Jen Ashton and Gianna Woods lead Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters into the WBBL Trophy semi-finals.
WBBL Trophy, Pool Stage
Manchester Mystics 70 – 84 Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters (17-20, 29-45, 48-69)
Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters have eased into the WBBL Trophy semi-finals, winning their pool with a comprehensive 84-70 road win at Manchester Mystics.
Hatters, winners of this competition in 2015 and 2016, had legendary Coach Betty Codona back in temporary charge, and have now beaten Mystics in 11 of their 12 WBBL meetings.
Leading scorers – Bailey 20, Chaloner 19, Thomas-Johnson 18 (Mystics); Ashton 19, Naylor 13, Woods 13 (Hatters)
Turning point – Hatters edged the opening quarter, but opened the second stanza with a 12-2 surge to lead 32-19 as Gianna Woods scored five points and Lauren Gregory came from the bench to do the same. They allowed their hosts just one basket in seven minutes in that spell, and settled the game with a 13-5 opening to the third as Woods notched her double-double just seconds into the second half.
Key stat – Hatters turned up the defence in the key spells, and as they took their first half lead there was a stage where nearly half of their points had come from turnovers: 16 of their first 36 points came from the 11 turnovers they forced in the opening 17 minutes. By the end, they had 24 points from 17 turnovers.
Game hero(es) – Jen Ashton led the scoring with 19 points, shooting 70% and adding 10 assists for a double-double. She also had five steals as she set the tone in the intense defensive performance. In support, Gianna Woods had a big double-double of 13 points and 17 rebounds.