The away trip against second place Black Country Bears was an important game for both sides. The Bears, if they won all of their remaining games, had the opportunity of finishing top of the division. Given the Tigers excellent wins over the previous week, the Bears were very aware of the threat posed to their title ambitions. The early season encounter between the sides at Wellsprings turned into a 17 point win for the Bears, and Tigers biggest defeat of the season. The Bears were themselves in a particularly good run of form having beaten the experienced Plymouth side the previous week by over 30 points. That said, the players travelled in high spirits and in a confident and upbeat mood for the game.
Tigers players knew they were in for a difficult game, but that didn't show in the first few minutes as their fast break offence and good movement by Laura Dyke and Hannah Watkins cut swathes through the Bears defence. A judicious time-out by the Bears coach arrested the rot and stated to turn the game around as a 6 point Tigers lead evaporated into an eight point deficit as Bears hit three outside shots (one on the buzzer) to lead 20 – 12 at the quarter.
Worse was to come for the Tigers as the lead was stretched to 16 points after 3 minutes of the second quarter. The introduction of a pressure man defence from Abby Pow, Nicky Hartston and Ella Hewton turned the tide as Bears began to turn the ball over and quick ball movement enabled the Tigers to cut the lead to only 7 points. A couple of Tigers turnovers at the end of the quarter, and yet another outside shot on the buzzer while Laura Dyke lay injured, allowed the Bears to end the half leading 36 – 23.
Things did not get better for the Tigers in the third quarter as more turnovers and foul trouble cost them dear, before a pair of three's from Aimee Brook and Jenny Ridgway, and good work by Hannah Maddocks and Frankie Fair, restored some parity before yet one more three pointer at the buzzer from the Bears stretched their lead to 20 points, leading 52 – 32 at the end of the quarter. The lead stretched even further at the beginning of the final quarter, when with Emily Farthing fouled out the Bears led by 23 points. A final timeout by Steve Green relieved the pressure and started a turnaround in scoring as Tigers pressed in all quarters of the court and ran in 11 unanswered points and allowed them to finish on a high, despite losing the game 61 – 49.
Tigers coach, Steve Green was philosophical in his summing up after the game but was thrilled with the effort that the girls had put in both in training and in all of their matches,
“There are no easy games in this Division and we can look back at the achievements of the past month with some pride. The girls are impressing all with their brand of basketball and the rate of development has been fantastic over the season — we tend to beat ourselves up if we don't meet our expectations, however, sides like the Bears have been around for some time — they finished runners up in Div 2 (North) last year and currently lead our division by 2 clear points. In truth we are very close to being able to beat them on a regular basis — maybe not this year, but certainly next year when we have the capability to be a force to be reckoned with. Despite not all the results going our way, there have been many real positives to take from this season. We are a young and capable side and although we still have much to learn I'm very upbeat about our future prospects at National League level.”