Bunten full of pride but final ends in heartache
BEATEN but unbowed Chris Bunten has promised Newcastle Eagles WBBL will look back on their battling post-season with pride.
But the playcaller lamented the below-par defensive display that brought sport’s latest Cinderella story to a sad end in Leicester.
And Bunten insisted his comefrom-behind specialists could have launched one final recovery given a greater focus when it mattered most.
“It still feels too raw right now and it’s a shame that the fairytale had to end this way,” said Bunten.
“But we’ll look back on the last couple of weeks with a great deal of pride when we think about what we’ve achieved against all odds.
“Right now, I’m just disappointed that we didn’t do better defensively. To score 71 points against London is a fantastic effort but you can’t concede 93 in a final.”
He added: “I’ll have to look back at the tape to work out where it ultimately went wrong. I’m disappointed as I know we can do better.
“And what can I say about Ali Gorrell? She doesn’t deserve to score 30 points and end up on the losing side. She’s an awesome player and an awesome person and I feel for her.”
Bunten’s side had failed to win three games on the bounce all season and breaking that duck against London always looked like a tough ask. So it proved.
Newcastle had beaten every team bar the Lions in the run-up to the final and another energy-sapping clash against the fast-rising capital franchise proved to be one game too many at the end of a testing season.
If the Eagles did a fantastic job in shutting down London’s leading scorer Cassie Breen, then there was no stopping Kennedy Leonard and MVP Shanice Beckford-Norton.
GB international Leonard claimed an outstanding triple-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
But it was Beckford-Norton who destroyed Newcastle’s hopes by adding eight boards, four assists and three steals to a record-equalling Playoff haul of 30 points.
On any other day Eagles captain Gorrell would have grabbed the post-match plaudits with another outstanding individual display.
The US star matched BeckfordNorton’s 30 points and fell one rebound short of yet another double-double.
But Gorrell’s typically unflinching performance wasn’t enough as this season’s page-turner of a Cinderella story lacked the fairytale finish fans everywhere had dreamed of.
Following confidence-boosting wins against league champions Sevenoaks Suns and Leicester Riders, Bunten’s side started well.
Newcastle led 6-2 on the back of a beautiful Gorrell spin move but the Lions hit back, launching an eyecatching 9-2 tear to take control.
The Londoners led by five after the first quarter of the day’s opening Lions-Eagles Playoff final double.
But the Eagles finally found their range from beyond the arc during a free-flowing second period with Maddy McVicar, who racked up 19 points, looking dangerous.
Leonard and Beckford-Norton kept the Lions in front but it was McVicar’s former college team-mate Chantel Charles who hit the buzzerbeating two that opened up an eightpoint London lead at the half.
Just as it seemed as if the Eagles were finished, there was one final, glorious fightback. A Gorrell threepoint play tied the scores at 51 apiece and suddenly the impossible seemed possible again.
But that was as good as it got for fast-tiring Newcastle as the Lions closed the quarter with the 13-0 run that laid the foundation for an ultimately comfortable victory.
And the Eagles team that dared to dream left Leicester empty handed but with their heads held high following a heroic finish to a memorable campaign.