By Henry Edwards, Sport Editor and third year History student
The Women’s Basketball 1s put on an impressive display at the Indoor Sports Centre on Wednesday 30th January.
Bristol pulled further away from rivals Cardiff in the Western 1A league in their first match of 2019 thanks to a 66-48 victory. Coming off the back of a superb away result at Bath, the Spartans were clearly full of confidence as they sought to keep pace with league leaders Bournemouth.
Bristol did not have it all their own way in this match, however. Having been forced to wait an extra twenty minutes to play due to a longer-than-expected volleyball game, the 1s were second best in the earliest stages.
Cardiff’s number 12 was particularly impressive, as the Welsh team bagged the first points of the game. A time-out was called with the score at 7-5 in Cardiff’s favour. Whatever was said certainly had the desired impact; Bristol found themselves in front for the first time in the fifth minute. Bristol’s number 23, having defended admirably, finished off a devastating move to put the score at 11-8.
From that point on, the Spartans began to dominate in superb fashion. A fantastic three-point shot from the ever-impressive Bristol number 1 put the score at 18-8. The 22-12 score at the end of the first quarter evidenced Bristol’s tightening grip on the game.
Cardiff were marginally better after the interim, but Bristol stood firm. Bristol’s numbers 21 and 9 were defensively outstanding as Cardiff attempted to crank up the gears in search of the lead. A devastating break started and finished by the number 7 saw Bristol go into half-time 37-27 up having survived plenty of Cardiff pressure.
As they had done at the start of the last quarter, Cardiff responded admirably. They clawed to within five points of Bristol, to which the Spartan coach called a necessary time-out.
Armed with the appropriate words of encouragement, Bristol regained their supremacy; at the end of the third quarter, the score stood at 55-41 with the game all but won. According to their character, Bristol showed resilience and confidence to see the game out in the final quarter.
Having overcome some early scares, Bristol came away as worthy winners in a key match in the division. The gap between the two sides now stands at nine points, while Bristol will be hoping for a couple of Bournemouth slip-ups in the coming weeks in order to challenge for the title.
Featured image by Epigram / Henry Edwards
Can Bournemouth 1s be caught in the Western 1A? Let us know your thoughts!
