WBBL Championship
Essex Rebels 71-79 Durham Palatinates (18-25, 24-44, 41-61)
(Rebels – Costa 25, Haines 15, Paxton 10; Palatinates – Hendershot 20, Wayne 19, Lowe 17)
WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 95-79 Manchester Met Mystics (24-21, 55-42, 78-64)
(Wildcats – Gyles 33, Pannell 30, Egharevba 11; Mystics – Williams 26, Bailey 16, Jones 15)
WBBL Championship
Sevenoaks Suns 86-26 Oaklands Wolves (22-5, 44-10, 64-18)
(Suns – Monakana 19, Wurtz 17, Fritz 12; Wolves – Harrison 5, Quick 5, Milligan 4)
Form teams Sevenoaks Suns, Nottingham Wildcats and Durham Palatinates all picked up wins on Saturday, seeing movement in the middle of the WBBL Championship table, while Suns remained unbeaten at the summit.
Suns’ great start has been predicated on their defence, and never was that more evident than in their 86-26 defeat of Oaklands Wolves at Surrey Sports Park, a thirteenth straight win led by 19 points from Janice Monakana and a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds from Frankie Wurtz.
This one was never in doubt as they opened the game on a 19-3 surge and held their visitors to no field goals in the opening eight and a half minutes, Wurtz and Julia Koppl scoring six each in that spell before Monakana came from the bench to hit seven quick points.
She had 12 points in under five minutes over the first quarter break, and the lead reached 33-6 with an 11-1 start to the second stanza. By far the best defence in the league, they hold opponents to an average of just 50 points and are the only team to keep their opposition below 30% shooting from the field, holding Wolves to just a 10% field goal percentage at the half in this game.
There was no way back for the visitors, who were kept to single-figure scoring in all four quarters, as Cat Carr controlled the game in the second half, finishing with a near triple-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Elsewhere, sixth-placed Nottingham Wildcats made it three straight wins by beating Manchester Met Mystics 95-79 at Wildcats Arena, closing the gap on their fifth-placed opponents as Jahnae Gyles (33) and Brooklyn Pannell (30) were unstoppable in combining for two-thirds of their points.
After trading baskets in the opening exchanges, Wildcats broke the game open in the second quarter as they opened it 14-6 with a succession of three-pointers, Pannell hitting three and Gyles another one before a Praise Egharevba scored made it 38-27. They poured in 31 second quarter points to lead 55-42 at the break.
That was where the lead peaked and there was no way back for the visitors, as after getting to within single-figures in the fourth quarter another triple from Pannell kept them at arm’s length before the hosts held them scoreless for five minutes to settle the contest, a third defeat in four for Mystics.
Finally, Durham Palatinates have moved up to tenth in the table and closed the gap on the Play-off places by beating Essex Rebels 79-71 on the road, now just one win behind the eighth-placed Rebels having won three of their last four games, while condemning their hosts to a fourth straight defeat.
The teams traded blows in a high-scoring start until an Abby Lowe triple sparked a run of six straight points for Durham, and they led 25-16 when Jessica Wayne hit a three-pointer to cap a 13-4 push.
They never trailed from there, and were up 30-18 when they scored the first five of the second stanza on another Lowe three, going on to win the second 19-6 as their high intensity led to 17 points from turnovers and 18 fast break points by the half.
Palatinates also scored the first five points of the third period with Katie Bennett hitting a triple to see the lead peak at 49-24, and that gave them a cushion they needed to hold off a late fightback from the hosts.
Elle Hendershot finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, with Wayne doing likewise with 19 and 11. Wayne, Lowe and Bennett each finished with four steals as Palatinates scored 24 points from turnovers.