7 Jan 2017: Pride 49-63 Wildcats

Siobhan Prior makes her 100th career steal as Wildcats score nearly half of their points from turnovers.

WBBL Championship
Caledonia Pride 49 (10,25,37) (Peacock 15, Oakes 14, Bastian 9)
Nottingham Wildcats 63 (19,41,53) (Harris 19, Prior 13, Shaw 12)

Nottingham Wildcats remain atop the WBBL Championship after a hard-fought 63-49 road win at Caledonia Pride, with the league’s leading scorer Ashley Harris posting 19 points and nine rebounds.

Wildcats did most of the damage early in the game, starting both of the first two quarters quickly. They led 11-3 after Harris hit six early points, and were rampant to start the second quarter with a 17-5 push as Hannah Shaw scored six of her 12 points. The lead reached 41-19 in a first half in which Siobhan Prior reached 100 career steals – she had nine points and five steals by half time, and Wildcats would finish with 46% of their points coming from turnovers.

But the leaders wouldn’t have it all their own way as Pride sought their first WBBL win in front of a near sell-out crowd at the Oriam Arena. The hosts scored the last six of the first half, all from the free-throw line, and bettered Wildcats for much of the third period as Hannah Peacock scored 10 points in what became an 18-8 run over the break.

And they got back to within 10 at the start of the fourth after a 10-4 start in which Tricia Oakes scored four. But Melisa Mendes and Lauren Herbert scored consecutively for the visitors, and they then turned to their defence to the settle game by holding their hosts scoreless for five minutes towards the end.

Nottingham have now won seven on the spin in all competitions, and their next outing is the WBBL Cup Final at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham next Sunday.