Every player in the weekly All-Star 5 achieved a double-double in the latest round of WBBL Championship action, led by stars from Nottingham Wildcats and Durham Palatinates after both sides picked up their first league wins of the campaign, and they are three of four debut appearances for this season alongside reigning Molten WBBL Player of the Season Cat Car, who features for a third week in a row.
Kennedy Nicholas – Nottingham Wildcats
Nottingham’s 6’3″ American forward put in an amazing twenty-twenty performance as the Wildcats came through overtime to get off the mark in league play, beating Oaklands Wolves on Saturday. She scored 20 points and grabbed a monstrous 25 rebounds, with seven of the latter coming in the five-minute extra period; and prior to that she had scored eight points in the fourth quarter as Wildcats mounted a comeback on the road to force overtime from as many as 11 points down.
Elle Hendershot – Durham Palatinates
Another American forward who made a huge impact in her side getting their first win of the Championship campaign – at the fourth time of asking in Durham’s case – was Elle Hendershot, who joined this season following professional stints in Germany and Portugal. Palatinates won big on the road at Caledonia Pride with her big double-double of 19 points and 18 rebounds, along with four assists, as she posed a consistent threat throughout the game including nine points and nine boards in a second half that Durham dominated 49-19.
Goretti Hurtado Barbeito – Durham Palatinates
Another double-double for Durham came from their leading scorer Goretti Hurtado Barbeito, as she finished this game pacing all scorers with 24 points, including nine straight in a 15-0 fourth quarter surge that left no way back for the hosts, while she also finished with 10 rebounds and five assists. The game was won at the defensive end, with Palatinates holding their hosts scoreless for a spell of five minutes in the third period and six minutes in the fourth, and Hurtado Barbeito set the tone there including seven steals and a block in the game as they scored a significant 23 points from those turnovers forced.
Dominique Allen – Manchester Met Mystics
Mystics picked up their second win of the league campaign on Sunday, condemning Gloucester City Queens to a first defeat and resulting in a first All-Star 5 appearance of the season for 6’4″ Great Britain international and London Olympian forward Dominique Allen. Her double-double consisted of 16 points on 8-13 (61%) shooting and a huge 17 rebounds, while she also blocked three shots. It was a tightly contested game of defensive dominance through the middle two quarters, Mystics holding their hosts to just 23 points in 20 minutes as all of Allen’s blocks came in the third, before she added six points in a fourth quarter where they made their key 14-4 run that she started and ended to give them a double-digit lead.
Cat Carr – Sevenoaks Suns
Suns are now just one of three sides that remain unbeaten in the WBBL Championship after a dominant home win over Newcastle Eagles in which Carr once more came close to a triple-double, resulting in her gaining weekly honours for the third week in a row. She finished on 16 points, including 8-10 (80%) interior shooting, while dragging in 11 rebounds and handing out eight assists. She set the tone with two early steals and three first quarter assists, while not scoring, before she then scored six straight in the 10-0 second stanza burst that sent the lead through double-digits for good.
Off the bench: Melita Emanuel-Carr (Gloucester City Queens), Azania Stewart (London Lions), Maura Fitzpatrick (Gloucester City Queens), Ashleigh Munns (Essex Rebels), Sian Phillips (Caledonia Pride), Shannon Hatch (Cardiff Met Archers), Shaunay Edmonds (Nottingham Wildcats)