8 Apr 2017: Wildcats 74-52 Crusaders

Ashley Harris posts another double-double to lead Nottingham Wildcats to a commanding win over Barking Abbey Crusaders.

WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 74 (24,39,61) (Harris 24, Prior 18, Mendes 13)
Barking Abbey Crusaders 52 (15,35,46) (Wilkinson 14, Gaskin 12, Whittington 7)

Nottingham Wildcats are a step closer to defending the WBBL Championship title after beating Barking Abbey Crusaders 74-52, led by another double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds from Ashley Harris.

It was a crucial win for the title-chasers, coming into the game on two defeats in their previous three outings, and they set about this one from the opening tip. Jo Ferreira scored five points in an early 9-2 burst that made the score 16-7 on her three-pointer inside the first five minutes.

The lead was double-digits before the first quarter concluded, when Siobhan Prior scored to make it 20-9, adding to her early triple.

Barking’s brightest spell came at the opening of the second stanza, when they came back to tie the game at 28, after Imani Whittington scored five in a 13-4 run and Christina Gaskin, who had 12 first half points, levelled the score.

But Harris, the league’s leading scorer who averages a double-double, halted that momentum with five points in a row to keep Wildcats in front at the half, as she and Prior outdid Gaskin on 13 points each.

And Wildcats scored the first seven of the third period, another five for Harris, to restore a double-figure advantage that would prove to be decisive, as it became a 16-4 start when Melisa Mendes, the third most accurate long-range shooter in the league, added a pair of three-pointers for 55-39.

There was no way back for the visitors, as Nottingham opened the fourth with the first five points and a Prior triple, her fourth of the game, as they held their visitors to just two points in seven minutes.

Wildcats remain unbeaten in six meetings over nearly three years in the WBBL against Barking, and are unbeaten at home in the league so far this season.