Dee Hayward leads Leicester Riders to a commanding win as they chase top spot.
WBBL Championship
Leicester Riders 90 – 71 Durham Palatinates (23-17, 46-30, 65-50)
Leicester Riders have closed the gap on Sevenoaks Suns at the summit of the WBBL Championship table after beating Durham Palatinates 90-71, in their second highest scoring game of the season so far.
It was the first ever WBBL meeting between the sides, both of whom came in on great form as the Riders now move to 12 straight wins in the league, dating back to October’s defeat to the leaders.
Leading scorers – Hayward 29, McGarrahan 12, Oliver/Smith 11 (Riders); Ceazer 20, Ottewill-Soulsby 19, Jagodzinska 13 (Palatinates)
Turning point – Riders opened the game with an 8-1 run and led by double-digits early on when Kate Oliver and Rebecca Navarro started and ended another 8-0 spell with three-pointers. But the game was settled when the hosts started the second stanza with a 13-0 surge, Dee Hayward scoring 10 of those, for a 36-17 lead as they didn’t allow their visitors a basket for nearly five minutes.
Key stat – Riders showed their depth as nine players got on the scoresheet, eight of those in the first quarter. And their team ball was demonstrated by the fact that they dished out 31 assists, on just 34 field goals and 10 free-throws scored.
Game hero – Dee Hayward dominated the scoring with 29 points, shooting 70% inside, 50% from the three-point line, and a perfect 9/9 from the line.