CoLA Southwark Pride take U18 Women’s National Cup

CoLA Southwark Pride won their fourth U18 Women’s National Cup with an 85-46 victory over Manchester Mystics in the final on Saturday at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester.

Felicia Jacobs was named MVP with 18 points and 14 rebounds as CoLA jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

“We knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game and that they were going to put up a fight. They have a lot of strong players. We just had to work together as a team and push for as big a lead as we could,” Jacobs said.

“Coach Jackson helped with [refocusing the mindset] at halftime. He told us the game starts at 0-0 for the second half. We knew that Manchester were going to fight and not let us win easily.”

In last year’s cup final, CoLA lost to Ipswich and Head Coach Jackson Gibbons said his team were looking to put right a missed opportunity.

“We got beat pretty handy last year and a large part of this group were U17, so they were coming back this year looking for a little bit of retribution and I didn’t know how up for it they were until we got into the second quarter, and they just seemed very focused on the task at hand. I’m very proud for the way they conducted themselves.”

Shay-Marie Oyewole added 13 for CoLA with Debra Wilson-Osuide and Madeleine Warren adding 11-a-piece.

Irene Oboavwodo led Manchester with 14, while Elisandra Costa had 13 points and give steals, as

Box score.

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