Pinelands to face Bulls in Women’s League semis

THE #1 Beauty Supplies and Beauty Exchange BABA Women’s League Semi-finals are finally here and the favourite Pinelands are set to take on the Burger King Clapham Bulls.

 

The teams will be playing a best of three semi-final series at the Barbados Community College starting this Thursday and it promises to be a battle in every game. The last time these two teams met, the game got physical, punches were thrown, but Clapham fought to come out on top. Pinelands will be looking to set the record straight and dismiss the hopes that Clapham has based on their upset victory.

 

The Pine stand a good chance to walk into the finals if the requirements were based on statistics alone. Pinelands have some of the best stats amongst the teams with the help of their ‘Big Three’ – Sade Clarke, Maria Cumberbatch and Tamisha Flatts. The three have dominated all the games played by the Pine except in the cases where Clarke or Flatts were unavailable to take to the court.

 

To give an idea of how dominating these three are, the statistics can be pulled up. Maria Cumberbatch, who is the reigning finals MVP as well the Most Offensive Player for the 2015 season, leads the race for the scoring title averaging 25.86 points a game. Her closest competitor is the Challengers Sports Club’s Tara Dowrich with 19 points per game. However, the No.3 and No.4 spot on the scoring list belong to the other two ‘Big Three’ members. Clarke has an average of 17.17 points per game while Flatts averages 15.86. The three ladies definitely know how to put points on the board.

 

In the assists category, Clarke leads with 7.33 assists per game with Tracey Austin of the Bulls second with 4.87 and Makela Walcott with 4.5. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they are surrounded by Pine players in every category that counts. Flatts and Marion Hurley of the Pine both average 4 assists per game. For rebounds, both teams have a player in the top five rebounders in the league. Flatts is averaging 10.71 rebounds per game and Janiece Clarke 9. Janiece Clarke also has the best shooting average on the two squads with 45 per cent, but the share volume of shots launched from the Pine is staggering.

 

This shooting volume, especially from beyond the arc, is one of the true sources of the Pine’s dominance. Among the three Pine girls, they have scored 32 three-pointers for the season. Sade Clarke scored 16 three’s, Flatts netted 10 and Cumberbatch a commendable 6.

 

The issue for the Pine is fatigue and support from the bench players. Clapham was able to outlast and outscore the Pine due to multiple scoring sources on the team. The Bulls stuck with what was working and in the end the team that deserved to win was victorious. The Bulls will be going into the playoffs with their mind set at beating the newly-formed formidable team. It will be a long uphill battle where they must leave it all on the floor and match the scoring as closely as possible without letting the Pine get hot from behind the arc.

 

It will not be only a physical battle on the court, but a mental one as well. The Bulls have the psychological advantage, having won the last match, but will bring their ‘A’ game and leave their self-esteem at home if they are to defeat the mighty Pine. (AS)