Bart Sengers hails Caledonia Pride after shooting down Archers in cup

The Edinburgh-based club led at half-time, but trailed Cardiff by four points going into the closing quarter. Pride suddenly found an extra gear and eased away to a 64-55 victory, paced by 14 points from Sarah Thomson and 13 plus ten rebounds from summer signing Rosie Reynolds.

“We came back strong to win it,” smiled Sengers. “I used all 12 players and everyone made a positive contribution. It was a real team performance.”

Pride were paired with Cup holders Manchester Mystics in yesterday’s quarter-final draw, but they return to league action this Saturday when they travel to Durham.

In the Scottish men’s league, City of Edinburgh Kings coasted to a 73-55 win over Glasgow University at Portobello High, with Ali Mackay continuing his comeback from a broken finger as he top-scored with 24 points.

Kings face a daunting task in tonight’s cup quarter-final at Paisley’s Lagoon Centre where they take on a rampant St Mirren side. Saints beat champions Falkirk Fury a fortnight ago and racked up 119 points against Pleasance last Friday, although Kings handed them their only defeat this season, winning 72-62 last month. “It should be a good one,” predicted Kings coach Craig Nicol.

Pleasance were not alone in suffering a weekend thrashing after going down 119-43 in Paisley. Having run Falkirk so close the previous week, Edinburgh University also shipped over 100 points – 71 of them in the second half – as they lost 105-73 at third-placed Dunfermline. Boroughmuir Blaze were always playing catch-up against Falkirk in Grangemouth and eventually went down 78-63.

In the women’s Premier Division, champions City of Edinburgh Kool Kats returned from a three-week break to win 81-45 at Glasgow University, giving Kats their sixth league victory in a row. Edinburgh University lost 66-53 at unbeaten St Mirren on Sunday.