There were first WBBL Championship wins of the new 2019-20 season recorded by Caledonia Pride and Leicester Riders on Saturday afternoon, while other clubs including Nottingham Wildcats remained unbeaten.
Pride made the long trip from Edinburgh to South Wales, but it will be a pleasant trip back to Scotland after they claimed a fine 82-63 road win at Cardiff Met Archers behind a spectacular double-double of 21 points and 17 boards from Stella Fouraki. It was also the first time in franchise history a Pride player had grabbed 10 offensive boards.
Leicester Riders also got up and running as they bounced back from last weekend’s reverse at Sevenoaks to power past Essex Rebels 81-65. It was a big team effort with Jen Ashton, Ella Clark, Kate Oliver and Sara Hinriksdottir all recording double-digit scoring returns.
Durham Palatinates made it two league wins in as many games as they raced past the visiting BA London Lions 83-49. Nic Fong Lyew Quee top-scored with 21 points, while Betsy MacDonald brought the noise from long-range for her 17 points. Palatinates also fielded new singing Cierra Ceazer.
It was a similar story for Manchester Mystics too, with the north-west side imposing a crushing 88-44 loss on Oaklands Wolves on their travels. Georgia Jones stood out with a stellar 26 points.
Nottingham Wildcats are also yet to taste defeat in the league and moved to 2-0 with an impressive 84-70 home success against Pterman FLT Sheffield Hatters. As usual Jasmine Joyner starred after racking up 21 points and 9 boards, while Simone Costa was on fire too and landed a game-high 26 points – plus Chelsey Shumpert handed out 10 assists.
WBBL Championship (All Games)
Durham Palatinates 83-49 BA London Lions (18-18, 44-33, 68-39)
(Palatinates – Fong Lyew Quee 21, Macdonald 17, Hayward 12; Lions – Doran 12, Ivanova 10, Da Silva 8)
Cardiff Met Archers 63-82 Caledonia Pride (16-24, 33-42, 51-61)
(Archers – Jorgensen 16, Bigica 8, Lewis 7; Fouraki 21, Doherty 16, Philips 12, Robb 12)
Leicester Riders 81-65 Essex Rebels (25-20, 44-37, 63-50)
(Riders – Oliver 17, Ashton 16, Clark 14; Rebels – Rendle 17, Kohlhaas 12, Sarson 7, Shaxon 7. Small 7)
Oaklands Wolves 44-88 Manchester Mystics (11-21, 22-42, 28-63)
(Wolves – Schluter 18, Rouse 6, Milligan 5; Mystics – Jones 26, Bailey 19, Roscoe 16)
Nottingham Wildcats 84-70 Peterman FLT Sheffield Hatters (19-20, 41-44, 67-55)
(Wildcats – Costa 26, Joyner 21, Freeman 14; Hatters – Thigpen 16, Thomas 16, Naylor 11)x