Ipswich Battle Back to Win National Cup Title

Ipswich overturned a 14-point deficit at the end of the first quarter to battle back and beat Essex Blades 67-58 in the National Cup final, at UEL Sportsdock.

Harriet Welham was named MVP after leading Ipswich with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“We knew it was going to be a game of two halves and luckily it went our way,” she said. “It was a really good win in the end, we fought all the way and finally got the win.”

GB U18 Maya Price posted 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Ashleigh Pink, Esther Little and Danielle Cazey all added 11 points apiece.

Box score.

Essex led 7-2 early on and increased their advantage with a 12-2 burst with all of their points coming from downtown.

Their lead peaked at 17 points with a triple making it 29-12 at the start of the second, but Ipswich rallied and an 8-2 run helped cut the gap to nine at the half, at 37-28.

Ipswich controlled the third as they held their opponents to just seven points to further reduce their deficit and it was an 11-4 burst in the fourth quarter that pushed them ahead at 54-55.

Essex re-took the lead with the next score, but then conceded a 10-0 run as Ipswich produced a pivotal spell to seal victory.

Jasmine Ogunjimi had a team-high 15 points in defeat for the Blades.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix