WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 61-85 Sevenoaks Suns (13-18, 27-41, 39-64)
(Archers – Saiki 19, Marchizotti 11, Jorgensen 7; Suns – Carr 24, Wurtz 18, Monakana 15)
WBBL Championship
Manchester Met Mystics 77-80 Essex Rebels (19-24, 38-37, 52-58)
(Mystics – Bailey 18, Jones 16, Williams 15; Rebels – Costa 14, Kohlhaas 13, Bieg Salazar 11)
WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 61-91 London Lions (8-21, 26-44, 48-60)
(Wildcats – Gyles 17, Pannell 13, Edmonds 11; Lions – Leedham-Warner 20, Winterburn 18, Leonard 13)
WBBL Championship
Oaklands Wolves 52-61 Durham Palatinates (19-4, 30-23, 45-44)
(Wolves – Uprus 14, Harrison 10, Milligan 7; Palatinates – Lowe 20, Bennett 13, Hendershot 8)
There were four away wins in the WBBL Championship on Saturday, with Essex Rebels and Durham Palatinates gaining significant ground in the table, while the top two, London Lions and Sevenoaks Suns, both scored comfortable victories.
Rebels used a big second half and came through an exciting finish at the National Basketball Performance Centre to beat Manchester Met Mystics 80-77, joining their hosts on an 8-8 record and jumping from seventh to a share of fifth in the WBBL Championship.
Mystics hit eight first half three-pointers and led for much of the opening twenty minutes, albeit the sides were rarely separated by more than two shots until Vanessa Akra scored consecutively in a 9-0 burst early in the third quarter to put Mystics up 47-39.
Rebels responded immediately, hitting a massive 19-3 surge from that point as Tia Freeman played hard and set the tone by hitting 6-6 from the free-throw line in that spell, Rebels leading 58-50 when Carla Bieg Salazar hit a three-pointer.
Mystics repeatedly tried to get back into the game in the fourth, but Rebels found an answer each time and in particular when Bieg Salazar made a decisive ‘and-one’ play with two minutes remaining, giving Rebels a cushion that they would need as Mystics scored nine points in the last 30 seconds for a nervy ending.
For the victors, Lucrezia Costa finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Bieg Salazar had an impactful 11 points in under 20 minutes off the bench including a number of key scores.
In the chase for the Play-offs, Durham Palatinates moved up to ninth and within one win of the Play-off spots, leap-frogging North East rivals Newcastle Eagles, as a fourth quarter comeback saw them win 61-52 at Oaklands Wolves for a third straight victory.
This one didn’t start with the form book as Durham found themselves in an early hole when Wolves, now winless in nine games, started 13-2 in the opening six minutes as they held Palatinates to just four first quarter points and 12% shooting, while coughing up nine turnovers.
Durham steadied the ship in the second, opening it on an 11-3 run and getting back to 22-15 on Goretti Hurtado Barbeito’s three-pointer, as a sign of what was to come as they temporarily took the lead with six straight points towards the end of the third.
The decisive run came late in the day, as they hit an 11-1 tear with seven minutes remaining, initially taking the lead on a score from captain Katie Bennett before Abby Lowe hit back-to-back three-pointers to make the it 57-48 with two minutes to play, settling the tie.
Lowe finished with a game-high 20 points, Bennett hit 9-9 at the line for 13, while Elle Hendershot grabbed a monstrous 17 rebounds to go with her eight points.
At the summit, London Lions maintained their perfect record at 16-0, and extended their WBBL record winning run to 27 games in all competitions, with a 91-61 defeat of Nottingham Wildcats in the East Midlands.
After neither side scored in the opening two minutes, Lions came to life with a 16-3 run over the next five minutes, with Holly Winterburn scoring six and Jo Leedham-Warner five, and they never trailed in the game.
Wildcats fought back in the second, until Lions finished the half 9-2 inside the last two minutes, a run started and ended by Winterburn as her triple made it 44-26 at the break, the Great Britain international finishing the game on 18 points.
The hosts did get back to within single-figures in the second half, only for Cassie Breen and Leedham-Warner to respond with dagger three-pointers on both occasions, before the latter opened the fourth quarter with consecutive scores to end any hopes of a comeback as Lions poured in 31 points in the final ten minutes.
Leedham-Warner finished with a sensational statline of 20 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals and five assists to lead the Lions.
Finally, Sevenoaks Suns bounced back from their first league defeat of the season, against the Lions, with a big 85-61 road win at Cardiff Met Archers as Cat Carr put up 24 points with six rebounds and six assists.
After a tight opening quarter, Suns hit a 15-1 push early in the second stanza, Carr scoring eight of her 17 first half points in that burst, as the league’s best defence didn’t allow their hosts a field goal for six and a half minutes, making the score 37-18.
The game was settled when they opened the third period 14-3, Julia Koppl scoring five as the lead reached 55-30, and there was no way back for Archers as American guard Frankie Wurtz supported Carr with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.