WBBL Trophy Final
Nottingham Wildcats 64-96 London Lions (13-28, 26-56, 49-77)
(Wildcats – Shumpert 27, Costa 11, Egharevba 11; Lions – Breen 25, Leonard 21, Umeh 19)
WBBL Championship
Caledonia Pride 56-63 Durham Palatinates (8-17, 24-30, 34-50)
(Pride – Doherty 17, Ranger 13, Storie 11; Palatinates – Hurtado Barbeito 15, Elderkin 10, Paxton 9)
WBBL Championship
Sevenoaks Suns 64-52 Essex Rebels (13-15, 45-31, 60-43)
(Suns – Carr 29, Clark 18, Da Silva 8; Rebels – Costa 13, Kohlhaas 12, Bieg Salazar 8)
London Lions have won the first piece of WBBL silverware in the club’s history after picking up the WBBL Trophy with an impressive 96-64 defeat of Nottingham Wildcats at the University of Worcester Arena, live on Sky Sports, making up for a defeat in the final of this competition in 2016.
Lions were dominant from tip-to-buzzer after a 13-2 start in which GB international point guard Kennedy Leonard came up with an early steal and assist before knocking down a pair of three-pointers in the opening three minutes.
Leonard finished the game hunting a triple-double with 21 points, nine assists, seven steals and six rebounds to pick up the MVP award.
The lead went through 20 when Lions scored 13 more in a row in the second stanza, holding Nottingham scoreless for more than three minutes to lead 47-24 as Stephanie Umeh scored six off the bench and Cassie Breen added five from the free-throw line. Breen had 12 points in the opening 15 minutes, going 10-10 at the line for a WBBL Trophy Final record.
And after another nine consecutive points, with Umeh adding an ‘and-one’ play for the last score of the half, the lead reached 30 points and a margin that was never threatened in the second half as Breen added another seven early points.
London’s final total on 96 points was a WBBL Trophy Final record, as Breen finished with 25 including 6-6 inside, while Umeh got to 19 and captain Shanice Beckford-Norton scored 13.
Head Coach Mark Clark commented to Sky Sports after the game,
“It’s the first trophy for the organisation, which is always a big one. They are a great group of people, from when they first came in and dealt with everything that everyone is having to deal with.
“To get a piece of silverware for the organisation and the team is such a great feeling.”
Meanwhile, in the WBBL Championship, Sevenoaks Suns closed the gap on the top three, and remained unbeaten in league play at 7-0, after beating third-placed Essex Rebels 64-52.
Cat Carr scored 12 of her game-high 29 points in a second quarter that they dominated, coming back from an early deficit to pour in 32 points and lead 45-31 at the half. Carr and Ta’Yani Clark – who had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds – combined for nearly three-quarters of the team’s points.
Finally, bottom-placed Durham Palatinates picked up a first win of the WBBL Championship season, beating fellow Play-off chasing rivals Caledonia Pride 56-63 on the road.
Durham scored the last seven points of the first half, with Goretti Hurtado Barbeito beating the buzzer, and then she added a pair of three-pointers as they scored the opening 14 points of the third quarter in an amazing 21 point surge that made the score 44-24.
Palatinates needed that cushion, as the hosts came all the way back to tie in the fourth quarter, until Jazmin Gyulai and Kara Elderkin – who finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds – made key scores to give the visitors breathing space and secure the win late on.