Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
PROPEL made it back-to-back wins in women's Group A of the YOU.C1000 Cup after defeating The Rookies 56-41 on Wednesday.
The result ended The Rookies' chances of making the semi-finals after Validus Enterprise came from behind to beat Coco Cafe 63-57 in the first match.
Rachael Lee led the way for Propel with 20 points - starting strong with eight in the opening period.
Vanessa Pang provided 12 - all coming from behind the arc - in the victory.
For The Rookies, Lani D dropped a game high of 23 points while Annikah contributed nine to a losing cause.
Propel led 14-10 after the opening period at the BBA Court in Batu Bersurat.
They built on their advantage and got it to as many as 10 points in the second frame.
Annikah beat the buzzer from point blank range to cut the deficit to 31-25 at halftime.
Having closed the gap to four points, Lee went on a personal 5-0 run.
A three-pointer by Goh Hui Teng made it 41-27 midway through.
The Rookies then scored seven unanswered points before Angelina Wee knocked down a baseline jumper as Propel carried a 41-34 lead into the decisive period.
Both teams couldn't get a bucket before Lani hit one two minutes in.
Propel had back-to-back turnovers before Lee hit a triple to make it 48-39 with six minutes left.
A put back by Lim Guik Ting off her own miss brought Propel's lead back up to double figures.
The Rookies didn't have enough to mount a comeback and both teams unloaded their bench with two minutes to play.
The competition resumes on Friday with Linktech taking on Minimau in women's Group B at 7pm.
Both teams have already secured a berth in the semi-finals.
The second game will see Propel Services & Trading face off against Tech G Enterprise in men's Group C.
