Hatters Progress to Final Fours

City of Sheffield Hatters move into the final fours as they look to complete the domestic ht trick of league, cup and play off trophies.

Women’s National League Division 1 – Play-Off Quarter Final

10^th April 2010, All Saints, Sheffield.

City Of Sheffield Hatters 73-44 Brixton Topcats

Hatters began their play off campaign with a home fixture against Brixton Topcats at All Saints in the quarter finals.  Having secured the league title, Hatters played the lowest play-off qualifiers, with Topcats finishing 8^th in the league. this, Brixton came out hard in the early stages, looking to u[set the form guide. In fact, they stayed with the home side for the majority of the first quarter as both teams exchanged baskets. As expected, it was going to be a long and physical game. Hatters received the majority of their luck in transition while Brixton showed strength in attacking the basket and drawing fouls. However, towards the end of the quarter, Sheffield began converting more chances and so took the lead 19-12 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

The 2^nd quarter continued in a similar fashion, with Hatters allowing the occasional easy drive but generally solid team defence. Sheffield still were a little thrown by Brixton’s physicality and needed to be stronger on route to basket. The score at half time was 36 22 to Sheffield. 

Although the third period was a similar score line to the previous two, Sheffield seemed the more dominant side but Brixton managed to stay in contention. Hatters presented some good offensive execution with some great passing from Hutchinson and Taylor to the top scorers of the game. It looked as though Sheffield were going to struggle with fouls as Camp and Taylor were unlucky with several hustle calls from the referees, especially considering the nature of the game. The third period finished 52-32.

In the final quarter, Sheffield continued to run the floor and as a result scored 20 in the final period whilst keeping Brixton’s scoring to a minimum once again. Hatters secured a good win and are now in the Final Fours weekend in 2 weeks time where they will look to add the play off trophy to the league title and cup to secure the domestic treble!

Top Scorers: Naylor 28, Mason 14, Oaddams 13.

The final fours will take place over the weekend of 24-25 April. Hatters will face Barking Abbey in one semi-final whilst UWIC Archers face Team Northumbria in the other semi-final.

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Next weekend, the two remaining Hatters sides with play off interests are in action. The under 14’s entertain Southend Swifts on Saturday 17^th in the play-off quarter final. Tip is at 4pm. The U18’s face a tough task when they travel to Northern Conference Champions Manchester Mystics at the Amaechi Centre on Saturday. Tip is at 3pm.The prize for both sides is a place in their respective final fours tournament.