Oaklands Wolves missed the chance to make it three wins from three in the Women’s British Basketball League as they fell to a 59-56 defeat at home to Barking Abbey London Lions.
But in a game where they trailed for long periods, and by some distance, they almost pulled off a stunning comeback.
Trailing 53-36 with five minutes to go, Oaklands put together 16 unanswered points to have the Sportszone fans on their feet with 90 seconds to go.
A couple of contentious decisions though reversed the momentum and left them with mere seconds to land a big three-pointer to bring them level.
In the end the clock ran down on a brave fight and left the visiting Barking side celebrating.
The game though had started brightly for the Wolves.
Victories over Essex Rebels and Durham Palatinates had made it a happy end to 2018 and that confidence saw them take a 16-7 lead.
But from there they were victims of their own downfall against another side battling to make the end of season play-offs.
They had plenty of the ball but their shooting radar was most definitely out of sorts.
Barking turned things completely around in the second quarter, taking their opportunities when they came, to take a five-point half-time into half-time and with former Wolves’ youngster Loren Christie hitting two big three-point efforts, that lead was up to 10 by the time the final period began.
Christie bagged another three points, and was mere inches away from adding a fourth from distance, instead having to settle for another two, as Barking enjoyed an 8-0 run to open the last 10 minutes.
That killed any lingering hopes that Wolves had of mounting a comeback, or so it seemed.
Three pointers from Lizzy Harrison and then Roya Rustamzada, started the fightback and even the departure of the home skipper didn’t stop the fight.
One decision to award the visitors a restart brought a foul and two points from the free-throw line.
It proved enough to get the Lions over the line.
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