Sevenoaks Suns brought a successful and well-fought Women’s British Basketball League season to an end by coming from behind to beat Nottingham Wildcats 70-61 in the Playoff final at the O2 Arena.
The Suns’ victory in the season finale means that they secure a season double by adding the Playoff crown to the Trophy that they won in Glasgow in March. However there is a share of trophies this season with the Manchester Mystics claiming the WBBL Cup and the Wildcats winning the league.
Catherine Carr led the victors with 20 points and she was the main catalyst behind Sevenoaks’ game-winning run where the Suns held Nottingham to just nine points in a 17 minute stretch in the second half that proved to be the difference.
And it was Carr, who deservedly won the MVP award as she added a WBBL record 14 rebounds to her tally along with six assists.
The Suns trailed 25-17 after the first quarter, and were slow to get going, falling behind by as many as 11 points at one stage.
But led by captain Carr, the team from Kent hit back in the second quarter where they narrowed the deficit to just three points before a triple by Wildcats guard Siobhan Prior with seconds remaining in the half made sure that Nottingham had a sizeable 42-36 cushion at the break.
But that cushion evaporated in the early stages of the third quarter as Sevenoaks tied the game at 42-42 through a three-point play by Gabriele Nikitinaite.
Nottingham hung on to re-take the lead briefly only for the Suns to take their first lead mid-way through the third, forcing Wildcats coach Dave Greenaway to call timeout.
But it was to no avail as a defensive minded third period where only 13 points were scored in the first nine minutes was finally blown open when Suns’ Renee Busch hit a well-worked three-pointer as Sevenoaks took a 52-44 lead going into the fourth.
Nottingham only scored two points in the entire third quarter with that three by Prior in the final seconds of the second their last field goal. Free throws by WBBL Player of the Year Ashley Harris with three minutes played proved to be their only scores.
Nottingham fought valiantly in the final period only to be hampered by an injury to Prior, which forced her out of the game for good as the Suns, driven by Carr, pulled away in the final two minutes for the win.
Harris led the Wildcats with 16 points.