Toggle Background Color
Week 7
It’s White Heron Cup time, everyone! I hope you all dressed your best and practiced your waltz, because we’re nearing the halfway point of the season! And the team with the best December record will be getting custom shoes for their whole team!
Game 1: Leicester @ Almyra
Anyways, let’s start with Leicester @ Almyra. Almyra has had a decent run, recovering from a dismal start to be within the grasp of the top 8. Leicester has remained comfortably in the 2nd position in Northern Fodlan, sitting just behind Fhirdiad.
Stripes v Stripes, baby.
Almyra got off the blocks quickly in the 1st quarter.
At least for Almyra’s defensive standards.
And they immediately set to work on slowing down Leicester’s top scorer: Marianne Von Edmund.
Every possession that Marianne had involved had one or two extra bumps, and her 1st quarter contributions were limited to those 2 points. Lucky for her, backup point guard Lysithea was more than able to contribute.
And when she missed, Hilda was able to clean up.
Almyra, for their part, kept the pace slow and scored as much as they could.
Amir Timur scored 10 points in the 1st quarter, leading both teams, and the quarter ended with Leicester up 5, 22-17.
Almyra started the 2nd quickly
Adud Al-Dawla scored all 8 of his points in this quarter, giving Almyra a 1 point lead halfway through the quarter. Then Raphael, who had a total of zero points and 1 rebound, pulled this out of nowhere:
And finally, after almost 2 quarters of being beaten up, Marianne had enough, and unleashed the beast:
Almyra closed the gap by halftime, sitting behind Leicester 44-42.
The 3rd quarter is where Leicester took control of the game.
Marianne scored 20 of Leicester’s 26 points in this quarter, and added 5 rebounds. Almyra struggled to keep up, and even though the pace was still relatively slow, their 2 point deficit ballooned to a 70-59 score by the end of the 3rd quarter.
In the 4th, Almyra did everything in their power to come back:
But the damage was done, and Leicester came out on top, 87-77. A good showing for Almyra against a strong rival, but there is still room for improvement.
Game 2: Gloucester @ Agartha
Welcome back, Gloucester Gentlemen’s Club for Basketball and Recreation! Gloucester has been in a bit of a slump, not finishing off games they had a good shot of winning. But the team has improved both on defense and offense, and it feels like a turnaround is bound to happen at any moment.
Current top scorer for Gloucester, our isekai protagonist Dewan Hernandez, started Gloucester out early.
With some assistance from Quark Handknuckle, of course.
Trading blows with them is someone who is actually in the running for league MVP, Kronya.
The 3 players combined for 28 of the total 32 points scored in the 1st quarter, with Agartha holding a slim 14-18 lead.
The second quarter got rather ugly.
Sad Songs, who relieved a slightly hurt Subtle Secretary, went 0-6 from the field in this quarter.
Agartha attacked the basket, but this was one of the few shots that went in for the team.
Gloucester went 4-17 from the field in the quarter, and Agartha went 3-19, and with free throws added in, the half ended with Gloucester up, 32-31.
Once in the 3rd quarter, Agartha put up a very quick flurry of points.
A 12-0 run gave Agartha a 32-43 lead, and Gloucester seemed lost.
But it was time for the redemption arc:
Cue Cards, who came in for the struggling Sad Songs, scored 10 points off the bench, and while they could only slow down Agartha, they managed to crawl back to only a 7 point deficit; Agartha leading 46-52. That was when it came out that Kronya was sidelined with a minor calf injury. Agartha would have to survive the rest of the game without her.
Gloucester kept the pressure up, and managed to get within 2 with 3 minutes left in the game. The score now 57-59, Reservoir Dougs took a fateful chance:
Tie ball game.
Agartha immediately responded to bring the lead back, 59-61.
With about 45 seconds left, Sad Songs finally had his chance for redemption: An open corner 3.
1-8 from the field, but 1 when it counted. Gloucester lead, 62-61.
But then, Gloucester made a horrific defensive error. While switching up, an Agarthan found an open lane and:
Quark Handknuckle made his only mistake in the game.
62-64, Agartha, 12 seconds left.
In the dying seconds, Knack Three found what looked like an open 3:
His hesitation would spell the end of the game, and Gloucester’s comeback run ended.
Agartha wins, 62-64.
Game 3: Rhodos Coast @ Plegia
Under new ownership, Plegia is trying their best to improve quickly. Unfortunately, the 4th place Rhodos Coast might not be the best tune-up game. Also unfortunately, Brady and Kjelle’s injuries forced a lion’s share of the center duties onto Gerome.
Gerome immediately had trouble containing the interior players of the RC.
And he had trouble on the other end of the court.
But lucky for him, he had help from the rest of his team.
Noire scored 6 points
Owain scored 10
And Yarne scored his first ever points in the Fodlan League.
At the end of the 1st, Plegia held a 3 point lead, 17-20.
The second featured more of the same. Owain was a force defensively:
I wonder what he’d call that move…
Anyways, halfway through the 2nd quarter, Gerome began to take charge.
The Wyvern Rider became a rebound machine.
And he started hitting shots he missed in the 1st.
In fact, the only person who seemed to struggle in this quarter was Lucina, whose only contribution was a steal that led to this:
In fact, Lucina has struggled since Plegia’s buyout, only averaging 2.3 points per game despite starting.
Rhodos Coast managed to hang on for dear life, only down 32-36 at halftime.
When the Raiders came out of the half, they came out strong.
Subsequent 3 pointers immediately tore through the hard-earned lead of Plegia, and put the Travelers on the back foot.
To make matters worse, Severa would miss most of the 3rd after taking a bizarre hit:
Her injury was not significant, but the team rallied around her, and started to grind through Rhodos Coast’s defense.
Cynthia, after struggling in the first half, finally contributed to the team.
And Lucina gave her body to the cause. Plegia would come out of the 3rd quarter back up, 53-58.
Which would lead to a 4th quarter I could only call ‘insane’.
Everyone got a passport to dunk city for a 23-23 quarter that ended in the weirdest, sloppiest way:
But Plegia showed that they could get punched and punch right back in this game, and would win, 76-81.
Game 4: Enbarr @ Nuvelle
I really shouldn’t have recorded this game. With the significant injuries to Missy Pantone, Cordelia Chase, the backup Small Forward, and Regina George’s nagging dislocated finger injury, this is not the same Nuvelle team that destroyed Garreg Mach by nearly 20 points. They had gone 0-3 for the week, struggling to figure out any rotations defensively.
Enbarr, on the other hand, was focused on maintaining a lead over Garreg Mach, and were more than happy to make an example out of the struggling Mariners.
Ferdinand started quickly, and Enbarr built a 12-2 lead.
Blair Waldorf would cut the lead down to 12-9 with some strong physical play on Edelgard, but the Empress responded in kind:
And Ferdinand was more than happy to continue pushing the envelope:
And Blair couldn’t find open players, and while forcing the issue, turned the ball over 3 times:
Enbarr would hold a 29-18 lead at the end of the 1st, and things were not looking good.
However, Nuvelle started to find a groove:
The team was managing the starting lineup of Enbarr rather well, and began cutting into the lead they had built.
However, betrayal was in the air, and one Constance Von Nuvelle had the game of her career:
Caspar also contributed in the quarter:
A immensely high scoring 2nd quarter led to a 63-50 Enbarr lead. Nuvelle was struggling slightly, but their offensive output was still impressive.
In the 3rd quarter, Enbarr attempted to lockdown Nuvelle:
They were partially successful, but they were more successful on offense.
Ferdinand, Constance, and Petra annihilated the tiny rotation of Nuvelle, who was essentially down to 7 workable players.
To her credit, Regina George played admirably:
In spite of her injury, she managed to put up 15 points and 11 rebounds.
However, this quarter went to Enbarr, who scored an absurd 41 points, giving them an insurmountable 104-77 lead going into the final quarter.
The two people that I’ll cover for the final quarter are Viscardus and Torrance Shipman.
Visc had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block:
All in the final quarter of the game.
Shipman, on the other hand, was the only reason Nuvelle managed to make the 4th quarter competitive, when any other team would’ve gone home at that point:
She put together 20 points of her own in the 4th, and came out leading her team in points. Were they garbage points? Maybe; but she didn’t give up when the rest of the team just wanted to go home.
Enbarr would cruise, 134-106.
If you want to change the focus of your practice sessions, let me know! Scores will also be up tomorrow!