Loughborough beat defending champs to win BUCS women

By Sam Neter on March 23, 2023

Loughborough 2023 BUCS Women Champions Basketball

Image Credit: Pete Simmons

Loughborough University won their fourth BUCS Women title in the last nine seasons with a 74-60 win over defending champions University of Essex on Wednesday in Nottingham.

WBBL guard Oliana Squires was unstoppable throughout on her way to MVP, finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, as Loughborough were rattled early before a dominant second quarter to take control.

🏆 @lborobasketball defeat Essex 74-60 to claim the 2023 @BUCSsport title! 🥇

🎥 @BUCSsport pic.twitter.com/e3Esdxxox7

— Hoopsfix Women (@HoopsfixWomen) March 22, 2023

“The group been building for this all season, was nice for it to come off,” Loughborough Head Coach Krumesh Patel told Hoopsfix.

“Great grit and spirit the last two weeks and pays off with a championship. First one for Loughborough women since I assisted Matt Pitkin so it’s a special one!”

Emma Fee added 20 points for Loughborough as the only other player to reach double figures for the victors, while Essex were led by 15 from Jade Mbam, and 13 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists from Claire Paxton.

Box score.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix