WBBL Championship
Sevenoaks Suns 67-60 Leicester Riders (15-13, 31-30, 53-41)
(Suns: Busch/Bradshaw, 18; Monakana, 15; Hodges, 8 — Riders: Squires, 15; Johnston, 11; Fee, 9)
WBBL Championship
Durham Palatinates 73-51 Manchester Met Mystics (17-10, 26-23, 50-30)
(Palatinates: Ottewill-Soulsby, 23; Brault, 18; Hendershot, 12 – Mystics: Niehues, 13; Keltos, 12; Abbott, 10)
WBBL Championship
Nottingham Wildcats 36-116 London Lions (5-25, 21-54, 29-86)
(Wildcats: Nicholas, 14; Cook, 8; Charity, 7 — Lions: Winterburn/ Beckford-Norton, 25; Herbert Harrigan, 17; Battle, 14)
Sevenoaks Suns dealt a significant blow to Leicester Riders’ WBBL Championship title dreams with a 67-60 win at Surrey Sports Park on Easter Monday.
A blow for the Riders, with four games remaining but joy for Sevenoaks, who move into the top four with this win and a possible home tie in the playoffs, should they stay there.
Renee Busch and Araion Bradshaw had 18 points to lead the Suns, with the latter pulling down nine rebounds.
“Very happy, we’ve been getting better the last few weeks, and beating a good Leicester team that we struggled against last time, and we played a lot better today, I’m pleased,” Suns coach Len Busch said afterwards.
Oliana Squires led Leicester with 15 points.
It was a difficult start for both sides, as both defences stood tall, not allowing anything inside in a low-scoring first quarter.
McKenzie Johnston scored one of the few uncontested lay-ups, cutting back door, followed by a challenging three-point play from Hannah Robb to give the Riders a 10-6 lead with more than four minutes to play.
The Suns chipped away, taking advantage of Leicester’s shooting woes, as they only managed one field goal in the final five minutes and as a result, Sevenoaks took a 15-13 advantage.
The pace of the game was methodical, with both defences continuing their rule over offence, but the Suns were able to hold on to the lead until a big three-point play from Johnston handed Leicester a 25-24 with 3:10 remaining.
After missing her first six shots, birthday girl Ashley Arlen connected from deep to put Leicester in front briefly, but Sevenoaks recovered to take a one-point lead at the half.
From there, the Suns raced out to a 12-0 run to start the third, highlighted by two baskets in transition by Janice Monakana to give the hosts a 41-30 lead with 6:25 remaining, forcing the Riders into a timeout.
It took five minutes, but the Riders got off the mark, albeit from the foul line. However, their field goal troubles continued as a three from Araion Bradshaw grew the Suns’ stranglehold to 48-32 with 3:30 left.
Nearly eight minutes into the third and Leicester drained their first field goal, a corner three from Jess Eadsforth-Yates, but the hosts were in control going into the final period, capped by a three on the buzzer by Renee Busch to lead 53-41.
Speaking on that third-quarter run, coach Busch said: “There don’t think there was any magic at all; we were pretty happy with where we were; we weren’t experiencing any problems.
“We just happened to have a burst of energy, got some easy buckets and managed to hang on.”
Despite two three-pointers to close the gap, Leicester were left frustrated as Sevenoaks continued making tough shots, with Busch making a tough free-throw line jumper to keep the Suns shining bright to start the fourth.
It was enough for the Suns, as they boosted their hopes for a top-four finish while helping league-leading London Lions with a win.
Durham Palatinates moved into the WBBL Championship playoff places as they defeated Manchester Met Mystics 73-51 at the Sports and Wellbeing Park.
A physical first half was blown open in the third as an 18-3 run from the Palatinates lifted them to a 50-30 lead heading into the fourth, condemning the Mystics to defeat.
Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby shot 55% from the field to lead Durham with 23 points, with Eliza Brault adding 18, hitting four three-pointers as Durham went into eighth.
Abby Niehues went for an incredible 22 rebounds and 13 points to lead Manchester.
Durham kept their noses in front early in a scrappy start, thanks mainly to defence and forcing the Mystics into difficult shots. However, the hosts were not pulling clear as they had hoped, missing open looks and turning the ball over.
Towards the end of the quarter, though, the Palatinates found their groove at the offensive end, as Jess Wayne inspired an 8-0 run to give her side a 17-10 cushion after one.
Manchester started the second by attacking Durham and getting to the foul line, led by four quick points by Shaelynne Sanchez Czerniecki; she helped the Mystics reduce the deficit to 20-16 with less than three minutes played.
And simply by wearing their counterparts down, the visitors were able to tie the game at 21-21 with 4:07 left in the half, thanks to a three-pointer from Sam Keltos.
However, Durham recovered, gaining back control towards the end of the second, mainly from the foul line, to take a 26-23 lead at the break.
From the start of the third, the hosts started to pull away, as a 9-0 burst transformed a slender three-point lead into a 14-point cushion before Keltos halted the spell with a three.
Durham blitzed the Mystics with a second 9-0 run towards the end of the quarter, capped by a triple from Brault as her side took a 50-30 lead after three.
From there, the Mystics never got closer than 14 points (50-36) as Durham snuck into the post-season seeds with two weeks of the regular season left.
London Lions continued their march towards a second straight WBBL Championship as they beat Nottingham Wildcats 116-36 at the Wildcats Arena.
A great end to the Bank Holiday Weekend for the Lions as they close in on back-to-back titles following Leicester’s slip up and did so in dominating fashion as the Wildcats were only able to score ten points or more in a quarter once.
Holly Winterburn and Shanice Beckford-Norton both had 25 points to lead the winners.
Kennedy Nicholas had an impressive 14 points and 20 rebounds for Nottingham.
A 16-0 start from the Lions set the tone as they were in no mood to squander the chance of pulling even further clear in the Championship standing.
Macy Cook got Wildcats off the mark inside but London’s response was immediate and brutal as they combined slick ball movement with perfect execution to take a 25-5 lead after one.
Nottingham fared better in the second as they found their range from deep as Kennedy Nicholas and Cook connected, but London kept pushing the ball and finding the right options as Taylor Murray found a way inside to score and extended her side’s lead to 39-15 with 4:02 to play.
Going into the third and already up 54-21, London upped into an even higher gear, leaving Nottingham for dust. A 17-0 run stretched the visitors’ lead to 50 points as they secured the road win.
One game left tomorrow as Cardiff Met Archers look to boost their post-season hopes at home at Essex Rebels at 4:15pm. Purchase your tickets here.
Photo courtesy of James Piper, used with permission.