Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
PROPEL defeated Validus Enterprise 51-40 to get their campaign off to winning ways in women's Group A of the YOU.C1000 Cup on Monday night.
Rachael Lee topscored for Propel with 17 points while Vanessa Pang added nine in the triumph.
Fizah notched a game-high of 18 points to pace Validus while C. Maglalang contributed nine to a losing cause.
Both teams got off to a slow start at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
The scoreboard read 7-5 in favour of Validus after 10 minutes of play.
Propel scored six unanswered points to begin the second quarter before calling a timeout midway through.
Validus then scored five quick points to close the gap but it was as good as it got for them.
Propel got a few layups to go and Lee nailed a buzzer beating half court shot to put them up 20-12 at the break.
Fizah carried her team and they closed the deficit to three points.
Propel adjusted defensively as Validus settled for outside shots and couldn't get anything to go.
The former took advantage to attack on the break and opened up a 32-21 lead heading into the final frame.
They led by as many as 15 points midway through before Validus went on an 8-0 run the next three minutes.
The game was in reach but Rana Samir ended their rot with a close range basket to make it 47-38.
The comeback was officially over after Propel used up the clock before Karyn Ho knocked down a shot with 17.5 seconds to get them back up by 10 enroute to victory.
