Cavs’ rout

DON’T BANK on dethroning these lady Cavs just yet – if at all.Women’s basketball’s most ardent rivalry is headed to its biggest game yet, as reigning nine-time league champs Mpact Station Hill Cavaliers forced a decisive Game 3 in the finals after Thursday’s 77-48 Game 2 rout of Act II Popcorn Clapham Bulls at the Wildey Gym.It’s the second time in as many years that this heated match-up is going the distance, following last year’s dramatic three-game finals series.But on this occasion, the lady Cavs were the ones who had to survive a possible close-out game – the first time since 2002 – having stunningly lost Tuesday’s opener in humbling fashion.Order was quickly restored though, as Station Hill never trailed in this one, especially after Astrid Alleyne had 11 of her series-best 29 points as part of a resounding 32-13 third-quarter run.It wasn’t just Alleyne’s contributions either, more so a total team effort which was keyed by the champs’ stifling defensive effort that resulted in just one of Clapham’s vaunted “Big Four” scoring double digits.Jamila Studer was the lynchpin of that performance, turning her match-up with Toni Atherley into a beat-down rather than a showdown of the league’s best.Atherley never appeared comfortable against Studer’s superior length out on the perimeter, and was never allowed to settle after Cavs’ defence accounted for her on every attempted drive to the hoop.The continued struggles of Shakira Shorey and Sadé Clarke didn’t help matters any, while the shots that Jennifer Joseph-Hackett hit in Game 1 just never fell on the night.Initial signs of those woes came when the Bulls missed their first five shots to start the game, and were further exposed when Alleyne, Studer and Wanda Agard-Belgrave dominated the offensive glass to turn an 11-10 first-quarter lead to a 32-20 half-time advantage.But the third period was the scene of the real rout, where Alleyne and Agard-Belgrave were shockingly beating their far younger counterparts down the floor for points in transition.They even picked up their assignments full court when Atherley finally rested midway through the third, resulting in 14 unanswered points that put the Cavs ahead 58-29.And the jumpers Ria Phillips couldn’t sink in Game 1 were suddenly sinking Clapham’s ship every time they played off the shooting guard.Of all the Bulls, only Antonia Baptiste appeared threatening, but her brief surge early in the fourth came with Clapham already trailing 64-33.Studer finished with 21 points, while Agard-Belgrave and Phillips added 12 and ten respectively, for the Cavs who are looking to secure their ninth straight league title tomorrow at the YMCA.Clarke led Clapham with 11 points and Baptiste had ten, while Atherley only managed nine and Shorey,  six.