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Author: Henk Wals
Date: 30 april 2005
Dutch
Tuesday ProBuild travels to Barendrecht to battle US Binnenland in the first game of the semi-finals of the playoffs. In a best-of-five series it will be determined which team is going to the Finals. In the other series Lely Amsterdam will take it up against Cape Holland Den Helder. In the regular competition ProBuild and Binnenland are 1-1, as both teams lost their home games. In the ranking of fewest allowed points ProBuilds holds the first seed with 58 points and Binnenland the second with 61.6 points. On the other hand Binnenland is a better offensive team (3nd place, 82.2 points) than ProBuild (5th place, 75.1 points).
Game starts at 8.30 PM CET.
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Picture: Tine Sierink
Date: 30 april 2005
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| Lions Reach Semi-Finals with 61-79 Victory on Leiderdorp |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: April 24, 2005
Box score
Dutch
More pictures
In the second match between the 4th and the 7th team of the regular competition, just like the first game it was not hard to tell who was who. The Lions went to the semi-finals with a 2-0 sweep of Leiderdorp, who did not even come close to winning one of the games. Rhona McKenzie led five Lions in double figures with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Jildis Pronk followed with 16 points, Julie Smulders and Kristen Green both had 15 and Gerda Heinen chipped in with 12.
The Lions shot 46% from the floor, collected 40 rebounds and a load of steals, but had trouble to keep up their concentration and intensity, according to coach Brian Benjamin. "We made too many mistakes in our execution", he said. We didn't read their plays well and played sloppy. On the one hand I understand, because we knew we were going to win this game no matter how bad we played, but on the other hand, if we play this way against our next opponent (Binnenland), we'll probably have a short series. But I'm happy we made it this far and I credit my team for that."
The Lions started the game with a 7-0 run behind 4 points of Rhona McKenzie and a Kristen Green 3-pointer. During the first period the lead grew to 16-24 after Kristen Green swished her second 3-pointer just before the end of the quarter. In the second quarter, however, Leiderdorp managed to close the gap to two points, 22-24. After a steal and a lay-up by Julie Smulders the Lions started to build their lead again and went ahead 31-40 by halftime.
The third period the difference stayed around the 10-point mark throughout the third period until the 7th minute, when Rhona Mckenzie scored a lay-up and a bonus free throw and Gerda Heinen hit a 3-pointer, 40-56. By the end of the period the Lions' lead had grown to 46-62. In the last quarter Leiderdorp one more time came within 10 points of the Lions, 52-62 before the Lions guard-duo Julie Smulders and Jildis Pronk combined for 9 points to extend the lead to 52-71. Carloline Manuputty scored Leiderdorp's last points of the season, 61-79.
The Lions now have nine days to prepare themselves for the semi-finals. The first game against Binnenland will take place in Barendrecht on Tuesday 3rd of May.
>>More pictures.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: 23 april 2005
Dutch
Sunday the Lions travel to Leiden, to battle Leiderdorp in the second game of the first playoff-round.
Game starts at 7 PM, CET.
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| Sharp Shooting Lions Down Leiderdorp, 96-58 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: April 20, 2005
Box score
Dutch
The Lions started the playoffs with a convincing victory. Kristen Green hit 4-out-of-5 3-pointers and collected 24 points. Rhona Mckenzie had 23 points and Jildis Pronk shot 4-out-of-4 from behind the arc to gather 17 points. The Lions combined for 12-out-of-18 shooting at 3-point range.
After the Lions took a 14-7 lead behind 3-pointers from Green and Pronk in the first period, Leiderdorp had a 0-8 run to beat the Lions 14-15 in the quarter. In the second period the Lions tightened up their defence, limiting Leiderdorp to just six points in the quarter and went on a 20-2 run in the first 8 minutes, 34-17. Just before halftime Julie Smulders swished a 3-pointer to take the Lions to a 39-21 lead. In the third period the Lions build their lead to 67-40.
Coach Brian Benjamin said he liked what he saw. "We really played some tight defence in the second quarter, which was the key to this victory. And of course we shot very well this game, 50% from the field and an unbelievable percentage of treys, almost 80. I believe we have a good chance to finish this series on Sunday in Leiden."
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: 17 april 2005
Dutch
Today the matchups for the playoff games were set:
Cape Holland-MPC Celeritudo
CBV Binnenland-Grasshoppers
Probuild Lions-BV Leiderdorp
BV Lely-Perik Jumpers
First game (best of three) on Wednesday April, 20, 20.30 CET.
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Photo Tine Sierink
Date: April 17, 2005
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| Lions Clinch Third Playoff Spot |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: April 16, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored 23 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as the ProBuild Lions posted a 50-73 victory over the Katwijk Grasshoppers, who may be their first opponent in the playoffs. Gerda Heinen collected 16 points and Kristen Green had 15. The Lions remained third in the Dutch First League, one or two games ahead of Lely Amsterdam, dependent on the outcome of Lely's game against the Perik Jumpers, tonight.
Coach Brian Benjamin said he was a happy man. "I congratulated the girls after the game. Last season we ended the regular season in the 5th spot, now we are third. We've grown as a team and we ended as the best defense team of the regular season, an accomplishment of which I'm very proud." Coach Benjamin also was satisfied with the effort of this afternoon. "We played a good game, especially defensively. Grasshoppers is a hard-to-beat team on their own home court. Not many teams leave this town with a 23-point-victory."
The first minutes of the game looked like it was going to be a hard-fought battle, but after Kristen Green's second 3-pointer in the 6th minute of the first period, the Lions took a 18-14 lead behind six consecutive points of Gerda Heinen. ProBuild never trailed again and extended the lead to 38-55 after the second period. In the second half the Lions didn't allow Grasshoppers to come any closer and widened the gap to 38-55 at the beginning of the 4th quarter. The last period wasn't very pretty, but the Lions managed to extend their lead to 23 points. Nadine Boesaarts closed the game in the last second by scoring a tip-in, 50-73. Gerda Heinen and Julie Smulders were assigned to guarding Grasshoppers star American player Ali Rousseau and combined to hold her to 17 points.
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| Last Game of the Regular Season
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: April 11, 2005
Dutch
The ProBuild Lions hope to clinch the third playoff berth, when they travel to Katwijk on Saturday to battle 6th seeded Grasshoppers in the last game of the regular season. The Grasshoppers are a hard-to-beat team on their home court, where they were victorious against Lely and Perik Jumpers, and suffered close losses to 2nd seeded Binnenland and 1st seeded Cape Holland. In Landsmeer, however, the Lions handed the Grasshoppers their biggest loss of the season, 95-61.
Game starts at 3.15 PM CET.
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| ProBuild Rolls to Victory in Groningen |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: April 14, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Kristen Green hit five 3-pointers and scored 22 points to spark a 64-74 Lions' victory on MPC Celeritudo. Rhona McKenzie scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Julie Smulders chipped in with 10 points.
Kristen Green started the game with two consecutive 3-pointers. By the end of the first quarter the Lions had a 7-17 lead, but Lotte Hulshof hit a 3-pointer in the buzzer for Groningen, 10-17.
In the second period, Kristen Green scored her 3rd and 4th straight 3-pointer, followed by a 3-pointer by Nieke van der Zee. At that point the Lions had a 12-point lead, 18-30, but next some sloppiness crept into the Lion's game. Mistakes were made on defense and the offense started to falter. Groningen placed a 12-0 run and by halftime the score was evened, 30-30.
Coach Brian Benjamin was not happy with this episode. "I don't have a problem with shots being missed, but I don't like to see us losing our concentration and allowing a 12-0 run from a team like that", he said.
In the third period the Lions were much sharper, but the game stayed close until coach Benjamin decided to go to a zone defense. Groningen had no answer and by the end of the quarter Probuild had gained a 6-point lead again, 45-51.
A series of scores by Rhona McKenzie extended the lead to 49-58 in the fourth period, as the Lions rolled to a 64-74 victory.
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| Midweek game in Groningen |
Author: Henk Wals
Date: April 11, 2005
Dutch
Wednesday the Lions travel to the northern town of Groningen to battle MPC Celeritudo in a midweek game. Celeritudo clinched the 8th and final playoff spot. The Lions are in 3rd seed at the moment and like to keep it that way, to avoid a heavy first round battle against 5th seeded Perik Jumpers. To secure the 3rd spot, ProBuild needs to win its last two games, to begin with the one in Groningen.
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| Green, McKenzie, Take Lions past Lieshout |
Author: Henk Wals
Photos: Tine Sierink
Date: April 9, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Kristen Green scored 20 points and Rhona McKenzie posted another double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, as the Lions cruised to a 76-57 victory over 3Es Lieshout. Julie Smulders had 9 points, all 3-pointers. "We played with the right intensity this time", coach Brian Benjamin said. "And we shot well over 52% from the field. When they fell back into a zone defense, we came up with the right answer." Benjamin was even more satisfied when he heard that BV Lely lost from Cape Holland Den Helder. "OK. Then we hold the third seed at the moment. And if we manage to win our last two games against Groningen and Grasshoppers, that will be our playoff spot."
Kristen Green opened the game with a 3-pointer and scored the Lions' first nine points to fuel a 9-2 start. At the end of the period Nadine Boesaart hit a trey to take the Lions to a 21-12 lead.
Stephanie Jones scored 10 of Lieshout's 12 points in the quarter. In the second period the Lions extended their lead to 44-30, behind two 3-pointers from Julie Smulders and seven points from Jildis Pronk.
Smulders scored her third trey at the beginning of the third period, to spark a 12-2 Lions run, during which they build their biggest lead of the game, 56-32. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, however, the gap was narrowed to 58-46 again. Consecutives treys from Jildis Pronk and Kristen Green, followed by scores of Miriam Benjamins and Green again, gave he Lions the lead for good, 68-46. The rest of the game was a pure formality.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: April 7, 2005
Dutch
Saturday 10th seeded 3Es Lieshout visits Landsmeer, for ProBuilds last home game of the regular season. Lieshout went through a coach-change last month, when coach Wierd Goedee replaced Ron Heesterman, who retired unexpectedly. It was not without effect, as 3Es Lieshout won their last two games, against Lely and Groningen. ProBuild has to thank them for that, because Lely's loss opened an unexpected chance for the Lions to get the third play-off spot.
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| Lions Show No Mercy to Wildcats, 29-80 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: April 2, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie had 26 points and 18 rebounds as the Lions took an early lead and rolled to a 29-80 rout of the Nijmegen Wildcats. Kristen Green contributed 15 points and Julie Smulders, who made her first start for the Lions, had 12.
After Gerda Heinen opened the score, McKenzie scored six points to lead the Lions to 0-8 before Zaihra van Hooydonk scored the first points for Nijmegen. After the first period the lead was extended to 8-18 and at halftime to 14-35. Things looked bright for the Lions, but coach Brian Benjamin wasn't satisfied at all, as he clearly stated in his locker room talk. "I thought we played sloppy", he said after the game. "We were not sharp at all, not aggressive and we made too many mistakes. We were lucky Wildcats wasn't in the game at all. If you play like this against one of the top-3 teams, you're behind by 20 points or so before you know it."
Benjamin's message was understood. In the second half the Lions were much more aggressive, attacking the basket any time they could and playing a very tight defense.
Zaihra van Hooydonk hit a trey for Wildcats, but next followed a 0-12 Lions-run, with 6 points by Rhona McKenzie, 4 by Julie Smulders and 4 by Miriam Benjamin, 19-53.
After the third quarter the Lions led 25-61. In the last period the Wildcats managed to score just four points, as the Lions extended their lead to 29-80.
So in the end coach Brian Benjamin was satisfied after all. "In the second half we played like we ought to: aggressive, sharp and concentrated. That's how we have to play if we want to stand a chance in the play offs."
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: March 31, 2005
Dutch
Saturday ProBuild Lions travel to Nijmegen, in the East of the Netherlands, to battle Wildcats. After a good start of the season, the Wildcats cooled off and fell into a slump in the second half, being 6-19 now and on a seven-game losing streak. On their home court the Lions were victorious against the Wildcats, 79-63.
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| ProBuild Downs DAS, 91-47 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: March 30, 2005
Box score
Dutch
In another impressive performance Rhona Mckenzie scored 39 points on 16-of-20 shooting from the field, 7-of-7 from the line, 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, as the Lions cruised to an easy 91-47 victory over this year's debutant DAS. Kristen Green scored 14 points and Nadine Boesaart had 12. Rachel Witkamp grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds.
ProBuild had a slow start, leading 20-17 after the first period, but went 21-9 in the second to take a 41-23 lead at halftime. In the third quarter the Lions extended their lead to 70-35 behind McKenzie's 12 points.
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Author: Henk Wals
Date: March 29, 2005
Dutch
Wednesday DAS from the city of Delft visits Landsmeer, with former Lions guard Jeanine Tjin-A-Sijoe as their starting pointguard. In the away game the Lions came out victorious 57-82, fueled by Kristen Green's 30 points and six 3-pointers.
Game starts at 7.30 pm CET.
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| Early Lead Paces ProBuild |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: March 26, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie scored 29 points and Kristen Green had 23 as the Lions rolled to an easy 39-91 victory on the woeful last seeded BC Shooters in Bunschoten. McKenzie also grabbed 11 rebounds and Green hit 6-out-of-11 3-pointers. Jildis Pronk scored 4 times from behind the arc and chipped in with 18 points. The Lions had 42 rebounds and shot 41% from the floor. In the second period Julie Smulders was hit by an elbow in the face and had to leave the game with a bruise below her eye (not a pretty sight, but nothing serious).
After trailing 11-9 in the first quarter, the Lions placed a 0-24 run and jumped out to a 11-33 lead in the 3rd minute of the second period. Halftime was reached with a 23-47 lead. After having extended the lead to 34-65 by the end of the third period, the Lions went 5-26 in the fourth.
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Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: March 24, 2005
Dutch
Saturday ProBuild visits Shooters in Bunschoten-Spakenburg, the hometown of Lions' swingwoman Gerda Heinen and her sister Bettine, who plays for Shooters. The Shooters did alright last season, making the Final Four, but fell into a slump this year after forward Karin Heinen (almost everyone is named "Heinen", in Bunschoten…) decide to leave for Cape Holland Den Helder and coach Jan Bos retired shortly afterwards. Since the first game of the season, a 86-91 victory against Lieshout, the Shooters are on a 17-Game losing streak and are in last seed.
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| Lions Stopped by Binnenland, 61-68 |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: March 19, 2005
Box score
Dutch
Rhona McKenzie poured in 24 points for the Lions and grabbed 11 rebounds, but the Lions couldn't overcome a late run by Binnenland and dropped a 61-68 decision. McKenzie had an impressive first half, shooting 9-out-of-12 from the field and scoring 19 points, but fell dry in the second half, shooting just 2-out-of-9. "I don't blame her for that at all", coach Brian Benjamin said. "Rhona can't do it all by herself and she got a bit tired the second half. She didn't get enough help from her teammates, that was the problem. I mean, as a team we had a season-low 18 rebounds, and Rhona had 11 from them. That's one of the main reasons we lost. I don't want to take any of the credit from Binnenland, but I think we lost from ourselves, this game. The first half we played reasonably well, but in the second half we came out of the locker room not being sharp, once again. You can't afford that, against a team like this."
The game was tied for three quarters. None of the teams led or trailed more than seven points and the lead changed four or five times. The first period ended in a 21-20 Lions lead, which was extended by halftime to 38-34. By the end of he third quarter the Lions trailed by two points, 48-50. At the beginning of the last period center Marloes Roetgerink (who had 22 points) scored twice for Binnenland, 48-54. Julie Smulders answered with a trey, 51-54, but next Binnenlands American player Jennifer LeCuir had two consecutive scores to take her team to a decisive 51-58 lead. In the last minute Kristen Green nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 60-65, but ProBuild was in a penalty situation by then and Binnenlands pointguard Inge Huitzing hit three free throws to seal their victory.
Gerda Heinen had 12 points for the Lions and Kristen Green chipped in with 11 points.
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| Important game on Saturday |
Author: Henk Wals
Photo: Tine Sierink
Date: March 17, 2005
Dutch
Saturday US Binnenland visits Landsmeer for an important battle against the Lions. In case ProBuild is victorious, both teams are tied in the third or second seed. If the Lions loose, Binnenland is four points ahead and the Lions probably will be stuck in fourth seed. And that's not preferable, because in that case there's only a home advantage in the first round of the play offs. In the first half of the competition, the Lions won 52-53 in Barendrecht.
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