naomi Halman, who had some easy lay-ups out of backdoor cuts. After the Lions made some defensive adjustments, they were able to stop that, but couldn't prevent Cape Holland coming out of the first period with a 10-16 lead. In the second quarter the deficit grew to 9 points, 13-22, but next the Lions placed a 12-0 run fueled by 3-pointers from Kristen Green and Jildis Pronk, 27-22. By halftime the score was evened again, 30-30.
In the third period the Lions took a 37-31 lead, before Cape Holland's point guard Rebecca Maessen took her fourth foul and was called to the bench. A few minutes later backup point guard Tirza Pentury had to be carried of the floor with a serious looking knee-injury, after which Cape Holland's new American player Cherie Lea was called to point guard duty. In the mean time Den Helder exceeded the limit for team fouls in the period, and Kristen Green (5-6) and Gerda Heinen (7-7) were almost flawless from the line. At the end of the period the Lions led by 51-42.
The fourth period Den Helder scored just four points, while ProBuild had 17.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: February 3, 2005
Dutch
Saturday the second half of the competition begins. ProBuild hosts the Dutch Champions, Cape Holland Den Helder. The same team the Lions routed last week in the Final Four, but that doesn't say much, according to coach Brian Benjamin. "We were good, but there was no pressure in that game. Who cares about the third or fourth place? Cape Holland just wasn't there, but I'm convinced they will be ready Saturday and we'll have a totally different type of game then." ProBuild lost its first competition game against Den Helder by 83-71.
Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
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Photo's: Tine Sierink
Date: 29 januari
Pictures from Probuilds Final Four Games (BV Lely-Probuild and Probuild-Cape Holland Den Helder here.
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| Lions Rout Cape Holland in Final Four, 75-58 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 29, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
OK, a battle to determine who ends in third seed en whose in fourth, doesn't hold very much interest. On the other hand, ProBuild and Cape Holland will meet each other in the regular competition next week, and that makes a game like this a little bit more interesting. Coach Brian Benjamin urged his team to start the game with some more intensity than yesterday against Lely. And they did just that.
Kristen Green scored 24 points and Rhona McKenzie added 21 in a game in which the Lions never trailed. Unlike yesterday, the Lions came out of the locker room razor sharp.
Kristen Green scored three 3-pointers in the first period and Nadine Boesaart hit two treys to fuel a 29-17 lead at the end of the quarter. Rhona McKenzie opened the second period with two scores, before Kristen Green stole the ball and went coast-to-coast to have a lay-up, 35-19. By halftime, the gap was widened to 38-62. It took the Lions not much trouble to stay in the lead during the rest of the game. In the fourth minute of the last period ProBuild led by 26 points, their biggest lead, 70-44. In the last minutes of the game intensity levels dropped and Cape Holland was able to limit the damage to 75-58.
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| Probuild Drops First Final Four Game |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 28, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie played another impressive game, scoring 28 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, but it was not enough for ProBuild to advance to the finals of the Final Four. Kristen Green also made a great effort, scoring 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers. ProBuilds international players, however, did get little help from their teammates, who combined for just 19 points.
As always, the last minutes of the Lely-Lions game had the audience on the edges of their seats. After Lely took a ten point lead at halftime, Jasmijn Overbeeke had a driving lay-up in the 8th minute of the third quarter to take Lely to a maximum lead of 13 points, 49-36. Four points by Rhona McKenzie and a Kristen Green 3-pointer narrowed the gap to six points at the end of the period, 44-50. Julie Smulders hit a 3-pointer in the last quarter, before Rhona Mckenzie made 57-53. Next the Lions took their first lead of the game, behind two consecutive 3-pointers of Kristen Green, 57-59.
In the last minute the score was 53-53, when Rhona McKenzie grabbed a rebound after a miss by Lely's Tanya Bröring, and was - as some might say, mistakenly - called for a foul. Bröring hit both free throws, 55-53. Kristen Green missed a jumper, and next Rinske van Schooneveld hit a crucial 3-pointer for Lely, with 10 seconds on the clock, 58-53. Sanne Bakker made Lely's last point from the line.
The second game of the evening, between Cape Holland Den Helder and US/Binnenland, was won by Binnenland. Tomorrow ProBuild meets Cape Holland in a battle for the 3rd seed.
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Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 26, 2005
Dutch
All teams of the Dutch eredivisie have met each other once, so it's time for the Final Four tournament, for which the four top seeded teams are being invited. ProBuild is in the 4th seed and will met 1st seeded Lely Amsterdam. The other two teams are 2nd seeded Cape Holland Den Helder and 3rd seeded US/Binnenland. The tournament is being held at Binnenland's home court in Barendrecht.
ProBuild starts the tournament as the league's best defensive team, with 59.9 allowed points per game. Lely (62.4), US/Binnenland (63.5) and Den Helder (63.9) are following.
ProBuild's game against Lely starts on Friday at 7 PM CET. Saturday the teams will meet to battle for the 3rd and 4th place and the Final Four Cup.
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| Lions Rout Grasshoppers, 95-61 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 22, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored 24 points and pulled down 18 boards, as the Lions posted the 8th straight win, a 95-61 victory over the Katwijk Grasshoppers. Kristen Green added 22 points, Gerda Heinen had 16 en Jildis Pronk 11.
Julie Smulders came of the bench and played 24 minutes to score 9 points and have 4 rebounds. Grasshopper's star-player Alie Rousseau was inured and had to watch from the bench. ProBuild scored a season-high 95 points and made 36-of-77 shots.
"That was the difference with last game", coach Brian Benjamin said. "We made our shots this time. Defensively we controlled the game pretty much, although I still think we allowed them to score too many easy points. But on the whole, I'll have to say we played well."
Benjamin was disappointed seeing Grasshopper's Alie Rousseau wasn't able to play. "I was hoping to have a bit more of a contest, as it was our last game before going into next week's Final Four Tournament. There we have to battle Lely, Den Helder and Binnenland, and these teams won't allow us to make any mistakes. It's some time ago since we've met one of the other top-teams, so it's difficult to know where we stand at the moment."
No, it was not much of a contest. The Lions never trailed in the game, after Kristen Green made her first jumper to score 2-0. Rhona McKenzie followed with a series of scores, before Green hit a trey to cap a 21-7 Lions openings burst. The first period ended in a 25-9 Lions lead.
Veteran Petra de Zwart scored 25-11 for the Grasshoppers, but Gerda Heinen answered with a lay-up and Nadine Boesaart scored two consecutive 3-pointers to widen the gap to 33-11. But then ProBuild slowed down a bit, allowing the Grasshoppers a 0-8 run, 33-19. After a time-out by coach Benjamin the Lions continued to sore and at halftime the lead has grown back to 18 points again, 41-23.
The third quarter the Lions started with a decisive run, fueled by two Kristen Green-3-pointers, 53-29. Gerda Heinen made 10 of her 16 points in the period to open a 68-43 advantage at the beginning of the last quarter.
In the last period the Lions easily cruised to their most lopsided victory of the season.
Petra de Zwart scored 22 points for Grasshoppers and Jessica Kemp had 17.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: January 20, 2005
Dutch
Saturday the Lions host the Katwijk Grasshoppers. It will be the last game of the first half of the competition. The Grasshoppers are doing surprisingly well in the league, after they lost their star player, Tanya Bröring, to Lely Amsterdam this season. But American forward Alie Rousseau (Georgia Southern University, 14.4 ppg) is a good replacement for Bröring. The Grasshoppers are in 5th seed, 5-10.
Game starts at 8.30 pm, CET.
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| ProBuild Downs Lieshout, 58-73 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 15, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored 22 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and led the Lions to a 58-73 victory on 3Es Lieshout. Kristen Green swished four 3-pointers to add 20 points and Gerda Heinen had 10. Julie Smulders debuted with 3 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes, switching between the pointguard and the shooting guard spot. The Lions rolled to their seventh consecutive victory, without playing brilliant. "Offensively we created good looks at the basket," coach Brian Benjamin said. "But we failed to make those shots, shooting less than 33 percent from the floor. As a coach, there's not much you can do about that. We ran the plays as we should, we shared the ball and everything. Defensively we played reasonably well for three quarters, but then we stopped guarding them and let them win the fourth period by 20-11. We've trouble to keep our concentration when we lead by more than 20 points." Shooting just 32,5%, the Lions won the game by taking a season high 83 shots, while averaging 66.
During the first minutes of the game, ProBuild had no trouble at all to find the basket. Rhona McKenzie hit three consecutive jumpers, Nadine Boesaart scored a 3-pointer and Kristen Green had four points to bring the Lions to a 2-13 lead. Jildis Pronk followed with a 3-pointer, before Lieshout managed to get back in the game behind ten points of Stephanie Lynn Jones. At the end of the period the scoreboard showed a 17-22 Lions lead. In the second period Kristen Green and Nadine Boesaart both scored treys to extend the lead to 23-38, but Lauren Walker answered with a 3-pointer, 26-38. Halftime was reached with a 28-38 score. In the third quarter the Lions did what they came for: win the game. Kristen Green swished her third 3-pointer and Rhna McKenzie scored another 3-in-a-row, to give ProBuild a 34-51 lead. "Let's finish the game, now", Coach Brian Benjamin said to his team, and that was just what they did. By the end of the quarter the gap was widened to 38-62.
The fourth quarter was a formality. Coach Benjamin was right: the Lions started to play sloppy, allowing Lieshout way too many easy baskets and shooting bricks their selves.
Stephanie Lynn Jones scored 15 points for Lieshout.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: January 13, 2005
Dutch
Saturday night ProBuild travels to Lieshout in the deep south of the Netherlands to battle 3Es Lieshout. Until now Lieshout isn't doing very well this season, with just one victory (against last-seeded DAS Delft) out of nine games. Scottish Lauren Walker and American Stephanie Lynn Jones are the foreign players on Lieshouts roster. With the Lions guard Julie Smulders is expected to make her debut.
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| Lions down Wildcats, 79-63 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: January 9, 2005
Box Score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Lions to a 79-63 rout of the Nijmegen Wildcats. Gerda Heinen added 14 points, Kristen Green had 12 and Jildis Pronk chipped in with 10. McKenzie made 10-of-16 shots and 5-of-6 free throws in 28 minutes. The Lions outscored Wildcats 25-15 in the first period and 21-9 in the second, built a 22 points halftime cushion, 46-24. The Lions shot 45% from the floor and never trailed as they rolled to their 6th straight win.
"It was a solid win", coach Brian Benjamin said. "Wildcats is a better team than they were last season, but we never gave them a chance to get into the game, except for maybe the third quarter." In the third period the Wildcats managed to close the deficit to 52-40 behind efforts from their star pointguard Zairah van Hooijdonk and veteran center Marian Dinnissen. But ProBuild didn't let them come further than that and the gap stayed around 12, 13 points until the 7th minute of the 4th quarter, when Rhona McKenzie scored 5 points to build the Lions lead to 20 points again.
"I liked our team-effort tonight", Benjamin said. "We made a lot of mistakes on defense and offensively we didn't get in our rhythm. But we played with heart and that was why we outclassed them". With the Wildcats Zairah van Hooijdonk scored 16 points and Marian Dinnissen had 19.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: January 6, 2005
Dutch
Saturday the Lions host their little feline relatives, the Nijmegen Wildcats, in their first game of 2005. Last season the Wildcats debuted on the highest level and managed to win just two games. This year things go better in Nijmegen, after the Wildcats signed Loďs Triemstra and Marian Dinnissen, two experienced Dutch veterans. With their aggressive defensive style (fourth best team in allowed points) the Wildcats won four games until now, resulting in a third seed, which they share with four other teams.
ProBuild's new-signed player Julie Smulders will not be on the court Saturday. It turned out to be not easy to book a flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam. But a reservation has been made now. Julie's arrival in the Netherlands is expected Monday.
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| ProBuild signs Canadian Dutchwoman Julie Smulders |
Author: Henk Wals
Date: January 1, 2005
Dutch
The ProBuild management today announced the signing of guard Julie Smulders. Smulders is a native of Canada, but as a daughter of Dutch immigrants also holds a Dutch passport. Coming from the University of British Columbia, in the 2002-2003 season the 5-8 guard played for Galgary University, before joining the Dutch team of Perik Jumpers in the 2003-2004 season. With the Jumpers she scored 13.9 ppg. Julie Smulders is a good shooter, averaging 46.5% from 3-point range and 82.3% from the free throw line last season. Smulders also played for the Dutch national team, but resigned during the summer to return to Canada. Coach Brian Benjamin expects the addition of Jullie Smulders to the roster will give the Lions more options in the backcourt rotation. "Julie is a versatile player, she can play both the point and shooting guard spot. We'll be able to rest our backcourt players some more, without giving up quality on the court. She's a good defender too. And having another player who can hit the trey won't harm us either. So, yes, I'm very happy with this addition."
With the Lions Julie Smulders will be re-united with her old Jumpers teammates Rhona McKenzie en Nieke van der Zee.
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