After beating South Notts Tribe 74-67 in the 3 Counties Cup on Thursday night, the City of Sheffield Saints were bitterly disappointed to lose to Leeds Met Carnegie in the National Shield Quarter Final on Saturday. The Saints fought their way back from a 20 point deficit but it was not enough to stop Leeds from progressing to the semi-final round.

From the very beginning, the Saints struggled to get into any sort of rhythm on offence, though two 3 pointers from Gayle kept them very much in the game in the early going. Leeds' offence also stuttered early on, leaving the game balanced 11-10 in Leeds' favour. Then Leeds' captain Morely began to get hot, hitting from long range to spark a 9-0 run for the visitors. Free throws from Chris Law and Andy Turner kept the Saints within reach but they trailed 24-14 at the end of the quarter.

The Saints did not look themselves and allowed Leeds to go on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, including two consecutive 3s. Another Gayle 3 pointer brought the score to 32-17 but the Saints looked sluggish at both ends of the floor. Uncharacteristic Saints' turnovers and another 10-2 run for Leeds left the home team trailing 40-21 with 5 minutes to go to half time. Gayle worked tirelessly inside but the referees' unwillingness to call fouls was taking its toll. However, 5 quick points from Tilly Hackett seemed to galvanise the Saints. Chris Law, Pete Olusoga and Franz-von Shorter all earned trips to the line and the Saints began to claw their way back into the game, cutting the deficit in half and going in at half time 46-36 down.

The Saints came out after the break the stronger team and in a physical battle, Hackett, Gayle, and Law closed the gap to 48-42. Olusoga had to leave the game with a cut above the eye, a result of contact with a Leeds player's elbow; the same elbow which had caught Hackett full in the face moments earlier and which had also not been deemed any sort of foul. Nevertheless, the Saints, behind good play from Turner and Gayle, managed to close the gap to just 2 points. But this was as close as they could get as Morely hit another 3 for Leeds to spur them on and give them a 60-50 advantage going into the 4th.

The Saints again came out aggressively and started the quarter well, but just couldn't seem to close the gap. Seven more points from Morely, who had a game high 32 on the night, kept Leeds Met 67-60 ahead with 5 minutes to go. As hard as the Saints worked, they couldn't seem to get the ball to drop. Olusoga and Law both hit 3 pointers and Gayle soldiered on with 9 more points but Leeds finished the stronger team to take an 80-66 win and a place in the semi-finals.

Scorers
Saints
Gayle (26), Hackett(12), Law(9), Olusoga/Turner(8), Shorter(3)
Leeds Met.
Morely(32), Corton(11), Allison/Martin(8)

Posted on: Monday 5th February

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