Carnegie Basketball crowned BUCS Champs

The women's basketball team at Leeds Met are celebrating following an outstanding performance in the BUCS Championships, taking home the title after beating UWIC 80-77 in a thrilling final.

The capacity crowd in Sheffield were bubbling right from the start off this game with many expecting a win for three time consecutive Champions UWIC and some hoping for the upset.

After missing a lay-up on the first possession of the game Leeds found themselves conceding the first basket of the game as UWIC sprinted to the other end for a lay-up for Becky Brough. Unfazed, Carnegie came right back and Bland got Carnegie on the board and from there Carnegie took control with Shaxon scoring a couple of baskets from the inside.

In her final year Hungarian Velkey showed how much this game meant to her as she came out firing with 14 in the first quarter usually understated even Eszter managed a fist pump after back to back 3's and Carnegie gained control of the game.

The 2nd Quarter saw Carnegie tighten up the defence some more and held the defending champions to only 14 points, having seen little/no action in the first two games due to a shoulder injury Captain Ray Khalil came up with the first 8 points of the quarter for Carnegie including some big 3's to keep the score ticking and establishing and 11 point half time lead.

In to the 3rd quarter and it was clear the UWIC were not going down without a fight, with a few calls going there way veterans Hoffman and Collins poured in 17 combined points to put Uwic back in to the lead Menz did what she could to keep Carnegie in Contention getting to the free throw line and meaning that Carnegie trailed by 1 going in to the final stanza.

Carnegie showed there depth with Nikki FongLyewQuee and Dee Hayward coming to the fore, a mixture of dribble penetration and jump shots take the lead back Hayward claiming a total 11 points in the 4th quarter.

Uwic pressed and put on the pressure with Wagstaff and Deehan shooting the lights out from 3 to close the gap but again Velkey popped up with key baskets at crucial times to keep Carnegie's nose in front. Despite not making the score sheet Lucy Uncles epitomised Carnegie's defensive effort coming up with huge defensive plays time after time ensuring that the strangle hold was kept on UWIC's scoring.

As the final seconds wound down UWIC launched a 3 point attempt to take the game to overtime but it came up short and Carnegie fought to come up with the rebound and hold on for the win, as the buzzer sounded the Carnegie girls bounced off their bench with joy dance ecstatically in the middle of the court.

Final Score: Leeds Carnegie 80-77 UWIC

A tremendous performance at both ends of the floor scoring 22 points Point Guard Tina Menz was awarded a very well deserved MVP Award.

Speaking after the game Women's basketball coach Chris Straker was delighted with his side's success: "BUCS was a great event for us, the girls played really well and worked hard for each other across all 3 days, we started out the competition against Oxford who were somewhat of an unknown quantity they had 3 stand out players who all had the ability to score and create shots for other people.

In the Final we were the underdogs going up against UWIC but having studied the video tape of their semi-final game we went in to the final with a clear game plan and the girls were in positive mood and ready to play. I was thrilled with the way we came out we executed at both ends of the floor and good rotations in the 1st half meant that we had something left in the tank for the 2nd half. We managed to find our way through a slow scoring patch in the 3rd quarter to steady the ship in the fourth and eventually hold on in the final seconds to achieve a huge victory for our program."

"There is no question, this was an amazing accomplishment. UWIC have dominated BUCS in Women's basketball winning the last three consecutive championships and last year winning the England Basketball Division 1 Women's play-offs. Damian and his coaching staff have done a great job over the years building a solid program that is capable of competing and being successful at the highest level year in year out. There are several marquee players playing for UWIC such as Stef Collins and Megan Hoffman who are Great Britain senior women's stars not to mention a number of GB U20's and England U18s players complemented by one or two international students so our girls faced a great challenge going up against these players going in to the game.
There was no doubt in the arena that the consensus was that UWIC were going to win their 4th consecutive title but that didn't faze our girls at all. A huge achievement for the girls I'm so proud of them.

"As a coach you want to see your players realise their potential and this victory goes someway to showing how far the girls have come. They have all worked so hard this year showing up to 7am training in snow, rain, wind and everything else that has been thrown at us, the girls have a very intense training schedule on top of full time study, and this is why we do it to make achievements like this.

"I also have to thank James Bambury for the work that he put into the program before I arrived he worked tirelessly to build the program to the point it was when I came in and recruited the girls that play this year he did a great job and I really pleased that we managed to take the team one step further this year I am sure he is delighted for the girls.

"I also have to thank Coach Newby for bringing me to Leeds he took a gamble taking on young coach and I hope that this title goes some way to repaying the faith that he showed in me.

"Overall I am just so proud of what the girls have done it's been a great journey so far and now there is 4 weeks left in the season we will hope to keep improving!"