THE BIG THREE were just no match for Station Hill’s historic 11.
Women’s basketball league cup is back in Station Hill as Maria Cumberbatch had six of her 21 points in a decisive fourth-quarter run while finals Most Valuable Player Jamila Studer added 20 to lead the Cavaliers in Tuesday’s series-clinching 71-58 win over UWI Blackbirds at the Wildey Gym.
The resounding Game 3 victory was the fitting cap to league title No. 11 for the champion Cavs, who lost out on the last two cups to the former Clapham trio of Toni Atherley, Sade Clarke and Jennifer Joseph-Hackett.
But UWI’s new Big Three had nothing on Station Hill’s own big addition, as Cumberbatch – the former Tigers standout – had eight huge fourth quarter points, including six straight during a crucial 14-6 run.
With the Cavs clinging to a four-point lead, the diminutive but speedy guard rattled off three buckets in succession, scoring off a pair of drives and a long jumper to help turn a 48-44 cushion into a 62-50 advantage.
UWI got within single digits again just moments later though, with Atherley scoring a couple quick buckets to sandwich two free throws from Clarke that reduced the deficit to a 64-56 score inside the three-minute mark.
However, they never got any closer after Cumberbatch replied with yet another huge jumper before Atherley truly sealed the deal with a dramatic “and-one” play on the very next possession.
“We just needed the younger ones to step up because they are our future so we gave them the chance to step up,” said veteran forward Wanda Agard-Belgrave, who started the surge with back-to-back buckets.
“And they did just that as Maria [Cumberbatch] came in and was huge for us and Jamila [Studer] just stepped up as she usually does.
The dynamic duo’s performance proved the tipping point to a huge winner-take-all contest that had all the makings of an epic Game 3 featuring a showdown between Studer and Atherley.
But the matchup of the league’s best never really materialized after Atherley was hounded into a scoreless third-quarter while Station Hill went ahead by as many as eight points (46-38).
“We put our best defender in Trisha [Payne] on Toni and hoped that we could slow her down and get the others to beat us,” explained Agard-Belgrave.
“We had it in our heads that maybe Toni would have a bad game and maybe we could capitalize on that.”
With Atherley failing to rid Payne via ineffective on-ball screens, UWI’s offence sputtered midway through the third while Studer began to dictate the proceedings in the paint.
To make matters worse, Joseph-Hackett was subsequently forced to the bench after picking up her fourth foul before Atherley missed three straight free throws that allowed Station Hill to go up 46-38.
Clarke responded with a timely runner to end the quarter though, before UWI got a brief lift off the bench from Nikita President, who hit a couple jumpers to pull UWI within four (48-44).
This was after the lady Cavs had previously threatened to run away with the contest by taking a quick 21-10 lead when UWI continually settled for long, contested jumpers.
However, the Blackbirds closed the half on an 8-2 run (30-27), spurred by baskets from Atherley and Toni-Ann Johnson, before UWI took their only lead of the contest (31-30) following a Clarke triple and layup from Keisha Corbin on the other side of the break.
Atherley scored 21 points and Joseph-Hackett ended with ten while Agard-Belgrave added 15 points for Station Hill.
“This feels great, really great,” said Agard-Belgrave of winning her 11th league title in 13 years.
“It’s a wonderful feeling because everyone worked really hard this season so we truly deserved this win.”
