November 27, 2002 Cup-competition
The second round in the Dutch Cup Competition is scheduled for coming Sunday. Coach Carlo Rizzone and his team will travel to Rosmalen, a small town in the southern part of the Netherlands. The ProBuild Lions will face another minor league team, the Black Eagles. The Eagles are 0-6 in their division. Hopefully the Lions will be able to bounce back from their unexpected loss to Lieshout last weekend. Game starts at 6.00 pm CET.
November 23, 2002 Lees-out
Amy Barao and Kelly Barker both scored 16 points to lead 3-Es Liehout to a 57-76 victory over the ProBuild Lions. Lieshout had three other players in double figures. Zuzana Sakova led the Lions with 20 points. All other players were stuck in single digits. ProBuilds leading scorer Lani Lawrence was held to nine points and was fouled out in the fourth quarter. The Lions did not lead through the first quarter and trailed, 14-17, going into the second. A three-pointer by Leontine Doorn and another by Natalie Hudec helped ProBuild to its first and only lead, at 24-21, with 5 minutes left in the second quarter. But then Lieshout ran off 10 straight points to take the lead again (24-31). At halftime the score was 29-33. In the second half Lieshout played a solid game, while the ProBuild Lions struggled on both ends of the court. After Jeanine Tjin-A-Sioe scored 38-45, Lieshout had a six point run (38-51) to end the third period with a 40-51 lead. In the fourth quarter Barker and Bareo quickly widened the gap to 43-63 and the game belonged to Lieshout.
November 20, 2002 Lees-out
Saturday night 3-Es Lieshout (pronounce: lees-out) is paying a visit to Landsmeer from the deep south of the Netherlands. Lieshout is a team with a long-standing tradition in the league and a one-time champion of the Netherlands. Last five years however Lieshout struggled and did not reach the play-offs. But now they're may be on their way back. After acquiring forward Amy Barao last year from Division II Wellesley College (named by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's five most "stone cold sober schools") this season 6-4 center Kelly Barker was added to the selection. Barker played for Bentley College (Ms.), also Division II, but in a starring role, averaging 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds in her last season.
So undoubtedly Lieshout gained some strength. That it does not show in the ranking (Lieshout is 4-6) is probably caused by the fact that until now Lieshout was matched up with the strongest teams of the league. But of course we can rank the ProBuild Lions also in that category, can't we? Game starts at 8.30 pm CET.
November 16, 2002 Shooters 51; ProBuild 67
Lani Lawrence had another impressive game with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots as the ProBuild Lions beat the now 0-7 Spakenburg Shooters on their own homecourt. Zuzana Sakova chipped in with 12 points and Nadine Boesaart had 11. Coach Carlo Rizzone embraced the result, but again was not very happy with the way his team played. "We played sloppy", he said. "We didn't keep our heads cool and we had way too many turnovers." He certainly was right about the last thing. The ProBuild Lions committed twenty turnovers. "And those were not forced turnovers", Rizzone said. "In most cases we just passed the ball wrong." Zuzana Sakova had a productive first quarter with seven points, but fell dry in the second and the third period. In the fourth quarter the Slowakian forward came back with a score and a game-settling threepointer. Natalie Hudec dished out eight assists but had a not-so-good game otherwise with just three points and six turnovers. Still some stretches of game were fun to watch. After the first period ProBuild had a 12-19 lead. Two threepointers and a lay-up by Nadine Boesaart and five consecutive points by Lani Lawrence in the second quarter widened the gap to 22-37. In the fourth quarter Shooters managed to come back to 46-50, but Lani Lawrence and Zuzana Sakova stretched the margin again to 48-59. A threepointer by Sakova then sealed the faith of the woeful Shooters.
November 13, 2002 Bun-sko-ten Spa-ken-burk
Saturday night the ProBuild Lionesses travel to the small former fishing village of Bunschoten-Spakenburg to face the Spakenburg Shooters. The Shooters debuted in the league this season with high expectations but are 0-6 until now. They are not a bad team though. Thriving exclusively on local talents coach Jan Bos and his team managed to put up some close games and thus earned the respect of their opponents. Dutch internationals Belinda Bos and Karen Heinen are the go-to-girls of the Shooters. Spakenburg-born Gerda Heinen played for ProBuild last two years and is the proud wearer of a champions medal. Although being quite popular in the Landsmeer sports center she decided to return to her hometown team this summer. Bad decision, we tend to think. So, not underestimating the Shooters is the key for coach Rizzone and his team. Until now no team had an easy victory in Spakenburg, except maybe for Lely Amsterdam last week.
10 november 2002 Foto's
Een kleine foto-impressie van de wedstrijd van zaterdag hier te bekijken.
More pictures from saturday's game here.
November 10, 2002 ProBuild Lions 58, Dressguard Barendrecht 61
Shooting 27% from the field and 57% from the free throw-line the ProBuild Lions still could have beaten league's leader Dressguard Barendrecht. Unfortunately they didn't. With 14 seconds to go in the game and 2 seconds on the shotclock Jasmijn Overbeeke fouled Barendrecht's Inge Huitzing, who was not in a scoring position. It was a penalty situation, Huitzing converted one of the two free shots and the Lions remained scoreless in the dying seconds of the game. "It was just one of those nights", Zuzana Sakova said. "We created the opportunities, but the ball just didn't went in." The Slowakian forward was just one of the players who had a poor shooting night. Coach Carlo Rizzone was not happy either with the shooting efforts from his team. "Also I thought we didn't do a good job rebounding offensively", he said. "And at times we did not react well in certain situations. We did not play smart. When for example a pressing game was called, some players simply forgot to take their position."
Actually ProBuild lost the game in the first quarter, when they looked at a 11 point deficit (7-18). In the second quarter they were able to close the gap to 28-32 at half time. Dressguard took a 41-49 lead in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter the gap was closed again, to 58-60 in the last minute. That was when Jasmijn Overbeeke sent Inge Huitzing to the free-throw line for the last score of the game.
November 6, 2002 Bar-un-drekt
Saturday night the Lions will face league leader Dressguard Barendrecht. Some of our international readers will probably not know where to find Barendrecht (pronounce: bar-un-drekt) on the European map. Well, we didn't know either, until Barendrecht entered the league a few years ago. It turned out to be situated somewhere near Rotterdam. After their entrance Barendrecht developed rapidly into one of the league's top teams. This year coach GertJan van der Linden is aiming at his first championship. Changes are not bad. Dutch Irene Sloof, Petra van Schaik and Inge Huitzing rank among the best players of the league. This season Barendrecht acquired English center Jane Thackray from Noordkop Den Helder. With the body and strength of a 6-2 female wrestler Thackray is a formidable presence under the boards. And she can score too. Interesting match-up with 6-5 lighter but much more agile Lani Lawrence. Canadian forward Kizzy Lopez (University of Maine) is Barendrecht's latest acquisition. Versatile player, she is. Can play any position on the field from one to five. So, tough game ahead for coach Carlo Rizzone and his team. But the young and very talented Lions can beat anybody, can't they? Game starts at 8:30 pm CET Saturday November 9.
November 4, 2002 ProBuild -Leiderdorp
ProBuild 76, Leiderdorp 56
Lani Lawrence had 17 points and Zuzana Sakova and Jasmijn Overbeeke both contributed 11 points as ProBuild Lions rallied for a 76-56 triumph over Leiderdorp. Jolanda Jansen chipped in with ten points. "We got a good effort from a lot of people," coach Carlo Rizzone said. "In a pre-season tournament they beat us by outrunning us in the second half. Now we could stay with them easily. Our condition has definitively improved." Coach Rizzone was also pleased by the rebounding effort his team made. "We practiced that for a whole week. And Lani did a good job stopping their center Lonneke Brands, which was a one of the keys to this victory." Brands was the player most feared by Rizzone and his team. The experienced 6-5 center still was a big part of Leiderdorp's offence, but produced most of her points when Lawrence was not on the court. When the Lion's starting center was there, Brands had a hard time. In the third period Lawrence received applause blocking a shot by Brands and quickly passing the ball to Zuzana Sakova for an easy lay-up. Leiderdorps other star-player Burgundie Porter worked hard but had a quiet game.
In the first quarter the Lions took the first lead (21-16), fueled by two threepointers from Zuzana Sakova and Natalie Hudec. Seven straight points by Jasmijn Overbeeke in the second quarter widened the gap to 32-21. At halftime the score was Lions 44, Leiderdorp 34. In the third quarter ProBuild dealt the decisive blow. Lani Lawrence and Zuzana Sakova had two quick baskets, followed by the already mentioned block by Lawrence and the lay-up by Sakova. By the end of the third quarter the lead was 61-39. In the last quarter coach Rizzone gave his bench lots of playing time, which initially did not work out too well. After seven consecutive points from Lonneke Brands Rizzone had to bring Lani Lawrence back into the came. Hitting two baskets by Jolanda Jansen ignited a new offensive spark. ProBuild's veteran Leontine Doorn sank two straight threepointers for the Lions to close the game.
October 30, 2002 ProBuild-Leiderdorp
Will the ProBuild Lions be able to bounce back after last week's loss against Lely Amsterdam? We'll find out Saturday night, when ProBuild host Leiderdorp. During the pre-season the teams met once and the Lions lost by twenty points. But the ProBuild team is better now and next game's prospects look good. In the regular season Leiderdorp won just one game until now, although their losses were by small numbers (Lely, 67-70; Groningen, 74-70). Like ProBuild, Leiderdorp is an excellent rebounding team. Also they have quickness and scoring ability on the guard position. So there will be some interesting match ups. Lani Lawrence will face 6-5 Dutch Team player Lonneke Brands and Natalie Hudec will be up against US pointguard Burgundie Porter (Cal. Poly). Porter is the main reason Leiderdorp will not end up this season being one of the worst teams in the league like they did last years. The issue Saturday night for ProBuild is probably outside shooting. Will Natalie Hudec get her shot going after struggling offensively for two games now? Will she get some help from shooting guard Jolanda Jansen? Will forward Zuzana Sakova keep up her constant level of scoring 15 points per game until now? Will 6-3 center Nadine Boesaart be able to drain some threepointers again? If so, changes are good. If not, it will be a struggle. Game starts at 8.30 pm local time.
October 27, 2002 ProBuild leaves victory to Lely
Sarah Judd had 21 points for Lely and Marte Linthout added 18 as the Amsterdam team beat ProBuild Lions. Lani Lawrence scored 21 points for ProBuild and Zuzana Sakova had 15. Both players played 40 minutes. Natali Hudec was not fully recovered from last week's elbow-injury and Jasmijn Overbeek had been suffering from a cold the whole week. Coach Carlo Rizzone was disappointed but not greatly surprised by the loss. "Lely is a talented team and is playing together for years. We on the other hand are still rebuilding. Their win was well deserved. Marte Linthout did a good job defending Natali. Her shots did not fall, probably due to her injury." Coach Rizzone was not very pleased by the effort his team made in rebounding. "The rings are kind of strange here. The balls are bumping further away from the basket than in most other places. Apparently it was hard to adapt to that."
Nadine Boesaart had two threepointers as ProBuild led by 17-19 by the end of the first period. The game stayed close in the second quarter. In the last minute Lani Lawrence blocked a lay-up by Jildis Pronk, which limited Lely's lead tot one point by halftime (33-32).
In the third period Lely was able to build up a 57-50 lead. Threepointers by Lely's Jill Campbell and Marte Linthout were decisive in the last period.
Final score: 73-65
October 23, 2002 ProBuild Lions at Lely Amsterdam
Saturday night ProBuild takes a short trip to Amsterdam, to play BC Lely, finalist of last year's play offs. Lely lost the finals to Perik Jumpers from Tubbergen, but became a more dangerous team after acquiring 5-foot-11 forward Sarah Judd from the University of Oakland. Sarah Judd (Eastpointe/Harper Woods Regina) was named to the All-America Team 2001-2002 by the Full Court Press. Judd finished her final season with the Golden Grizzlies averaging 20.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 2.3 bpg. She set a school record with her .902 free throw percentage for the season and ranks among the top five in career points, rebounds, blocks, assists and free throw percentage. And in the Dutch league Judd is building up a new impressing record. Until now Lely won two games (Leiden, 63-70; Groningen 76-58) and lost one (Barendrecht, 58-61). The Amsterdam team has the advantage of experience. The core of the team is playing together quite some time now. Pointguard Jildis Pronk and forward Marte Linthout played for ProBuild Lions several years before leaving for Amsterdam. So it's going to be an interesting game. The injuries of Natalie Hudec and Zuzana Sakova did not turn out to be very serious. Both players are scheduled to play Saturday.
October 19, 2002 ProBuild rolls to a 31-99 victory over The Hague Jumpers
Lani Lawrence scored 21 points, Zuzana Sakova added 14 and
Jasmijn Overbeeke had a triple double with 10 points, 10
rebounds and 10 steals as the ProBuild Lions routed The Hague
Jumpers in the Dutch Cup Competition. Coach Carlo Rizzone
gave all his players minutes and used the game to practice some
new defensive plays. After the first period ProBuild had a comfortable 12-27 lead. In the second quarter the gap was widened further to 17-50 at halftime.
Due to this result the second half was not very exiting, but the Lions had their moments of gallery play. ProBuild led after three quarters, 22-77, and held their biggest margin half a minute before the final buzzer: 27-99. It was not a masterpiece, more of what one would expect from a game against a minor league team. In the third period Natalie Hudec left the game with a sprained ankle, but the injury did not appear to be too serious. Just a few minutes before the game ended, the same thing happened to Zuzana Sakova, with about the same result. Both players are expected to be able to play against Lely next week, coach Rizzone said.
Click for a free-throw by Lani (05.6 Mb)
Click for a score (and injury) by Zuzana (04.8 Mb)
October 16, 2002 Saturday: ProBuild Lions at The Hague Jumpers
Saturday ProBuild will play The Hague Jumpers in the Dutch Cup Competition. What's that? In short: a kind of play-off system, played in addition to the regular competition. If you lose, you're finished. There are four rounds before the finals, which will be played in February or March. Every team can join, so it's possible a 'major league' team plays a 'minor league' team. The Hague Jumpers is such a minor league team. So the pressure is on ProBuild, Saturday night. But to be honest: The Jumpers should not cause coach Rizzone and his team much trouble. Some information our international readers don't need to know: the bus is leaving for The Hague at 5 pm from the Indoor Centrum Landsmeer.
October 13, 2002 Gametalk
In the game against Celeritudo ProBuild shot 38,5% from the field. Nadine Boesaart (10 points, 70%), Miriam Benjamins (6 points, 60%) and Lani Lawrence (12 points, 50%) scored the highest percentages. The Lions had 45 rebounds. Centers Lani Lawrence (20), Nadine Boesaart (7) and Jasmijn Overbeeke (7) controlled the boards on both sides of the field. Coach Carlo Rizzone was happy with the victory, but not satisfied with the way his team played. "In this league its crucial to win the bad games too," he said. "And that's exactly what we did. But we did not have an adequate answer to the diamond-and-one defence on Natalie. It created chaos in our offence. We had no time yet to practice our plays against these kind of defences. So during halftime I had to introduce a new offensive play, from which I only could hope it would work out in the second half." Rizzone was satisfied with the effort his team made. "But we have to concentrate ourselves a little more. We made too many mistakes in de second half. We made some totally unnecessary fouls, which resulted in cheap points from the line for Groningen". But the future is bright, Rizone concluded. "We have the talent and the fighting spirit," he said. "Now we only have to practice some more".
October 13, 2002 ProBuild Lions beat Groningen in close game: 69-64
Natalie Hudec scored 17 points and Lani Lawrence added 12 points, 20 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, as the ProBuild Lions posted a 69-64 victory over the Celeritudo Tigers from Groningen. Backup center Nadine Boesaart came of the bench and chipped in with 10 points.
At the end of the first quarter the Lions lead with 22-11. In the second quarter Celeritudo started to play a box-and-one defense on Natalie Hudec, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the first quarter. Hudec struggled from that time on and as a result Groningen was able to close the gap.
At halftime the Lions lead was cut back to 37-35. In the third quarter the game stayed close. In the 4th minute Groningen took the lead, 39-40, but center Nadine Boesaart scored a threepoint goal which brought the Lions back. A threepointer by Zuzana Sakova by the end of the third quarter widened the gap to 53-44. In the fourth quarter Groningen once again came back, lead by their pointguard Lesley Walker, who scored 22 points. At a 63-62 score with 1.14 minutes on the clock coach Carlo Rizzone took a timeout. Two points by Nadine Boesaart were answered by a score from Groningen's Lieneke Dam: 65-64. Next Jeanine Tjin-A-Sioe was fouled by Lesley Walker and she made both of her free-throws. In the last second Tjin-A-Sioe was on the line again and also this time the Lions smallest player did not miss.
Click for a free-throw by Natalie (04.8 Mb)
October 10, 2002 Groningen
Saturdaynight the ProBuild Lions are up against Celeritudo from Groningen, a province capital in the northern part of the Netherlands. Two years ago Groningen beat the Lions in the Dutch cup final, which was broadcast on national television. Bad memories. But since that time things have gone bad in Groningen. Last two seasons the northern team struggled. This summer it even looked like Groningen was out of the league definitively, as a number of veteran players announced their retirement. Three of them, Lieneke Dam, Corry-Anke Brandsma and Caliste Kraak reconsidered and decided to stay. So Groningen was saved and even more so, some financial support was raised, which made it possible to look for an American player. The Groningen management made an excellent choice in signing Lesley Walker, starting pointguard of the Georgetown Hoyas and last season teams Best Defensive Player and Best Free Trow Shooter. She ended her career with the Hoyas as First in Career Assists. In Groningen Walker proved to be very productive, with 24 points against Lely (Amsterdam) and 27 points and 11 rebounds against Leiderdorp (Leiden). The first game against Lely however was lost by 76-58. A week later Groningen bounced back with a 74-70 win against the strong team of Leiderdorp. Meanwhile ProBuild coach Carlo Rizzone and his team had two quiet weeks to prepare for saturday's game. Last weekend ProBuild was off, due to this year's uneven number of teams in the league. What are the odds against Groningen? 50/50, we would say. Undoubtedly ProBuild is the more talented team, but on the other hand Groningen has the advantage of experience and playing together for years. Saturday's game starts at 8.30 hrs in the Indoor Centrum Landsmeer.
October 9, 2002 Lions sign Zuzana Sakova
The ProBuild Lions have signed Slowakian forward Zuzana Sakova (27, 6-0, 62 kg), it was announced today by ProBuilds club president Vincent Post. Last year with BK Loko Texlen Trutnov Sakova averaged 8 ppg. Zuzana Sakova was signed earlier by ProBuild on a provisional two-weeks-contract. She played one game for ProBuild, against Utrecht, in which he scored 15 points against 75% from the field. Coach Carlo Rizzone was impressed by her game and her showings in practice. "Zuzana is a great addition to our team", he said. "Not only can she score points, but she is also a very versatile and intelligent player. As a small forward she adds creativity and speed to the mix. I think she can make a great contribution".
October 5, 2002 Stats
The statistics-page on the Dutch Basketball Association (NBB) site shows Natalie Hudec to be the leagues leader in scoring with a 23 point average per game. Lani Lawrence is in third place with 19,5 points. Natalie also leads the category assists where Lani leads in rebounds and blocked shots. Its all just after 2 games but its nice to know!
See www.basketball.nl (in dutch).
Lees-out
Saturday night the ProBuild Lionesses travel to the small former fishing village of Bunschoten-Spakenburg to face the Spakenburg Shooters. The Shooters debuted in the league this season with high expectations but are 0-6 until now. They are not a bad team though. Thriving exclusively on local talents coach Jan Bos and his team managed to put up some close games and thus earned the respect of their opponents. Dutch internationals Belinda Bos and Karen Heinen are the go-to-girls of the Shooters. Spakenburg-born Gerda Heinen played for ProBuild last two years and is the proud wearer of a champions medal. Although being quite popular in the Landsmeer sports center she decided to return to her hometown team this summer. Bad decision, we tend to think. So, not underestimating the Shooters is the key for coach Rizzone and his team. Until now no team had an easy victory in Spakenburg, except maybe for Lely Amsterdam last week. 
Shooting 27% from the field and 57% from the free throw-line the ProBuild Lions still could have beaten league's leader Dressguard Barendrecht. Unfortunately they didn't. With 14 seconds to go in the game and 2 seconds on the shotclock Jasmijn Overbeeke fouled Barendrecht's Inge Huitzing, who was not in a scoring position. It was a penalty situation, Huitzing converted one of the two free shots and the Lions remained scoreless in the dying seconds of the game. "It was just one of those nights", Zuzana Sakova said. "We created the opportunities, but the ball just didn't went in." The Slowakian forward was just one of the players who had a poor shooting night. Coach Carlo Rizzone was not happy either with the shooting efforts from his team. "Also I thought we didn't do a good job rebounding offensively", he said. "And at times we did not react well in certain situations. We did not play smart. When for example a pressing game was called, some players simply forgot to take their position."
Actually ProBuild lost the game in the first quarter, when they looked at a 11 point deficit (7-18). In the second quarter they were able to close the gap to 28-32 at half time. Dressguard took a 41-49 lead in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter the gap was closed again, to 58-60 in the last minute. That was when Jasmijn Overbeeke sent Inge Huitzing to the free-throw line for the last score of the game.
Saturday night the Lions will face league leader Dressguard Barendrecht. Some of our international readers will probably not know where to find Barendrecht (pronounce: bar-un-drekt) on the European map. Well, we didn't know either, until Barendrecht entered the league a few years ago. It turned out to be situated somewhere near Rotterdam. After their entrance Barendrecht developed rapidly into one of the league's top teams. This year coach GertJan van der Linden is aiming at his first championship. Changes are not bad. Dutch Irene Sloof, Petra van Schaik and Inge Huitzing rank among the best players of the league. This season Barendrecht acquired English center Jane Thackray from Noordkop Den Helder. With the body and strength of a 6-2 female wrestler Thackray is a formidable presence under the boards. And she can score too. Interesting match-up with 6-5 lighter but much more agile Lani Lawrence. Canadian forward Kizzy Lopez (University of Maine) is Barendrecht's latest acquisition. Versatile player, she is. Can play any position on the field from one to five. So, tough game ahead for coach Carlo Rizzone and his team. But the young and very talented Lions can beat anybody, can't they? Game starts at 8:30 pm CET Saturday November 9.
ProBuild 76, Leiderdorp 56
Sarah Judd had 21 points for Lely and Marte Linthout added 18 as the Amsterdam team beat ProBuild Lions. Lani Lawrence scored 21 points for ProBuild and Zuzana Sakova had 15. Both players played 40 minutes. Natali Hudec was not fully recovered from last week's elbow-injury and Jasmijn Overbeek had been suffering from a cold the whole week. Coach Carlo Rizzone was disappointed but not greatly surprised by the loss. "Lely is a talented team and is playing together for years. We on the other hand are still rebuilding. Their win was well deserved. Marte Linthout did a good job defending Natali. Her shots did not fall, probably due to her injury." Coach Rizzone was not very pleased by the effort his team made in rebounding. "The rings are kind of strange here. The balls are bumping further away from the basket than in most other places. Apparently it was hard to adapt to that."
Nadine Boesaart had two threepointers as ProBuild led by 17-19 by the end of the first period. The game stayed close in the second quarter. In the last minute Lani Lawrence blocked a lay-up by Jildis Pronk, which limited Lely's lead tot one point by halftime (33-32).
In the third period Lely was able to build up a 57-50 lead. Threepointers by Lely's Jill Campbell and Marte Linthout were decisive in the last period.
Saturday night ProBuild takes a short trip to Amsterdam, to play BC Lely, finalist of last year's play offs. Lely lost the finals to Perik Jumpers from Tubbergen, but became a more dangerous team after acquiring 5-foot-11 forward Sarah Judd from the University of Oakland. Sarah Judd (Eastpointe/Harper Woods Regina) was named to the All-America Team 2001-2002 by the Full Court Press. Judd finished her final season with the Golden Grizzlies averaging 20.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 2.3 bpg. She set a school record with her .902 free throw percentage for the season and ranks among the top five in career points, rebounds, blocks, assists and free throw percentage. And in the Dutch league Judd is building up a new impressing record. Until now Lely won two games (Leiden, 63-70; Groningen 76-58) and lost one (Barendrecht, 58-61). The Amsterdam team has the advantage of experience. The core of the team is playing together quite some time now. Pointguard Jildis Pronk and forward Marte Linthout played for ProBuild Lions several years before leaving for Amsterdam. So it's going to be an interesting game. The injuries of Natalie Hudec and Zuzana Sakova did not turn out to be very serious. Both players are scheduled to play Saturday.
Lani Lawrence scored 21 points, Zuzana Sakova added 14 and
Jasmijn Overbeeke had a triple double with 10 points, 10
rebounds and 10 steals as the ProBuild Lions routed The Hague
Jumpers in the Dutch Cup Competition. Coach Carlo Rizzone
gave all his players minutes and used the game to practice some
new defensive plays. After the first period ProBuild had a comfortable 12-27 lead. In the second quarter the gap was widened further to 17-50 at halftime.
Natalie Hudec scored 17 points and Lani Lawrence added 12 points, 20 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, as the ProBuild Lions posted a 69-64 victory over the Celeritudo Tigers from Groningen. Backup center Nadine Boesaart came of the bench and chipped in with 10 points.
At the end of the first quarter the Lions lead with 22-11. In the second quarter Celeritudo started to play a box-and-one defense on Natalie Hudec, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the first quarter. Hudec struggled from that time on and as a result Groningen was able to close the gap.
Saturdaynight the ProBuild Lions are up against Celeritudo from Groningen, a province capital in the northern part of the Netherlands. Two years ago Groningen beat the Lions in the Dutch cup final, which was broadcast on national television. Bad memories. But since that time things have gone bad in Groningen. Last two seasons the northern team struggled. This summer it even looked like Groningen was out of the league definitively, as a number of veteran players announced their retirement. Three of them, Lieneke Dam, Corry-Anke Brandsma and Caliste Kraak reconsidered and decided to stay. So Groningen was saved and even more so, some financial support was raised, which made it possible to look for an American player. The Groningen management made an excellent choice in signing Lesley Walker, starting pointguard of the Georgetown Hoyas and last season teams Best Defensive Player and Best Free Trow Shooter. She ended her career with the Hoyas as First in Career Assists. In Groningen Walker proved to be very productive, with 24 points against Lely (Amsterdam) and 27 points and 11 rebounds against Leiderdorp (Leiden). The first game against Lely however was lost by 76-58. A week later Groningen bounced back with a 74-70 win against the strong team of Leiderdorp. Meanwhile ProBuild coach Carlo Rizzone and his team had two quiet weeks to prepare for saturday's game. Last weekend ProBuild was off, due to this year's uneven number of teams in the league. What are the odds against Groningen? 50/50, we would say. Undoubtedly ProBuild is the more talented team, but on the other hand Groningen has the advantage of experience and playing together for years. Saturday's game starts at 8.30 hrs in the Indoor Centrum Landsmeer.
Stats