Onayssa Sbahi and Janice Monakana lead Nottingham Wildcats into the Play-off semi-finals.
WBBL Play-offs, Quarter-Final
Nottingham Wildcats 76 – 69 Manchester Mystics (19-25, 37-37, 56-52)
Nottingham Wildcats – runners-up in each of the last three WBBL Play-off campaigns – have made the semi-finals once more after beating Manchester Mystics 76-69 at the Wildcats Arena.
Fourth-placed Nottingham have now won 11 straight games at home since November, and hold five straight wins over fifth-placed Mystics, after what was a fittingly close game.
Leading scorers – Sbahi 17, Monakana 16, Prior 14 (Wildcats); Roscoe 14, Bailey 13, Jones 11 (Mystics)
Turning point – Wildcats trailed by 14 in the first half, but on the run up to halftime they scored 16 points in a row as Janice Monakana got 10 and Onayssa Sbahi hit a pair of three-pointers, holding their visitors scoreless for six minutes to go in level at the half. They got ahead for good in the third period when a 10-2 run broke the tie, capped by an Sbahi ‘and-one’ for 56-48.
Key stat – Wildcats played some stifling defence to keep their visitors in the sixties, forcing 19 turnovers and scoring 15 points from those, compared to just six points from turnovers for Mystics.
Game hero(es) – Four Wildcats scored in double-figures, but Sbahi and Monakana were the heroes. The former scored 17 points and handed out six assists, while the latter hit 16 points on 66% shooting. Both were pivotal at decisive times.