WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 58-88 Leicester Riders (18-24, 28-45, 42-63)
(Archers – Hatch 20, Jorgensen 12, Marchizotti 8; Riders – Stone 21, Mcalear-Fanus 15, Hamilton 14)
WBBL Championship
Essex Rebels 68-83 Caledonia Pride (14-20, 33-48, 53-67)
(Rebels – Kohlhaas 17, Costa 15, Freeman 13; Pride – James 25, Ranger 19, Edwards 11)
WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 85-77 Durham Palatinates (20-19, 43-33, 67-50)
(Wildcats – Pannell 35, Gyles 19, Egharevba 7; Palatinates – Elderkin 15, Wayne 15, Lowe 13)
WBBL Championship
Sheffield Hatters 99-64 Manchester Met Mystics (17-25, 43-38, 70-46)
(Hatters – Naylor 18, Gayle 17, Shaw 14; Mystics – Williams 20, Bailey 16, Jones 11)
There’s important movement in the middle of the WBBL Championship table after another busy Saturday, with all of the teams between third and ninth in a congested mid-table featuring in action.
Leicester Riders have confirmed a top four finish with an 88-58 road win at Cardiff Met Archers, making it three wins in four games for a 14-8 record. With other results today, neither Essex Rebels – over whom they have the head-to-head – nor Manchester Met Mystics can now catch them.
Riders broke open a two-shot game with nine unanswered points over the first quarter break, Brooklynn Mcalear-Fanus scoring the last five of those and giving the visitors a double-digit lead at 31-18, and they were up 45-28 by the break as they held Archers to just 10 second stanza points.
Archers weren’t allowed back into contention thereafter, the lead peaking at 76-46 on an Anna Lappenkuper score after Makana Stone scored the first five points of a 7-0 start to the fourth quarter.
Stone finished with a game-high 21 points, while Hannah Robb had an impressive statline of seven points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals.
Above them, confirmed in a top three finish, Sheffield Hatters broke a run of consecutive defeats with a 99-64 home win over sixth-placed Manchester Met Mystics, thus condemning their Roses Derby rivals to a third straight defeat themselves and confirming that they can no longer finish above Leicester.
Despite their form, a strong start saw Mystics take a double-figure lead before the end of the first period as Erika Williams hit back-to-back three-pointers; but it didn’t last long as the hosts bounced back to dominate the second.
Georgia Gayle opened it with a three-pointer and Ebony Horton made an ‘and-one’ play in an 8-2 opening, before Helen Naylor hit a three-pointer that sparked a run of seven straight points as Hatters led 43-36 just before the break.
That was followed by a 27-8 third quarter that settled the game, as the lead reached 70-46 when they scored the final 12 points of the period, Naylor adding six more as she scored 11 in the quarter before Gayle hit another triple; and the lead was through thirty in the fourth as she connected from long-range twice more.
All five Sheffield starters scored in double-figures, led by a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds from Naylor, while Gayle went 4-6 (66%) from beyond the arc for her 17 points.
Meanwhile, Caledonia Pride made it nine wins in ten games with an 83-68 road win at Essex Rebels, thereby jumping above both Rebels and Mystics into fifth place in the table, as Laken James continued her fine form by pouring in 25 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Pride led from the first minute and throughout as James opened their scoring with a three-pointer in what became a 12-4 start, with Maud Ranger adding another early triple.
When James started the second quarter with another three, that ignited a 16-6 spell as the lead swelled to 36-20 when she single-handedly scored eight more.
It peaked at 60-38 when Ranger nailed another trey and then scored consecutively on the inside, and there was no way back for the hosts as Erin McGarrahan twice responded when they threatened to get within single-figures.
Ranger added 19 points and nine boards to James’ haul, while Sian Phillips had a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards, including five at the offensive end as Pride scored 20 second chance points.
Finally, in the battle for the last Play-off spot, Nottingham Wildcats hosted Durham Palatinates with the teams tied at 9-12 for the eighth and final post-season berth, and Wildcats prevailed 85-77 to put daylight between the two.
The league’s leading scorer, Brooklyn Pannell, poured in a massive 35 points on 12-18 (66%) shooting and 9-10 (90%) at the free-throw line.
Pannell started as she meant to go on, scoring 11 first quarter points in tight exchanges between the teams, before Kennedy Nicholas finished the period with an ‘and-one’ play to put Wildcats in front as there were seven early lead changes.
The teams continued to trade until the hosts made the decisive run just before the half, breaking a tie with a 12-2 surge in just two minutes as Pannell added six more points to put them up 43-33 at the break.
And the visitors were not allowed back within single-figures as it was Pannell who settled the game, scoring all of the points in another 8-2 burst midway through the third, seeing the lead reach 58-43 as she went through 30 points with just 25 minutes played.
Five different players scored in an 11-0 fourth quarter run as the lead peaked at 78-55, giving Wildcats enough to see off a late revival as Jahnae Gyles hit a dagger three when Durham got back to within two shots, making it consecutive wins for Nottingham.