Basketball: Caledonia Pride have hearts broken

Kings put their unbeaten record on the line against Blaze in a repeat of January’s Scottish Cup final and Blaze looked certain to take revenge when they led by seven points with barely a minute left.

In a frantic Kings fightback, Ali Mackay draw them level at 74-74 and although Blaze nudged ahead again, Konrad Kantorski made it 76-75 to the visitors with 3.1 seconds remaining. Boroughmuir’s Chris Arazim still had a chance to repeat last month’s winning three-pointer against Falkirk, but this time he missed.

Kings continue their cup defence this Saturday when they visit Ayrshire Tornadoes in the quarter-finals, while Blaze host league champions St  Mirren next Tuesday.

Edinburgh University remain winless after going down 79-56 to Dunfermline Reign, while Edinburgh Lions imploded in the third quarter as Falkirk Fury thrashed them 107-59.

In the women’s league, champions City of Edinburgh Kool Kats outclassed Polonia Phoenix 85-38, with Emma Findlay top-scoring with 22 points.

Lady Rocks joined Kats at the top of the table with a win over Edinburgh University. The students led 54-41 in their first match in over a month, but  eventually lost 68-62.

Nottingham’s Chelsey Schumpert did the damage from long range as Caledonia Pride were denied in agonising fashion in Grangemouth on Sunday.

Having beaten Oaklands Wolves 66-59 in Paisley on Saturday, Pride had a double in their sights when Pollyanna Storie put them 11 points up in the final quarter.

The gap had shrunk to four with under a minute to go and Shumpert’s three-pointer then gave Wildcats the edge with nine seconds left.

Pride coach Bart Sengers called a time-out and Tia Weledji restored their lead with four seconds remaining, yet there was still time for Schumpert to sink the winning shot and seal a 75-73 win for the visitors.

Pride welcome Manchester Mystics to Oriam this Sunday.

Basketball: Caledonia Pride have hearts broken | Edinburgh Kings reign