WBBL Championship
Durham Palatinates 47-87 London Lions (11-27, 19-50, 34-62)
(Palatinates – Bennett 16, Wood 8, Hendershot 7; Lions – Breen 24, Leedham-Warner 18, Umeh 13)
WBBL Championship
Manchester Met Mystics 60-53 Leicester Riders (14-11, 35-24, 46-39)
(Mystics – Thomas-Johnson 21, Williams 20, Jones 11; Riders – Stone 18, Mcalear 16, Robb 10)
There’s been movement in the top four of the WBBL Championship on Saturday as London Lions remained unbeaten and took a share of top spot, while Manchester Met Mystics beat Leicester Riders to join them in a share of fourth.
Lions are now 9-0 after a big 87-47 road win at Durham Palatinates as Cassie Breen hit six three-pointers on her way to a game-high 24, passing a milestone of a career 500 WBBL Championship points in the process.
The visitors dominated from the early stages as they hit 17 unanswered points midway through the first quarter to lead 27-8 as Kennedy Leonard and Jo Leedham-Warner each scored five early points and Stephanie Umeh came from the bench to score consecutively.
Breen also emerged from the bench to hit a three-pointer late in the first, and then hit back-to-back triples early in the second stanza to send the lead through 20, before yet another sparked 14 unanswered points capped by Umeh’s ‘and-one’ play to make the score 52-17.
Palatinates fought back to win the third quarter, but could get no closer in the face of a three-point barrage from Breen and Leedham-Warner – who finished with 18 points – in the fourth period.
Lions join Sevenokas Suns at the summit of the table, with Sheffield Hatters also unbeaten two games behind at 7-0 as Lions travel to Hatters next on Saturday 18th December.
Meanwhile, Mystics made it five wins in their last six home games as they beat Leicester 60-53, with Lauren Thomas-Johnson scoring 14 of her game-high 21 points in the second half.
Mystics looked to be in control before the break as Erika Williams started and ended a 9-0 first quarter run with three-pointers, before hitting another pair of triples in an 8-0 start to the second stanza for a 22-11 lead – Williams had 17 points on 5-5 from beyond the arc in the first half.
But Riders came back to tie the game with a 15-4 start to the third, and despite the efforts of Thomas-Johnson in response, they led by one heading into the final five minutes.
Thomas-Johnson then made the telling contribution, responding with five points in a row before Georgia Jones capped a 9-0 tear, again holding their visitors scoreless for three minutes, in what became a 12-4 finish to the game.
Williams finished on 20 points with nine rebounds, while Dominique Allen was a big defensive presence with six points, nine rebounds and five steals.