The clash between the Limpopo Baobabs and the Eastern Cape Aloes kick started the last day of the first leg at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria. The Baobabs defeated the Aloes for the second time this week following another narrow 45-40 win this morning. Fatigue came into play in this match as it wasn’t the usual fast paced game that we are used to witnessing on court. This was a much-needed win for the Limpopo side who suffered back-to-back defeats ahead of this encounter and have now moved level on points with the Eastern Cape side in Division two.
The Southern Stings’ attack dominated in their match against the Free State Crinums to win 45-37. The combination between the Stings shooters- Sian Moore and Nichole Taljaard was sublime as they boasted an eighty four percent average at half-time. Stings center- Shannon Bartlett was a workforce in the mid court, working relentlessly to get the ball down to the shooting circle. This was the Crinums second defeat against the Stings, who have certainly raised their hand to be strong title contenders in the competition.
However, Crinums’ coach- Burta de Kock believes her team is very much in the race, ‘’The competition is still on the run as much as we didn’t have a good start. It’s not all about the negative things, there were brilliant moments and good turnovers’’. Meanwhile, Stings coach- Annelie Lucas says focus is key going into the second leg, ‘’I think there is still a lot that we can work on. If you have the game in your hands then you shouldn’t let it slip because sometimes, we just lose focus and if we want to win this tournament, we must stay focus for the full sixty minutes’’.
In the third game of the day, the Tornados maintained their number one spot on the log after beating the Diamonds 57-44. The Tornados grabbed control from the first quarter and forced the Diamonds into catch up mode for much of the contest. The Tornados have been exceptional in the first leg having lost one game so far. Meanwhile, the Diamonds have struggled to find their feet in the competition and will have to go back to the drawing board in order to ensure more wins in the second leg.
