(GREENVILLE, SC) The St. Louis Surge concluded its 2015 campaign Sunday afternoon following a 98-86 setback to the Charlotte Invasion in the title game of the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League (WBCBL) National Championships at Carolina Academy.
St. Louis, seeded third in the eight team tourney, reached the trophy game by upsetting second-seeded Auburn, 82-79, Saturday night.
Photo Credit: St. Louis Surge
The Surge’s Sunday championship game against top-seeded, and undefeated, Charlotte, was tied 11-11 five minutes deep. The Invasion possessed a two-point lead, 21-19, at the end of the first quarter.
St. Louis made the game a solo-point affair, 30-29, with 4:27 left in the half but Charlotte collected a 10-0 run the next two minutes, resulting in a 40-29 lead with 2:39 remaining.
By outscoring the Surge 25-18 in the second quarter, Charlotte held a 46-36 advantage at intermission.
The ten-point differential was maintained in the first two minutes of the second half as the teams traded buckets but the Surge used an 11-5 rally to pull within four points, 55-51, with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
Charlotte responded with a 13-3 run and sported a 68-54 edge with under two minutes left in the quarter.
Trailing 74-62 heading into the fourth, the defending WBCBL national champion Surge attempted numerous times to whittle away at the deficit but Charlotte was able to thwart a comeback by keeping the differential at a dozen points throughout the final frame.
Scoring was tied, 24-24, in the fourth quarter and the Invasion won its first WBCBL National Championship with the 98-86 victory and finished the season 15-0.
The Surge concluded its season 11-2 in the WBCBL and 13-2 overall.
For more information on the St. Louis Surge, go to stlsurgebasketball.com.
Story constructed from the Surge’s official Twitter feed.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
