Coupeville’s Makana Stone scored 11 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter Saturday. (Photo property Loughborough University)
Two wins from a title.
With their American assassin coming up big in the fourth quarter Saturday, Loughborough University held off plucky Reading 72-63 in the quarterfinals of England’s Women’s National Basketball League playoffs.
Coupeville grad Makana Stone erupted for 11 of her 19 points in the final frame, spurring the Riders from a seven-point deficit.
With the win, Loughborough, which entered the eight-team, single-elimination WNBL playoffs as the #3 seed, gets to 13-5 on the season.
The victory avenges a regular season loss to Reading in April, and sends the Riders on to a semifinal clash with #2 seed CoLA Southwark next Saturday, May 22.
Regular-season champ Ipswich faces off with #5 Nottingham Trent in the other final-four matchup.
In the buildup to the playoffs, Reading and Loughborough split a pair of regular season games, and through three quarters Saturday the Rockets looked primed to pull off a postseason upset.
A game which had been knotted 12-12 after one, then 32-30 in favor of the Riders at the half, took a disastrous turn in the third frame.
Reading jumped on Loughborough, ripping off a 15-6 run to carry a 45-38 advantage into the fourth.
But Stone and her British teammates never flinched, calmly fighting back while closing the game on a torrid 24-8 tear.
Coupeville’s progeny kicked things off by making off with a steal, then slapping home a breakaway bucket to open the period, and the fuse was lit.
Loughborough got all the way back to 45-45, then claimed the lead for good at 48-47 when Katie Januszewska rippled the net on a three-ball with a tick over seven minutes to play.
Reading hung around for a bit more, staying within 52-51 at the five-minute mark, but Stone promptly sliced and diced the Rockets defense for another layup to blunt the rally.
The former Wolf, who also snatched nine rebounds and pilfered three steals, held her team together even as they shot just 28% from the floor, hitting just 21 of 74 attempts.
Stone hit 50% of her field goal tries (6-12), and was a dead-eye 7-9 at the free-throw line, on a day when none of her teammates topped 33% from the floor.
Januszewska did match Stone’s 19-point effort, with Molly James tossing in 10.
On the season, Stone, who is nominated for the WNBL’s Player of the Year, Team of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year honors, has 259 points in 16 games.
She also has 224 rebounds, 33 assists, 57 steals, and eight blocked shots.
