Written by
Declan McCarthy @dec11mcc
Woking Blackhawks took on rivals Farnborough in a mid-table clash, and a win was the least coach Becky Mole wanted as the team strived on to win 47-39.
It was a shaky start for Woking as Farnborough came at them with good offensive plays and were leading by 4 points in the early stages of the game, but the early nerves went out of the Woking side as they started to find there rhythm of play.
Captain Elaine, number 8 on the night for Woking ran the show, quite literally! A player who was by far the smallest on the court, showed great determination and leadership as she helped the team to push on to end the first quarter 9-8 up.
Coach Mole -currently injured and out of action herself- expressed her feelings at the break and galvanised the team and her influence showed on the court through her players, as they kept in the lead, leading into half time at 24-18. At this stage Coach Mole was happy with how the defence was playing and offensively two players who stood out were number 7 and number 8 Annabel and Elaine who netted all around the court and produced some entertaining basketball, this did not completely stomp out Farnborough though, and pushed the Blackhawks all night.
Coach Mole spoke to Radio Woking about the opposition Farnborough and said “They have one or two key players that we were watching from the start”, she continued to say “we had number 7 (Annabel) face guarding her out of the game, which proved to be successful.”
In the 3rd quarter, the Blackhawks momentum was suddenly gone and this favoured Farnborough as they came back onto the attack and made it to 26-24 before continuing to force the Blackhawks into making vital mistakes. Farnborough then pulled it back, after scoring 13 points in the quarter, to a nervy finish going into the final ¼ at 32-31 to the Blackhawks.
Black Hawks started the final ¼ brightly and after some fine shooting from Elaine (Number 8) and Annabel (Number 7) the Blackhawks got back into their style of play, and really moved the ball well around the court. Not only that but the defence looking tighter, thus keeping out Farnborough, who only scored 6 points in the final ¼, whilst the Blackhawks scored an impressive 15.
The ref blew his whistle and it confirmed Becky Moles side won and their dominance at home continues. Blackhawks missed a lot of chances and had opportunity’s to increase their score, but overall as a team they played as a unit and the team spirt influenced by coach Mole showed on the court. Elaine (Number 8) and Annabel (Number 7) were on top of their game and showed quality throughout the match. Farnborough won’t be dishearten though as they gave it a good go, but couldn’t capitalize on the high scoring Blackhawks side.
With that win the Blackhawks now find themselves in 2nd place. Coach Mole spoke to Radio Woking, after the win.
“A great win in the end, it started off a bit slow and shaky, but we pulled it through in the end. The amount of shots we took, we should have been a lot higher than 47 as it doesn’t really reflect how many shots we took, and if we got onto our offensive rebound, it could have been a lot higher.
Woking Blackhawk next take on promotion rivals Aldworth Darts on the 1st of December.