Not another classic......surely?

Funky Town in Wales, image courtesy of Mansoor Ahmed

Now either FunkyTown are just damn lucky or it's true that ballers do step up their game when we're in town! Either way we were treated to another classic with drama to match our last foray at the BUSA's.

This time the venue was The Rhondda Fach Sports Centre where many of you will know we commentate for the hometown Rhondda Rebels. Their opponents were the Sheffield Hatters and this match was being billed as one of the biggest games British Womens basketball had seen for years and unusually yet again it lived up to the hype. The reason for the hype was that this was a winner take all game, well nearly. Basically Hatters were top of the table so just needed a win to take the title away from the Rebels however if the Rebels won by 3 or more points they were champions again.

All the games between the 2 teams this season had seen victories by no more than 3 points so that indicated a close one. Hatters came out flying with a 3 pointer by Sarah Naylor to open up the scoring (she finished with 7 in the first quarter) and captain Katie Crowley leading from the front with 8 points in the first quarter. The Rebels were surprisingly subdued and their large vocal fanbase had to wait until nearly the 5th minute before Andrea Congreaves scored their first points. With 1 minute to go in the first, Hatters were up by 12 and cruising however 5 points in the final minute including a vital 3 pointer by Steph Collins meant that lead had been cut to 7 and Rebels were still in the game.

Whatever Coach Congreaves said to her team obviously worked because the second quarter saw the Rebels on fire! By the time 2 minutes were left in the half the Rebels had established a 5 point lead on the back of a 19-6 run. This was sparked by the introduction of a new name to me Rhonda Price, who came off the bench like a lady possessed ending up with 10 points at the end of the quarter. Even though the Hatters scored a couple more buckets it was still a 5 point gap (33-27) at the end of the half and the title was staying in the valleys but as a wise man (or woman) once said "it's a a game of 2 halves".

The large crowd were ready to go after a superb halftime entertainment show by FunkyTown (it's our blog so we can say that!) and Rebels continued where they'd left off actually going up by as many as 10 led by some inspirational play by Megan Hoffman. The Hatters however have had a successful season and they showed how resolute they are by steadily reducing the deficit through Naylor and Gandy and assists from Lisa Hutchinson. The Rebels couldn't maintain their strong play and by the end of the 3rd their lead was down to 2...Game on!

In the final quarter both teams were showing the tension of the situation as neither of them could put together a consistent scoring run, in fact at one stage there was no score for 4 minutes! Nerves were beginning to fray both on and off the court and it even got to ref Paul Lee who started struggling with a calf strain and we were nervously looking in the crowd for a replacement. Finally with 2 mins left we had some buckets and the Rebels had one hand on the trophy as they led by5 points going into the final minute. The crowd was going mad and the atmosphere was as good as anything I've heard for a long time.

Now remember for the Rebels to retain their title they needed to win by 3 and they were up by 5 with less than 10 seconds left, when Steph Gandy got the ball in the low post and forced the ball up. Not only did she score she was also fouled and would go to the line to shoot a title winning free throw. Hundreds of Welsh hearts were about to be broken as she calmly dropped the bonus shot with 3 seconds left on the clock. There was to be no fairy tale finish as the girls from Yorkshire lost the game but won the title by the closest margin possible. What an incredible game and we've still got the play-offs to come!

The trophy was presented by Sam Spare from England basketball but I must make the point that surely there should have been more representation from the governing body for a game as important as this, no?

So congratulations to Betty Codona and the Hatters and commiserations to the Rebels. I would also like to congratulate the Rebels organisation on the work that they do in the valleys. It really is incredible and Dr Len and myself look forward to seeing you down there later this year. Try it, you'll be surprised.
Big shouts go out to my dawg mansoor from ahmedphotos.com for the great photo's. Respect as always.
Next stop for FunkyTown and Hosana is Caister...oh my days we'd better get our sleep in now!