WBBL Championship
London Lions 115 – 60 Oaklands Wolves (26-15, 29-15, 32-18, 28-12)
(Lions – Herbert Harrigan 25, Snytsina 19, Murray 15; Wolves – Gould 19, Smith 16, George 15)

WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 64 – 100 B. Braun Sheffield Hatters (13-29, 26-28, 10-27, 15-16)
(Wildcats – Shaw 24, Stewart 20, Belsham 10; Hatters – Murphy 24, Omer-Jones 17, Niang 16)

In today’s early tip, the London Lions welcomed the Oaklands Wolves to the Copper Box, coming out victorious 115-60.

Holly Winterburn put on a show for the Lions – who had six players in double figures – recording a triple-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in just 27 minutes of action.

Cassidy Gould led the Wolves with 19 points, with Jorjah Smith adding a further 16.

The game started with London coming hot out the gates and rushing to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes, after Taylor Murray ran coast-to-coast on the transition and hit her jump shot.

The hosts managed to get a double-digit lead early on (12-2), when Azania Stewart converted on a tough and-one.

The Lions’ offensive masterclass continued to extend the lead throughout the first period, reaching a high of 17 points (21-4) when Winterburn drove to the basket and dished out to Katsiaryna Snytsina, who converted from downtown.

The final three minutes however saw a mini Oaklands comeback.

First Grace George drove hard to the basket and finished the and-one play (23-10).

That was followed with some excellent ball movement by the visitors on the next play that saw Gould wide open on the three-point line, where she hit nothing but net (24-13).

The Australian guard then scored again (24-15) with 90 seconds left in the first, when she grabbed the offensive rebound after Shanice Beckford-Norton blocked Beth Sarson’s shot, forcing coach Kaltsidou into a timeout.

Following the timeout, the Lions came out with a game plan to pressure the Wolves when they were bringing the ball up and trap them at the half court line in order to force a turnover.

That worked brilliantly for the hosts, resulting in three turnovers in consecutive possessions, with the final score at the end of the first 26-15.

The second period started in the same way as the first ended, with London trying to press and steal the ball.

That led to a quick 8-0 run by the hosts to start the quarter, as well as a game-high lead of 19 points (34-15).

That lead increased to 21 (38-17) with seven minutes left until halftime when Mikiah Herbert Harrigan posted up against her defender and scored with the help of the backboard.

Another Lions run, this time 9-0 at the end of the quarter, saw them extend their lead even further – to 25 points (51-26) – when Leslie Vorpahl finished the transition offence with an easy layup.

The two teams then exchanged a couple of buckets to end the half with the score 55-30.

Despite a tough first half for the Wolves, the visitors weren’t going to give up and started the third quarter with a beautiful move that saw George find Smith wide open for the layup (55-32).

The Lions were ruthless with their defence however and continued to extend their lead, with Winterburn stealing the ball after Oaklands tried a pick-and-roll, Ty Battle threw the full court pass and Snytsina finished off with an and-one (68-34).

The Belarusian guard then moved her play to the 6.75m line, where she hit a three and extended the lead to a game-high 36 points (71-35), with just over five minutes left in the third.

That was quickly countered by Smith who hit her own triple.

Snytsina then converted again from downtown, before Smith returned the favour once more (76-43).

Despite the score, the visitors didn’t stop fighting, exemplified by George hustling for the offensive rebound, which then led to an open layup (82-48).

Just as the third quarter was winding to a close, Murray stole the ball from Gould and finished with a layup to beat the buzzer and give London their highest lead of the game (87-48), heading into the final 10 minutes.

The final period saw the Lions extend their lead even further to its highest margin of 47 points (98-51), when Vorpahl grabbed the offensive board and dished it to an open Herbert Harrigan under the Oaklands basket.

With just over five minutes left in the game, Winterburn grabbed her 10^th rebound – giving her a triple-double, allowing coach Kaltsidou to sub her out and give her some much-needed rest ahead of the BBL Trophy semi-finals next week.

A layup by Stewart then saw the hosts cap off a 9-0 run, bringing their lead to 49 points (100-51).

As the game was winding to a close, London increased their lead even further, getting to a game-high 57 points (115-58), when Vorpahl hit her second triple of the match following an offensive rebound by Battle.

With this dub the Lions move to a record of 11-1 and are just one win away from top spot, while the Wolves drop to 3-11.

In the late tip, the B. Braun Sheffield Hatters travelled down to Nottingham to face off against the Nottingham Wildcats, coming away with a convincing 64-100 win.

Karly Murphy led the way for the Hatters with a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Kayla Shaw’s 24 points on the other hand were not enough for the Wildcats.

The game started with Sheffield on fire as they rushed to a 16-2 lead within the first five minutes, with Georgia Gayle driving down the baseline and dishing it to Murphy for the easy two.

The provider then turned scorer just a minute later when Gayle hit a triple and extended her team’s lead to 15 points (6-21).

Shaw replied on the very next play for Nottingham with her very own three, reducing the deficit to 12 (9-21).

The Hatters played very tough defence and restricted their opponents to tough shots, usually at the end of the shot clock, keeping their scoring to a minimum.

As the first quarter was winding to a close, the visitors got their largest lead of the game so far (9-27), on the back of a 6-0 run, when Kian Omer-Jones attacked on the transition and finished with a layup.

A layup by Valerie Cassidy de Falco briefly reduced the deficit, before a buzzer beater put back by Hannah Shaw gave the Hatters a 16-point lead (13-29) at the end of the first 10 minutes.

The second quarter was a much more balanced affair, with the Wildcats finding easier routes to the basket.

Early on in the period they managed to go on a 6-0 run (21-34), on the back of two steals.

That led first to a layup by Mari Stewart on the transition, before Shaw hit a long-range jumper on the next play.

Sheffield replied with their very own 6-0 run to bring the lead back up to 17 (21-38), when Gayle laid the ball in.

Two made free throws by Lena Niang just a minute later gave the visitors their largest lead of the half (24-44).

A couple of triples by Shaw as the half was winding to a close kept Nottingham in contention (37-52).

Omer-Jones replied with her very own three – on top of her defender – to close out the half with the Hatters ahead 39-57, in a very high scoring first half for the visiting side.

While the second quarter was evenly balanced and the Wildcats were still in the game going into halftime – that all changed in the third, when the Hatters ran riot with a score of 27-10.

The visitors started the second half with an incredible 15-0 run (39-72), where they kept their opponents scoreless for the first five minutes, by playing incredible defence and forcing Nottingham into very difficult shots.

That lead was only extended further (43-79), when Omer-Jones stole the ball off a Wildcats inbound, ran the court and finished for the easy two.

A three-pointer by Gayle then followed, bringing the Sheffield lead up to 37 points (45-82), which was the largest lead in the entire game.

The two sides then exchanged a couple of buckets, entering the final 10 minutes with the score 49-84.

Despite the shock of the third quarter, the Wildcats entered the final period with a point to prove and went on a 7-0 run to begin with.

Shaw hit a three, then she stole the ball and made the layup on the fast break, before Cassidy de Falco hit a jumpshot from the block, reducing the deficit to 28 (56-84).

The Hatters’ pressure didn’t let off despite the large lead in the final minutes, with Niang managing to steal the ball of a Notts inbound and finishing with a layup (58-90).

As the game neared its close, the two sides exchanged buckets, with Sheffield firmly in control and coming out victorious 64-100.

With this win, the Hatters move up to third place in the league with a record of 10-3, while the Wildcats fall to 3-10.