Natalie Bastian left The Oriam wondering what might have been had Caledonia Pride had not been punished for their mistakes against Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL) pace-setters Nottingham Wildcats.
The Edinburgh student believes Scotland’s first women’s professional basketball squad are turning the corner in their inaugural season.
They were soundly beaten 91-52 at Nottingham in the third round of fixtures on October 22 but on Saturday they pushed the Midlands club and they only lost by 14 points this time.
Natalie, who was playing for the first time in three weeks after picking up a virus on the plane back from her native North America, said: “We could have won the game and we’re leaving the arena annoyed that we didn’t.
“They are the league leaders but we pushed them in the second-half and having done that we feel we are moving in the right direction.”
Natalie was third top scorer for Pride with nine points after Hannah Peacock who claimed 15 points and Tricia Oakes with 14.
The squad now face two weeks of training under their Dutch-born head coach Bart Sengers before facing third-placed Manchester Mystics at Oriam on Saturday, January 22 (1pm).
She added: “Nottingham were really physical but we stayed with them. However,
we made too many turnovers and will work on that in training. We’ll be focused and ready to face Manchester on January 22.”
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
