WBBL Championship
Caledonia Pride 79-67 Essex Rebels (27-16, 43-36, 63-57)
(Pride – McGarrahan 22, Phillips 19, James 19; Rebels – Costa 17, Kohlhaas 12, Freeman 10)
WBBL Championship
Sheffield Hatters 83-67 Leicester Riders (17-25, 35-41, 55-59)
(Hatters – Gayle 21, Horton 20, Fong Lyew Quee 12; Riders – McAlear 14, Robb 11, Lewis 11)
WBBL Championship
Newcastle Eagles 70-85 Manchester Met Mystics (18-25, 30-42, 47-66)
(Eagles – Mcvicar 19, Cipcic 15, Fernandez Pardo 10; Mystics – Jones 19, Williams 17, Allen 14)
WBBL Championship
Gloucester City Queens 56-85 Oaklands Wolves (11-22, 28-39, 37-64)
(Queens – Bautista 18, Marques, 14, Ball 12; Wolves – Menendez 24, Uprus 19, Harrison 13)
Caledonia Pride continued their excellent form as they maintained their push for the Playoffs in an action packed Sunday of WBBL action. The day’s contests also saw Sheffield Hatters keep the pressure on at the top of the table, and there were big wins for Manchester Met Mystics and Oaklands Wolves.
Pride came into the ballgame as one of the league’s in form sides, with Friday’s win over Newcastle Eagles marking their sixth win on the bounce. They made an excellent start on their way to win number seven against Essex Rebels, with a 14-2 run in the first period setting the tone for another impressive Pride performance.
Sian Phillips was a rebound shy of a double-double in Friday’s win and put in another dominant performance as she hit the mark this time with 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Pride dominated the offensive glass. Caledonia outscored the Rebels 17-8 in offensive rebounds as they made the most of their second chance opportunities to mark up seven wins in a row.
Erin McGarrahan led the Pride with a double-double of her own with 22 points and 10 rebounds, whilst Lucrezia Costa posted 17 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Rebels.
Back down the border Sheffield Hatter kept the pressure on Sevenoaks Suns and London Lions with a big win over Leicester Riders. Leicester started the game the brighter of the two sides and built an eight-point lead after the first period.
In a tightly contested affair, the Riders managed to keep the Hatters at bay during the middle stages, however Sheffield continued to eat into the Riders lead. The Hatters then erupted in the final period, outscoring Leicester 28-8 to go level on points with London at the top of the table.
Georgia Gayle impressed for Sheffield again as she racked up 21 points and nine rebounds as Ebony Horton posted 20 points of her own.
Georgia Jones put in another dominant performance for Manchester Met Mystics as they strengthened their Playoff credentials with a big win over Newcastle Eagles.
Jones had 10 assists by the half as the Mystics managed to build a 12 point lead against the Eagles as they looked to make up for Saturday’s disappointing loss to Playoff rivals Essex Rebels.
The Mystics continued to apply the pressure on the Eagles as they further built their lead in the third period to wrap up a disappointing weekend for Newcastle.
Jones finished the game with 19 points and 18 assists as she played all 40 minutes, whilst Maddy Mcvicar posted 19 points of her own for the Eagles.
In the day’s final game Oaklands Wolves snapped an eight-game losing streak with a dominant performance over Gloucester City Queens. Wolves controlled the game from the off, and a 12-0 capped an exciting first period.
As the Queens started to find their feet on the offensive end before the break, they were held to only nine third quarter points as the Wolves locked the door to end the game as a contest.
Miriam Menendez racked up 24 points to lead the Wolves whilst Beth Sarson was a point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.