Defending WABA Champs Drop Queens In Home Opener, 104-51

Steel City Queens Assistant Coach Charles Cook talks with DC's Head Coach Wes Graves. Photos by Thomas Leturgey

By Thomas Leturgey

In pre-game preparations, Steel City Queens’ Assistant Coach Charles Cook told the team that they needed to avoid turnovers to defeat the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA) champions, the DC Cyclones.

For the first few moments of the Queens’ Home Opener at A Giving Heart Community Center in the Allentown neighborhood within the city of Pittsburgh, the club did just that.

Cook (l) addresses the Queens (including owner and coach Ace Pippens in the center) before Saturday's home opener.

Down to just seven players, owner and head coach Ace Pippen’s team took an immediate lead with Ariana Sanders’ jump shot about 30 seconds into the game. DC’s Octavia Jett-Wilson tied the game and Sasha Orr tied that score after a Queens turnover and three-point play within the confines of the WABA’s “Three D” rule. [ABA and WABA rules dictate if a turnover occurs when a team on offense loses control bringing the ball up court before the cross the center line, an extra point can be added for a subsequent bucket by the team creating the turnover.]

The Queens Sabrina McLin had a flurry of offense over the next few moments and a 3D foul and free throws, the Queens took the 9-8 lead with 6:28 to go in the first quarter.

The Cyclones committed nine fouls in the first quarter, to the Queens’ four.

The Cyclones’ Nequoiah Anderson immediately answered with a jumper and Nia Staples added another. McLin hit a three-pointer, but that’s the closest the Queens would come the rest of the game.

DC’s Head Coach Wes Graves’ team was fast and cohesive going into the game.

Pippens’ team was limited to just seven players on Saturday afternoon.

The Queens were lead in large part by forward Shaquoia McCray, an imposing 5’10” forward who kept Pittsburgh’s team close for the first quarter. McCray finished the game with only three points, but she played a pivotal role in not allowing DC to run away with the contest.

 By the end of the first quarter, the Cyclones had a 30-18 lead.



DC scored first coming into the second quarter, but McLin added a three-pointer. Then, bench player Janay Bottoms aggressively pulled a rebound and injured her shoulder. She fell to the ground, would be helped up and she would not return to the contest. The home team had only six players.

The Queens played competitively for the next half quarter but Jett-Wilson and others got to be too much for the home team. The Cyclones lead 62-28 at the half.



Patterson was hard checked into the gymnasium wall and was shaken up; however, she refused to leave the game.

Destiny Jernigan was on a roll in the third quarter and the Queens never lost intensity. At the end of the third quarter, the Queens were down 79-40.

The Queens were tired in the final 10-minutes and the Cyclones had more talent to spell the starters. McCray and Sanders did their best to keep momentum going as the Cyclones closed in on 100 points.

It took impressive defensive effort for the Queens to keep the Cyclones well over 100-points. Both teams had difficulty with three-pointers and at the free throw line. The Queens committed 8 fouls in the final 10 minutes, compared to the Cyclones’ five.

Jett-Wilson scored the 100th point on a free throw and Mykea Gray hit a 3D jumper to finish off the scoring, 104-51.

Ariana Sanders led the Queens with 20 points. Sabrina McLin contributed 18. Patterson and Kennedy Middleton each had five points and McCray had three.



The Cyclones had 10 players, all who had at least two points. Gray led DC with 16 points.

The Queens were supposed to play Philadelphia’s team in a cross-state rivalry tomorrow in Allentown; however, that team has been removed from the league.

Pippen says the league is hoping to find a team to fill that date before the regular season ends in late August.

 

 

 

 

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