Bunten confident team won’t be thrown to Wolves in Cup clash
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
CHRIS Bunten has launched a National Cup rallying cry after insisting Team Northumbria are in it to win it ahead of Saturday’s quarterfinal clash.
The Sport Central club travel to Oaklands Wolves looking to seal a Final Fours spot.
However, TN will do so without Team GB star Chantelle Handy after the North East forward inked a lucrative deal in Turkey.
Bunten said ahead of his team’s Wolves test: “I would love for it to be a 30-point game but I guarantee they will be very well prepared at their place. They will want to progress in the cup.
“The league is so much more competitive but this is a genuine chance to challenge for silverware. “We are going to treat this game as if it is a championship game because we know we have the capability to win the cup.”
Without Handy last weekend, TN bagged a come-from-behind 59-53 overtime win at BA London Lions.
However, after leaving the door open for Handy to return to Tyneside, in the future, Bunten admitted he was delighted with a tough road win.
He added: “We have had our most capped GB player leave us to go and sign for a team in Turkey so it has been a rough two weeks but the girls have responded so positively.
“I could not have asked for more in the end.”
TN almost slipped up at the Lions, fnding themselves 14 points down at the end of the third quarter.
Bunten said: “We were possibly a bit lethargic coming out, we missed easy opportunities and we were not particularly switched on defensively.”
Alison Gorrell mopped up the points in the fourth quarter with two clutch free throws at the death to force the game into overtime.
With the score 48-48, Bunten was never in doubt his team would win after five minutes of overtime.
Bunten’s confidence seemed to rub off on the players as they cruised through the first period of overtime and saw the game out.