Pride coach Sengers wants fledgling team to do more

Caledonia Pride Head Coach Bart Sengers had mixed emotions after his still winless team went down 57-39 to fourth-placed English side Leicester Riders in the WBBL at Oriam on Saturday.

Caledonia Pride's Natalie Bastian squeezes through a tight Leicester Riders defence. Picture: Kevin Murray

“It was so much better than the last time we played them down there.

“We’ve got to be happy with only allowing them 57 points (compared to 87 last time) but I don’t like losing and there’s so much more we could have done,” said the Dutchman, whose bottom-of-the table side were again confined to under 40 points by the Riders.

“Our guys found it a bit of a struggle to score.”

Pride’s field-goal percentage said it all with Sarah Thompson scoring just one free throw and missing with all five three-point attempts compared to six from eight from three-point range versus Cardiff Archers the previous week.

Point guard Robyn Lewis buzzed about tirelessly but was zero from five, Kirsten Simpson zero from four and Beth Mackie one from four.

Even Tricia Oates, who hauled down 10 rebounds and scored nine points, was only four from 11 attempts while Hannah Peacock, who had nine rebounds and 10 points, was five from 13 from the field including a trade-mark reverse lay-up to round off the home scoring.

Top Pride player was US guard Natalie Bastian with 15 points.

For Riders, former St Mirren guard Dee Hayward had an outstanding game, playing almost the entire 40 minutes for 14 points, three steals and an assist while fellow Scot, captain Erin McGarrachan had eight points, two rebounds and a block.