Friday Fever

There are four WBBL Trophy match-ups to look forward to this weekend and one in particular is a real standout game between the title chasing Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters and Manchester Mystics.

With an array of Great Britain national team players on show, it promises to be another intense battle as Hatters look to avenge their narrow loss in Manchester the last time the teams met.

That was a thrilling encounter and GB wing Helen Naylor is looking forward to another epic clash between the WBBL heavyweights.

She said: “I expect a battle this weekend as Manchester are a really tough, well coached team and they play so well together as a unit.

“They have a deep bench, lots of offensive weapons, and many people who can shoot the three.

“We didn’t defend their perimeter players and shooters well enough the last time we met and we let them get too many easy shots. That is something we will be looking to limit more this time.

“It was a close game the last time we met and we were extremely disappointed with ourselves and our lack of focus in the last two minutes, which resulted in us losing a lead and suffering a one-point loss on the buzzer.

“I don’t think we played as well as we can for the full 40 minutes of that game and Manchester punished our mistakes,” continued Naylor.

“We have had some good team performances over the last few weeks and I think when we play together as a team and with energy, we can be successful.

“Ultimately to get the result we want this weekend, we will need to play tough team defence and be smart, and stay focused on the things ‘Ness’ [Vanessa Ellis] asks us to do, to get stops and get some momentum going on the offensive end.”

As well as this titanic duel, there are two other games on Saturday. Nottingham Wildcats will be favourites to ease past Caledonia Pride, w hileLeicester Riders will be wary of the improvements being made by the visiting Oaklands Wolves.

Finally, Sevenoaks Suns host Cardiff Met Archer’s in Sunday’s only WBBL game – one which will take place at Surrey Sports Park at the earlier time of 11am.