Jenaya Wade-Fray and her English Women’s Division One League Leaders UWIC Archers went down 66 – 64 to City Of Sheffield Hatters.
Both teams are stocked with national teams talent (coaches and players) and between them have won every major trophy since 2009.
Sheffield led from start to finish, taking a 20 – 13 First Quarter lead, UWIC outscored Sheffield 21 – 19 in the second quarter to trail 39 – 34 at the half.
UWIC closed the gap to four points going into the final period after outscoring Sheffield 14 – 13 in the third, they then outscore Sheffield 16 – 14 in the final quarter but could not get the final two points to draw level.
Wade-Fray had 8 points in the loss, and 6 rebounds, she also recorded 4 assist.
Damian Jennings, UWIC coach said, “Ultimately we are gutted to lose at home given that we have not lost at home all season. Given our poor start, putting the Hatters to the line too easily and not following the scout we are left thinking what could have been. However I am extremely proud of how after such a poor start we battled courageously to win the following 3 quarters and put ourselves in an end game that I’m sure much learning will be taken from. After being down by 12 points to then come back to be up by 4pts in the manner at which we orchestrated our offense, finishing looks inside particularly was really impressive. Hannah Shaw did an excellent job and it was simply the best I have seen her play all season. We shot un-characteristically poorly from the perimeter and of course in tight games will rue the misses from the line.
It became a great team effort that once again we felt ‘we’ became the reason we lost. That provides little comfort after losing the series 2-1 to Sheffield but given there is still so much to play for it will ensure we remain hungry to grow and fight back with an alternative approach when those experiences pop up again.”
