HNB champions of the Mercantile Womens League

The Mercantile  Basketball tournament drew to a close last evening with the final set of matches in the ‘A’ division. In the women’s category, ‘A’ division the finalists were Commercial Credit and Hatton National Bank. After a heated battle, Hatton National Bank was crowned the new champions of the Mercantile League.

Pre match quotes

“Commercial Credit Coach: We’re a team that plays to win, we’re going to capitalize on our strengths and hopefully win ourselves another championship”

“Hatton National Bank Coach: I was away for a little while on a national tour but while I was gone they have done well and I’m confident that they can do well today since we have some very talented senior players and a great overall team.”

Match Report

Commercial Credit took first possession of the ball but after a couple attempts from both sides to get the first basket it was HNB who scored first. Throughout the first quarter, Commercial Credit seemed to be having terrible luck with their jump shots as none of them were connecting in addition Commercial Credit lost possession of the ball once they brought it to the other side of the court losing out on many scoring opportunities. Both teams had opted for a man to man defence to reduce the number of shots taken by the other team. By the end of the first quarter, HNB had taken a slight lead.

First-Quarter: Hatton National Bank-13 Commercial Credit- 07

As the game went on Commercial Credit continued to have bad luck with their shots while HNB, on the other hand, penetrated the defence to finish strong near the rim this was followed by collecting the rebound as well giving them a lot of second shot opportunities. Commercial Credit moved into a half court press but they failed to stop the HNB layups as HNB created a significant deficit by the end of the first half.

Half-time: Hatton National Bank-35 Commercial Credit-21

During the third quarter, there was no change to the leader board as HNB continued to assert their dominance over Commercial Credit and even got a few shots from downtown to increase the deficit further. It was the lowest scoring quarter of the game for both teams as they began to focus more on their defence.

Third-Quarter: Hatton National Bank-47 Commercial Credit- 32

Approaching the final 10 minutes Commercial Credit had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted to turn the tables on HNB but their failure to collect rebounds didn’t help their cause. With time running out Commercial Credit began to rush their plays and miss their jump shots. Although they did manage to close the gap capitalizing on the many free shots they received due to the HNB teams fouls. Even though they dominated the quarter it was a little too late since they were trailing by 11 and they ran out of time. Hatton National Bank came out on top as the champions of the Mercantile League triumphing over Commercial Credit

Full-time: Hatton National Bank-60 Commercial Credit-49

The HNB coach shared her thoughts with ThePapare.com on the match and had this to say: “We played well had good team work and I think that’s what made the difference but we’re all very happy that we won the finals I’m extremely proud of this team.”

HNB

Commercial Credit