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Game 3: Albinea @ Nuvelle
This is my personal game of the week. Albinea and Nuvelle both sit in 4th in their respective conferences, Albinea running the second best record in December, and Nuvelle coming back from their collapse 2 weeks ago.
Nuvelle is still running a strange rotation, mostly to limit the minutes of Cordelia Chase, whose high ankle sprain is still at a high risk of reinjury.
However, their backup, Torrance Shipman, has proven to be just as good:
If a bit dramatic when she gets fouled.
This game would become a foul-fest, with 12 different players getting 4 or more fouls:
And the 1st quarter was also a desert of scoring, until the final 3 possessions:
The quarter would end with Nuvelle up 15-17.
Albinea would start the 2nd quarter off like a rocket:
A 16-0 run in the first minute of the 2nd quarter would put Albinea up 31-17. But Albinea is not a team used to high-paced offense, and Nuvelle tends to excel in those situations.
And Albinea would have 4 unforced turnovers in the final 5 minutes of the half:
In these conditions, Nuvelle pulled back with a 35 to 24 run, pulling back 11 of the 14 point deficit. It would’ve been a 35-22 point run if not for the heroics of Bemp:
Albinea would lead out of halftime, 55-52.
Albinea would attempt to come out of halftime with more momentum:
3 pointers are good for that, usually.
But Nuvelle kept calm, and started cutting into the small Albinea lead:
Albinea kept pace as well, oftentimes looking more spectacular than the team that specializes in dunking:
But Nuvelle came out of the 3rd up 2, 72-74.
We now get to the last minute of the game: Nuvelle is only up 1, 82-83. Everyone has been out of fouls to give at this point, and we have had a very ugly 4th quarter. Perhaps it was appropriate that Nuvelle’s final scores didn’t come from one of the 6 mean girls, but instead a random unnamed npc:
82-85, Albinea ball.
Bemp continued his heroism with a huge floater:
84-85, 35 seconds left.
With little time left, Albinea looked like they had a chance, but they made a critical mistake switching over in the zone defense:
The same npc would dunk again. 84-87, 15 seconds left.
And this is when I witnessed one of the more bizarre endings to a game. Nuvelle opened up the lane so wide that I thought they were letting Albinea score on purpose. However, Serena Van Der Wootsen, the only mean girl that hasn’t been either injured or amazing, somehow gained 99 speed and acceleration for a second, and:
.
Nuvelle wins, 84-87.