Team Northumbria women's basketball came away with mixed emotions from their weekend fixtures after a 57-52 defeat to Nottingham Wildcats followed by a 68-65 victory at home to Barking Abbey Crusaders.
The opening quarter against the Wildcats on Saturday saw TN come straight out of the blocks, as Alison Gorrell grabbed six early points giving the a visitors a nine point advantage at 21-12 come the break.
TN pushed on in the early stages of the second quarter as Claudia Baraut converted again from long range, before the home side clawed the gap back to just five going into the second half.
Nottingham completed the points turnaround in the third at 45-42 with some unanswered point scoring runs as they looked to seal the league trophy on home soil.
The visitors rallied late on in the final quarter to reduce a double digit deficit down to just five to give the champions elect a scare. But it proved too little too late as the Wildcats held out for the win.
A tightly contested defeat means TN are unable to finish inside the top four with only one game remaining of the regular season.
But head coach Chris Bunten said: "I was very proud of the performance the team put in.
"We played very well and executed everything we needed to in trying to win the game but we just didn't have enough in the tank."
An on court incident left TN's Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee needing stitches following an elbow to the face.
It left the guard unable to continue playing due to concussion - a decision which left Bunten frustrated.
"I was disappointed with the decision which to me seemed malicious,” he added. “And it made the rest of the game very tough for us."
TN returned to action the following day at Sport Central against the Crusaders, with the visitors taking an end-to-end opening quarter to just hold the lead by a single point at 22-21.
Gorrell once again scored a team high 38 for the home side and a late final three pointer from her just before the half gave TN the edge at 35-34.
The home offence pushed to extend the lead to an advantage of eight in the closing phases of the game though Barking came back to within one point before another vital basket from Gorrell claimed the win for TN.
"It was another good performance where we deserved to win and it was a big step after the defeat the previous day," Bunten added.
"We were a tired team with the third and fourth performance not at our best due to fatigue but we managed to come through."
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