The Lions wasted a 23-point game of Molly McDowell, losing 69-59 to AutoCAD Amazone. Without the injured Anouk Biesters, who is the second scorer of the team with 14 ppg, ProBuild suffered a painful loss.
Biesters probably tore a crucial ligament in her knee at Thursday's practice. She is scheduled for a MRI next week. If her CL is torn, she's out for the season, which no doubt would be a serious setback for the Lions.
The Lions had trouble staying focused in Utrecht, playing what coach Dwight van West called their worst game of the season.
"It looked we did not have our minds on the game", he said. "We did not run our plays well and made too many mistakes on defense. We dropped this game unexpectedly. Our task for the coming week is to adjust to the new situation, playing without Anouk on the floor. We just have to."
Behind Molly McDowell, who was 9-out-of-13 from the floor, but also committed 7 turnovers, Chelsey Warburton was the only other Lion in double figures. Warburton scored 13 of her 15 points in the last period.
ProBuild lost the game in the first quarter, scoring only 4 points and looking at a 17-4 deficit after the period.
After the second period they trailed 30-18.
Molly McDowell scored 12 points in the third quarter, but she got little help from her teammates. The Lions did not manage to stop Amazone at the other side of the court, looking at a 54-39 deficit after the quarter.
In the third minute of the last period McDowell got fouled out. Chelsey Warburton took over at point guard.
Controlling the ball, Warburton scored 8 points in a 0-13 burst, hitting two treys to cut the Lions' deficit to 60-59 with three minutes remaining.
That was as far as they could get.
AutoCAD scored 9 points in the last two minutes, holding ProBuild scoreless to post their first win of the season over the Lions.
Thursday during practice forward Anouk Biesters suffered what appears to be a serious knee-injury. Physiotherapist René Wormhoudt tentatively diagnosed a torn crucial ligament. Biesters is scheduled for a MRI next week to get confirmation.
Saturday the ProBuild Lions finish a series of three away-games in the city of Utrecht, where they face AutoCAD Amazone.
Under their new coach Jan Poels, who replaced coach Bo Melis in January, the Amazones still have not matched their form of last season, when they reached the Finals of the play-offs by eliminating ProBuild in the Semi's.
Before posting a victory on Wereldtickets last weekend, AutoCAD took a loss to Perik Jumpers. At the moment they are tied for a 5th/6th seed with Lely Amsterdam.
All three matches between ProBuild and AutoCAD this season were won by the Lions.
To prepare themselves for this weekend's game the Amazones took boxing lessons at the boxing club of Joop Verbon in Utrecht. The Lions better be prepared!
Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
Lions Pull Out Victory in Groningen
Author: Henk Wals
Pictures: Tine Sierink
Date: February 21, 2009
Chelsey Warburton scored 23 points and pulled down 7 rebounds to lead ProBuild Lions to a 75-89 win at Celeritas Groningen. Warburton hit 5-out-of-11 3-pointers.
Coach Laki Lakner, however, looked worried after the game. "Offensively we did a good job, shooting at a high percentage", he said. "But what worries me is our defense. Allowing 75 points from a low seeded team like Celeritas, that is not our style of basketball, at least it shouldn't be. We really have to improve on that before the play-offs start."
The Lions looked at a 7-3 deficit in the first quarter, but pulled to a 14-20 lead after the period behind two 3-pointers by Warburton and one from Biesters.
The Lions started the second period with a 5-15 run, capped by Molly McDowell's 3-pointer in the 5th minute, 18-35. Mainly thanks to Andrea Verdegan, who nailed a 3-pointer off the glass in the buzzer amongst other hits, Celeritas managed to close the gap to 36-46 after the quarter.
In the third period ProBuild and Celeritas exchanged baskets, leaving the margin more or less intact, 56-68 after the quarter.
Chelsey Warburton and Nadine Boesaart both hit treys at the starts of the last period, and in the 5th minute Ilana Vergunst drained a 3-pointer to give the Lions their biggest lead of the game, 64-84.
Saturday the ProBuild Lions travel to the north part of the Netherlands, to battle Celeritas Donar in the city of Groningen.
Celeritas is 6-out-of-18 and shares the 7th seed with Challenge Sport/Renes Binnenland.
Last weekend Celeritas lost 77-65 to Perik Jumpers. Previously AutoCad Amazone and Binnenland both posted a win over Celeritas. On January 10th the ladies from Groningen achieved a milestone, beating 3rd seeded Woonbron DAS 66-69 in an away-game.
ProBuild is 2-0 against Celeritas this season. In Groningen the Lions posted a 62-80 win. In Landsmeer their victory was even more lopsided, 91-59.
Game starts at 7:30 PM CET.
Lions Rout Grasshoppers, 57-93
Author: Henk Wals
Pictures: Tine Sierink
Date: February 18, 2009
Chelsey Warburton posted het first Dutch double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds in her first start for ProBuild Lions. She also had 7 steals.
The Lions pulled away in the second half for a 57-93 victory over STOL Grasshoppers on Wednesday night.
Marie Hoogstraten and Molly McDowell both had minor injuries. Hoogstraten was kept on the bench by coach Laki Lakner, while McDowell just played 15 minutes, but still posted 8 points and 7 assists.
Belinda Bos scored a season high 17 points, Anouk Biesters added 14 and Nadine Boesaart 11.
The Lions shot 54.5% from the floor.
The game was tied 29-29 at halftime, but right after the break ProBuild placed a 0-15 run, capped by a 3-point play from Belinda Bos. The Lions were in control the rest of the game, steadily pulling away until a 36-point lead was build.
Coach Laki Lakner said he is still wondering why his team is starting so slow this season. "Like before, we started sloppy and unfocused. We usually don't play good first halves. I still not have figured out what we can do about it, but it is important we solve this problem before the play-offs starts."
ProBuild Lions spoilt a season high 23 points-effort from Chelsey Warburton, losing 92-101 in overtime to first seeded HLB Accountants.
With the loss the Lions reduced their chances to reach the first spot to almost zero.
Warburton hit 6 3-pointers and had 7 rebounds. Anouk Biesters contributed 15 points. Jasmijn Overbeeke, Molly McDowell and Belinda Bos all had 13.
As it comes to battling Den Helder , the Lions have gotten into a bad habit of digging themselves an early hole and trying to climb out of it. ProBuild erased a 15-point deficit, only to see Laura Kooij converting three shots from the free throw line to take the game to overtime in the last seconds of the 4th period.
Molly McDowell drained a 3-pointer to give the Lions a 81-78 edge with less than a minute remaining. HLB lost the ball on their next posession and the Lions had to take it out with 17 seconds to go. A violation of the 8-seconds rule delivered the ball back into the hands of Den Helder, with 8.5 seconds on the clock. With 3 seconds remaining Molly McDowell fouled Laura Kooij, who was attempting a desperation 3-pointer .
With starters Molly McDowell, Jasmijn Overbeeke, Anouk Biesters and Ilana Vergunst on the bench with 5 fouls, the Lions had no chance to win the game in OT.
Coach Laki Lakner could not hide his disappointment after the game. "I rather lose by 20 points", he said. "We worked hard to get back in the game, and like last time we did a good job, but we gave away this very important game in the last seconds by making two costly mistakes. It really breaks my heart."
ProBuild shot 47% from the field, but not more than 61.5 % from the free throw-line.
In the first period HLB and ProBuild exchanged baskets, until Maaike Klein hit a 3-pointer in the buzzer for HLB to make it 19-23. Thanks to mainly Laura Kooij HLB took a 21-36 lead in the second quarter, but Chelsey Warburton drained three consecutive 3-pointers and Molly McDowell added a basket to cap a 11-0 run, cutting the deficit to 32-36.
Anna Vicenzetto made it 33-40 in the half time-buzzer.
Molly McDowell and Anouk Biesters both made a basket at the start of the third period to pull ProBuild to 37-40. From that moment on the game stayed close. Chelsey Warburton nailed her 4th 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to make it 60-62.
Immediately after the start of the 4th quarter Warburton continued with her 5th hit from behind the arc to give ProBuild its first lead since the first period, 63-62. A thrilling last period followed, with Anna Vicenzetto tying the game 78-78 from the line with less than a minute remaining.
Next Molly McDowell hit a trey which could have been game-winning, if the Lions would have kept their heads cool in the last seconds.
Saturday ProBuild Lions host HLB Accountants for what could turn out to be one of the most important games of the season.
At stake is the first seed in the regular competition, which gives home advantage all the way through the play-offs. If the Lions lose, they trail HLB by 6 points and need a miracle to close the gap in the remainder of the competition.
If ProBuild pull out a win, they trail by just 2 points. If both teams drop no games anymore in that case, it all comes down to the third meeting on April 13, the last day of the regular competition.
ProBuild lost the first game in Den Helder by 5 points, 67-62. The Lions took revenge in the semi finals of the Dutch Cup Tournament, when they eliminated HLB, posting a 69-65 win.
The loss was hard to swallow for coach Meindert van Veen of Den Helder.
The next day on his weblog he complained about pushing, pulling and holding by the Lions in a somewhat cheap attempt to influence the referees of the coming games between HLB and the Lions. His accusations were not true, as the game video clearly showed.
However, a selection of the pictures of the last few games between HLB and ProBuild shows something else.
Jasmijn Overbeeke posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead ProBuild Lions to a 66-69 victory over third seeded Woonbron DAS. Doing so, the Lions built a comfortable 8-point cushion in the ranking.
Four other Lions were in double figures. Anouk Biesters had 13 points, Ilana Vergunst contributed 11 and Chelsey Warburton and Molly McDowell both added 10. McDowell, who played the full 40 minutes, also posted 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 6 steals.
ProBuild overcame a 22-point shooting night of former Lion Theresa LeCuyer.
Coach Laki Lakner said it was an important win. "We showed we can beat this team, which we lost to two times earlier this season. In the regular competition it's between us and HLB Den Helder now. We face them next week in a four-point game. If we lose, we trail by 6; if we win, we trail by 2."
"We had a slow start again", Lakner said. "After the first period we trailed by 9 points, but we fought ourselves back into the game. In the second half our shots started to fall a little bit more. We did a good job after the break."
ProBuild shot 34.3% from the floor and 61.9% from the free throw-line.
ProBuild trailed 17-9 after the first period, but clawed within 30-29 on a 3-pointer and two free throws by Ilana Vergunst just before the break.
In the third period the Lions faced a 38-32 deficit, but Jasmijn Overbeeke scored 6 points and Molly McDowell added 4 to bring the Lions to a 41-42 lead. Irene Sloof made it 43-42 for DAS, but Chelsey Warburton split a pair of free throws to tie the game 43-43.
Two baskets by Anouk Biesters, who had not scored until then, gave the Lions a 43-47 edge at the start of the 4th quarter.
Chelsey Warburton nailed a 3-pointer to make it 45-52, but LeCuyer and Reggie Maddox responded, 50-52. Warburton's second hit from behind the arc in slightly more than a minute gave the Lions a 5-point-lead again, 50-55.
With 90 seconds to go Anouk Biesters scored a driving lay-up to make it 65-69. Theresa LeCuyer hit one of two free throws to cut Woonbron's deficit to 66-69. With 9 seconds remaining Molly McDowell missed a shot and the ball went out through the hands of a DAS-player. The last seconds the Lions passed the ball around as time expired.
Wednesday ProBuild Lions head for Katwijk, a fishing town on the Dutch coach, for a match against STOL Grasshoppers, the last seeded team in the ranking.
It is the last game of the second round of the competition.
The first game against Grasshoppers was won by the Lions 78-51.
Saturday ProBuild Lions travel to the Medieval city of Delft to battle Woonbron DAS, the third seeded team in the competition. The Lions lost two earlier confrontations this season. At home ProBuild was topped 50-67 by DAS, playing with an all-Dutch line-up due to Molly McDowell's injury and Chanel Ross being sidelined by a coach's decision. A few weeks later the Lions lost again, 67-52 in the semi-finals of the half-season tournament, also hampered by injuries.
Saturday the Lions will face DAS with a complete team and they hope for a different outcome.
Game starts at 7 PM CET.
Lions Limit Lely to 43 points, Scoring 55
Author: Henk Wals
Pictures: Tine Sierink
Datum: January 31, 2009
ProBuild Lions may be called a jump-shooting team; in case their shots won't fall they have other ways to win the game.
With a smothering defense ProBuild held Lely to just 43 points, scoring 55 their selves against a not-so-good shooting percentage of 32.7 from the floor and 52.4% from the line.
Anouk Biesters scored 12 points and Chelsey Warburton contributed 10. Molly McDowell had a cold shooting night, posting 2-out-of-12 hits from the floor, totaling 8 points.
Coach Laki Lakner said he was not going to put the blame on anyone for a bad offensive night. "We worked hard on the defensive end and we held them to just 33 points with two minutes remaining. We also created good looks at their basket, but the shots just did not fell. Sometimes that happens. That's why I put so much emphasis on defense in my coaching. It is always safer to rely on your ability to hold your opponent to fewer points than you score yourself, than to make yourself dependable on your offensive skills, because there'll always be bad shooting nights, no matter how good you are. And relying on our defense, that's just what we did tonight."
Judy Wright, who scored 41 points for Lely in last week's game, hit her first four shots, scoring 8 points to help Lely to a 0-10 lead. After that Wright went dry, being held to just 5 points in the rest of the game to reach a total of 13. She was the only Lely player who recorded double figures.
Anouk Biesters made it 2-10 and Belinda Bos nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the deficit to 5-10. After the first period the game was tied 12-12.
In the second period ProBuild and Lely exchanged baskets until halftime, when ProBuild was up by just one point, 26-25.
Just like last week the Lions launched their main offensive in the third quarter. Ilana Vergunst finished a fast break and Jasmijn Overbeeke rejected a shot attempt by Judy Wright on the other side of the court. Next Anouk Biesters drained a 3-pointer to create the Lions' first cushion in the game, 33-25.
After the third period ProBuild led 38-29, holding Lely to just 4 points in the quarter.
Marie Hoogstraten and Chelsey Warburton both hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-30 just after the start of the fourth period. After Nadine Boesaart and Molly McDowell also recorded hits from behind the arc, the Lions reached their biggest lead of the game, 52-31.
In the last five minutes coach Laki Lakner called his starters to the bench. The reserves did a less good job than last week, as Lely placed a final 3-12 run to make their loss a little less lopsided, 55-43.
Saturday ProBuild hosts BV Lely, Molly McDowell's former Dutch team. In 2004 McDowell was voted MVP of the league while playing for Lely under coach Laki Lakner. That season Lely advanced to the semi finals of the play-offs before being eliminated by Perik Jumpers.
After Molly McDowell and Laki Lakner left Lely's success years were over.
This season Lely has a 6-out-of-15 losing record. ProBuild beat Lely 57-68 in the away game.
Game starts at 8:30 PM CET.
Lions Breeze Past Binnenland
Author: Henk Wals
Pictures: Tine Sierink
Datum: January 24, 2009
All players scored and four were in double figures as the ProBuild Lions posted a lopsided 44-70 victory on Challenge Sport/Renes Binnenland.
Chelsey Warburton scored 12 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, Molly McDowell had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Marie Hoogstraten also contributed 11 points and Anouk Biesters chipped in with 10.
Coach Laki Lakner gave his bench players a lot of playing time and they did not disappoint him, totaling 40 points. ProBuild led by just four points at halftime, 20-24, but stepped on the pedal right after the break, putting up a 2-14 run to race to a 22-38 lead.
"I did not want us to let it come down to the last minutes of the game to squeeze out a win, like we did two weeks ago at Leiderdorp," Lakner said. "I tried to make that point in the locker room at intermission and I think the message came across clear."
Anouk Biesters started the game with draining a 3-pointer and hitting a pair of free throws to give the Lions a 0-6 lead, but in the 9th minute the game was tied. Chelsey Warburton nailed a trey to make it 10-13.
In the second period the Lions looked at a 20-17 deficit before Warburton capped a 0-7 run with her second 3-pointer to pull ProBuild to a 20-24 lead at halftime.
The Lions returned from the locker room knife-sharp, took over and pulled away for good.
"Our emphasis in the third quarter was just to come out and push the lead", Lakner's co-coach Dwight van West said after the game."We tightened up our defense and from that moment on our offense started to run more smoothly. And it was a good thing we could use our whole bench without getting weaker."
In the third period the Lions rallied to a 32-51 lead, scoring 27 points in the quarter.
The fourth period was just a formality. ProBuild cruised to a 36-64 edge in the 5th minute, their biggest lead in the game.
At that point Binnenland's Jeanette Woodberry, who scored 19 points, had to be carried off the floor with what appeared to be a serious knee-injury.
Molly McDowell and Chelsey Warburton both had 18 points as ProBuild Lions advanced to the Finals of the Dutch Cup Tournament, beating HLB Den Helder 79-75. Anouk Biesters contributed 15 points.
The Lions trailed 16 points in the second period.
Chelsey Warburon drained her 5th and decisive 3-pointer when the game was tied in the 9th minute of the 4th period, giving the Lions a 75-72 edge with 82 seconds remaining.
Coach Laki Lakner was happy with the win, but said he had to change his game plan after the first period. "The girls were so busy thinking about all the tactical stuff we went through before the game; they seemed to have lost a bit of their fighting spirit. That's why we changed it in the second period. I told them to go to a full-court-press defense and just play as hard as they could."
"That's how we got back in the game and pulled it away eventually. And I must say, playing at our home court was a tremendous advantage. We got a lot of support from our fans."
That, and containing HLB's star-center Marloes Roetgerink for most of the game. The most productive player of the competition (averaging 22 ppg) did not produce more than 10 points.
In the first period HLB build a 13-20 lead, extending it to 19-35 in the 6th minute of the second quarter, but Anouk Biesters drained two consecutive 3-pointers to cut ProBuild's deficit to 27-35. Molly McDowell made it 30-37 with a 3-point play and next stole the ball to set up Ilana Vergunst for a lay-up, 34-37.
After coach Laki Lakner received a technical for criticizing the referees Laura Kooy made it 34-39 from the line just before halftime.
In the 7th minute of the third period Marie Hoogstraten nailed a trey to tie the game, 47-47. At the start of the last period ProBuild led 58-56.
A thrilling finish followed. With four minutes to go and trailing 63-68 Jasmijn Overbeeke drained a 3-pointer. Immediately the ball was stolen and Chelsey Warburton followed up with a trey to put ProBuild up again, 69-68.
With the game tied 72-72 in the 9th minute Warburton hit another trey from downtown, giving the Lions a 75-72 edge with 82 seconds remaining.
After a failed attempt by Marloes Roetgerink Jasmijn Overbeek got the defensive rebound and was fouled a few seconds later, making one of two shots from the charity stripe. Next Marloes Roetgerink and Anouk Biesters both split a pair of free throws, 77-73.
Laura Kooij hit a desperation jumper for HLB, 77-75, but Molly McDowell was fouled a few seconds later and kept her cool at the free throw line with 7.5 seconds on the clock, 79-75.
Wednesday ProBuild Lions hosts HLB Accountants for the Semi Finals of the Dutch Cup Tournament. It is the third consecutive year ProBuild and HLB meet in the Semi's. Two seasons ago coach Meindert van Veen and his team pulled out a 53-56 in Landsmeer, last season the Lions prevailed, beating HLB 73-68.
ProBuild Lions is the reigning Cup-holder. Last season ProBuild posted a lopsided 64-39 victory on AutoCAD Amazone.
In the other semi-finals 8th seeded Challenge Sport/Renes Binnenland and 9th seeded STOL Grasshoppers will battle for a spot in the Finals.
Game starts at 8:30 PM CET.
McDowell Shines as Lions Outlast Wereldtickets
Author: Henk Wals
Pictures: Tine Sierink
Datum: January 17, 2009
Molly McDowell scored 30 points to lead ProBuild Lions to a 72-74 victory on Wereldtickets Leiderdorp. McDowell hit three 3-of-5 pointers, and shot an overall percentage of 64.7% from the floor.
It looked like the veteran is back on her old MVP-level.
Marie Hoogstraten nailed a game-winning 3-pointer in the last minute, when the game was tied 71-71.
Hoogstraten finished with 14 points. Anouk Biesters had 12 points, all in the second half of the game.
Chelsey Warburton had a cold shooting night, with 4 points out-of-10 attempts.
With Wereldtickets Venessa Wilt scored a season-high 36 points.
Coach Laki Lakner credited Wereldtickets for playing well tonight, but said he thought his own team did not manage to put up the proper level of concentration and played sloppy defense, allowing 74 points.
"That's 15 points above our average of 59," he said. "And with all due respect, Wereldtickets is not one of the top seeded teams in this league. If we want to advance to the Finals of the Cup Tournament, we have to do a much better job coming Wednesday, when we face HLB in the Semi's."
Molly McDowell scored 11 points in the first period and Venessa Wilt had 12 as Wereldtickets and ProBuild put up a 16-15 score after the quarter.
Lotte Nijenhuis nailed a 3-pointer after the start of the second period to put the Lions up for the first time, 16-18, but later in the quarter Wereldtickets had a 12-3 run to move ahead 36-27.
Marie Hoogstraten narrowed the gap to 36-30 with a 3-pointer and Belinda Bos made it 36-33. Just before halftime Jeanna Hoffman was sent to the free throw-line to put up Wereldtickets 38-33.
Wereldtickets again pulled to a 9-points advantage in the third period, 46-37, but Anouk Biesters drilled a 3-pointer to spark a 0-15 run, which put ProBuild up 48-52. After the third quarter the game was tied 52-52.
A thrilling 4th period followed.
Wereldtickets and ProBuild exchanged baskets until the last minutes of the game, when Venessa Wilt made it 69-68 from the free throw-line. After Anouk Biesters drained a 3-pointer, Wilt answered with a lay-up, tying the game 71-71.
By that time Molly MCDowell and Jasmijn Overbeeke both had left the game with a maximum of 5 fouls.
With 30 seconds on the clock Marie Hoogstraten pulled away the game for ProBuild, calmly nailing a 3-pointer to make it 71-74.
With 0.7 seconds to go Wereldticket's junior player Willemijn Callenberg was sent to the charity stripe to shoot two free throws. She hit the first and deliberately missed the second, but Wereldtickets was unable to put up a last shot, leaving the victory to ProBuild Lions.
Saturday ProBuild Lions travel to the city of Leiden to battle Wereldtickets Leiderdorp. Until this weekend Wereldtickets won 2-out-of-12 games, but some of them were close, especially at home. Number 1 seeded HLB Accountants narrowly escaped with a 65-71 win, Perik Jumpers got away with a 65-73 victory and AutoCAD Amazone was lucky to pull away a 77-80 win.
ProBuild Lions, on the other hand, posted a lopsided 91-51 victory in Landsmeer, with an all-Dutch line-up as Molly McDowell was injured and Chanel Ross did not play due to a coach-decision. Anouk Biesters led the Lions with 20 points.
With Leiderdorp Americans Jeana Hoffman and Venessa Wilt scored 35 of the team's 51 points.
The away-game in Leiden can be regarded as a warming-up for what undoubtedly will be one of the most important games of the season. Wednesday the second seeded Lions host first seeded HLB Accountants in de semi-finals of the Dutch Cup Tournament.
In the other semi-finals Challenge Sport/Renes Binnenland and STOL Grasshoppers will decide who will be one of this year's finalists.
Lions Warm-up Late, Beating Jumpers 54-52
Author: Henk Wals
Foto's: Anneke Wals
Datum: January 11, 2009
Trailing until the last three minutes, ProBuild Lions used a late surge to
pull the game away. With three minutes on the clock Chelsey Warburton
drained a key-3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run, which pulled the Lions next to
Perik Jumpers, 50-50.
Warburton had a solid debut with 12 points. Anouk Biesters scored 16
points, Molly McDowell contributed 15 and Jasmijn Overbeeke chipped in
with 9 points.
Laura Dinkins scored 8 of her 14 points in the first quarter to put Perik
Jumpers up 10-11.
At halftime ProBuild trailed 20-27. The deficit stayed about the same in
the third period, 37-43.
With six minutes on the clock and trailing 41-48 in the fourth, coach
Laki Lakner took a time-out and ordered a full-court-press-defense. A 7-0
surge followed to tie the game, 48-48. Myrthe Beld made it 48-50 for
Perik, but Anouk Biesters answered to make it 50-50.
Jasmijn Overbeeke set up Chelsey Warburton for a lay-up, 52-50. Next Molly
McDowell was fouled with less than one minute to go and did not fail from
the line, 54-50, securing the Lions' win. Sharon Beld made it 54-52 in
the last seconds.
Coach Laki Lakner said his team overcame a very poor shooting night
(4-out-of-27 3-pointers) by playing solid defense, holding Perik Jumpers
to just 52 points.
"Defense definitely was the key in this game", he said. "Offensively we
did not play well until the last minutes. Chelsey Warburton made a
key-3-pointer in crunch time. I thought she played well, considering it
was her first game and she just had two practices with the team."
Saturday ProBuild Lions hosts Perik Jumpers for a second battle in a period of three weeks, this time for the regular competition.
The Jumpers gave the Lions little trouble for a period as long as about seven years, but this season they seem to have found their way back to the top of the ranking.
Not surprising, if you take a good look at this season's starting line-up, with three very talented Dutch national team players (Marianne van der Hoek, Sharon Beld and Myrthe Beld) and two North American quality basketball players, Laura Dinkins and Michelle Wilson.
Laura Dinkins averaged 15.9 points and 8.8 rebounds in the first half of the season. Before coming to Europe she was with the University of Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Conference of the NCAA I, where she must have met Chelsey Warburton and Weber State a few times. Now they will meet again.
Canadian 6-1 center Michelle Wilson replaces Ashley Langen, who returns to the United States. Wilson played for the University of Galgary, where she averaged 14.5 ppg. Her strength and condition coach with the Dinos was Natalie Hudec, who we still remember well from her stay in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2006, when she consecutively signed with ProBuild Lions, Perik Jumpers and Renes Binnenland.
Hudec, who is thirty years-old now, holds a Slovakian passport. She decided to return from retirement to play point guard for the Jumpers for the remainder of the season.
Like ProBuild Lions the Jumpers were in the Final Four tournament. Unlike the Lions, they made it to the Finals, eliminating HLB Den Helder in the process. In the Finals Perik came up short against Woonbron DAS, who won the tournament.
The Lions and the Jumpers met twice this season. In the regular competition ProBuild pulled out a 54-59 win in Tubbergen. In the Quarter Finals of the Dutch Cup tournament the Lions beat Perik 71-61.
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
