7 Jan 2017: Archers 69-95 Hatters

Stephanie Gandy leads the Hatters once more as they make it seven WBBL wins in a row over Archers.

WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 69 (15,38,52) (Fritz 24, Wagstaff 14, Stradling 13)
Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters 95 (19,47,74) (Gandy 26, Naylor 20, Winborne 18)

Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters notched their joint-highest points tally of the season with a comprehensive 95-69 road win at Cardiff Met Archers on Saturday afternoon. Stephanie Gandy (26) and Helen Naylor (20) combined for close to half of their team’s points, Gandy leading all scorers in a WBBL Championship game for the fifth time this season.

After a tight start, Gandy scored consecutively to cap a run of nine unanswered points in the first quarter, putting Hatters up by double-digits early on, at 17-7. And they still led 26-18 after a 7-3 opening to the second stanza as Brittany Winborne scored three.

But Archers – who have never beaten Hatters in the WBBL, now seven meetings – sensationally came back to tie the game at 34 behind Emily Stradling and Sarah Wagstaff, who had 25 points between them by halfway.

However, Hatters provided a clue as to what would come when they closed out the half with a 9-2 surge as Gandy got into double-figures on 13 by the break.

And she, and the Hatters, carried that momentum into a dominant second half. The lead was back into double-figures when Gandy scored consecutively to make it 55-42 early in the third period, and she added eight as Sheffield poured in 27 points in the quarter to lead 74-52 with just ten minutes to play.

There was no way back for the improving Archers, suffering their first back-to-back defeats since the start of November; while Hatters made it a fourth win in five to strengthen their top four spot.