Samantha Roscoe and Jorjah Smith fire Mystics past Archers in the second half.
WBBL Championship
Manchester Mystics 95-63 Cardiff Met Archers (20-23, 40-39, 71-55)
Manchester Mystics recorded their first home win in five games by beating Cardiff Met Archers 95-63 in the WBBL Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Mystics now hold seven straight league wins over Archers, dating back over three years, and have taken this season’s head-to-head with the win, improving their record to 8-4 in fifth place.
Leading scorers – Samantha Roscoe 28, Jorjah Smith 20, Rheanne Bailey 17 (Mystics); Sarah Wagstaff 12, Sarah Jorgensen 9, Robyn Lewis 8 (Archers)
Turning point – Mystics dominated the second half, breaking open a close game immediately after halftime. They scored the first six of the third period before a pair of Jorjah Smith three-pointers sparked a run of 16 unanswered points over a four minute spell, with Smith scoring 12 of those and capping the run at 67-50. An 18-4 opening to the fourth made it Manchester’s biggest win over Cardiff since 2016.
Key stat – Archers struggled with the speed and intensity of Mystics, who scored 23 fast break points as well as 22 points from the 20 turnovers that they forced, as Evelyn Ovner got four steals in the game.
Game hero(es) – It was Smith who fired Mystics to the win in the third quarter, as she came from the bench to score 20 points in 20 minutes; while teammate Samantha Roscoe led the way overall with 28 points, shooting 63% from the field to go with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.