WBBL Championship

Durham Palatinates 58-117 London Lions (12-25, 22-50, 40-90)
(Palatinates: Ottewill-Soulsby, 19; Hendershot, 13; Brault, 10 — Lions: Herbert Harrigan, 20; Winterburn, 15; Snytsina/Joseph, 13)

 WBBL Championship

Leicester Riders 57-67 Caledonia Gladiators (13-19, 32-40, 42-50)
(Riders: Squires, 14; Brown, 12; Robb, 11 — Gladiators: Adams, 16; Lewis, 10; McGarrachan, 9)

 WBBL Championship

B.Braun Sheffield Hatters 72-68 Essex Rebels (13-18, 36-42, 57-55)
(Hatters: Murphy, 24; Fairley, 12; Niang, 10 — Rebels: Paxton, 17; Swart, 13; Haines, 11)

WBBL Championship

Newcastle Eagles 68-77 Cardiff Met Archers (29-18, 35-34, 46-63)
(Eagles: Lewis, 21; Nolan, 12; Fernandez Pardo/Justinak, 11 — Archers: Yunker, 19; Hatch, 16; Saiki, 15)

WBBL Championship

 Nottingham Wildcats 78-112 Oaklands Wolves (13-26, 30-56, 49-83)
(Wildcats: Nicholas, 31; Ashton, 19; Cassidy De Falco, 9 — Wolves: George, 31; Smith, 24; Sarson, 17)

London Lions are within touching distance of retaining the WBBL Championship following a 117-58 win over Durham Palatinates at the Sports and Wellbeing Park on Saturday afternoon.

Even though the Lions led from tip to buzzer, the Palatinates took advantage of gaps in London’s defence in the first quarter, making the game competitive early on.

But going into the second, the league leaders turned up the intensity, and a 12-0 run ultimately put the game beyond doubt despite Durham’s best efforts.

Kiki Herbert Harrigan led London with 20 points, supported by 15 for Holly Winterburn. Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby led the Palatinates’ attack with 19.

The hosts countered a 6-0 start from the Lions as a triple from Jess Wayne and a lay-up for Inma Bautista Villeverde narrowed the gap to 8-5 as solid team play at both ends helped Durham in the early going.

London regrouped from their shaky spell and went on a 17-0 run, with eight of those coming from Herbert Harrigan to establish control.

However, the Palatinates didn’t go away and hit back towards the end of the first but trailed 25-12.

Still in sight, the home side needed to start brightly in the second, but it never materialised. A further 12-0 run from London hit Durham hard as the visitors’ inside presence and transition prowess was too much.

A basket from Ottewill-Soulsby broke the run, but her side trailed 37-15 with 6:30 of the half left. London looked comfortable at the half and led 50-22.

From there, London hit Durham for 40 points in the third quarter to take a 50-point lead after three leaving the Lions with one hand and four fingers on the WBBL Championship.

The Caledonia Gladiators keep the WBBL Championship title race going thanks to a 67-57 win over the Leicester Riders at Loughborough University.

As the only team to have beaten the Lions this season, Caledonia are still in the title race; however, a loss would have put London needing to win their game against Leicester tomorrow (Sunday) to secure the title.

Thankfully for the Scottish side, they led for the majority of the contest, with the lead peaking at 13 points as they kept the race going for another 24 hours at least.

Tea Adams paced Caledonia with 16 points, with Robyn Lewis adding 10. Oliana Squires led Leicester with 14 points, including two three-pointers.

Showcasing their three-point threat, Caledonia’s first three field goals came from beyond the arc, as two from Lewis and one from Chantelle Handy gave the visitors a 9-6 lead.

And Caledonia maintained that lead through efficient team basketball despite strong inside play from the Riders, but the Gladiators enjoyed a 19-13 lead after one.

An early three from Adams handed Caledonia a 24-15 cushion within the first two minutes of the second, and the nine-point lead soon entered double-digits as Abbie Wolf connected inside.

Despite a swift response from Squires, Handy responded from deep to restore the Gladiators’ advantage to 29-18.

The Riders hit back, getting as close as six points, but at the half, they trailed 40-32.

Leicester began the third quarter brightly as a lay-up from Hannah Robb narrowed the gap to 45-40 midway through, but Caledonia recovered to take a 50-42 into the fourth as they played to keep the title race going.

It was a physical fourth period, sometimes scrappy, but the visitors weathered the storm; a jumper from Tamara Jovancevic stretched the lead to 57-43 with 7:13 remaining – the biggest of the game – and Leicester didn’t get any closer than seven points after that.

B.Braun Sheffield Hatters came from behind to edge the Essex Rebels 72-68 in a thrilling encounter at the All Saints Sports Centre.

In a hard-fought battle ultimately decided in the closing stages, Nicolette Fairley had given the Hatters some breathing space as she split her free throws to give the hosts a 70-67 lead with 17 seconds left.

From the timeout, Essex were given a lifeline when Fairley recklessly fouled Claire Paxton at the top, resulting in three foul shots.

Thankfully for Sheffield, Paxton could only hit one of those from the line, leaving Fairley to redeem herself at the line to seal the win.

Karly Murphy produced another dominating display for the winners as she went for a 24-point, 20-rebound double-double, with Fairley adding 12.

Paxton led Essex with 17.

Both sides traded baskets in a reasonably even first ten minutes before a three from Ashleigh Munns with a minute left to put the Rebels up 15-11. A stunning turnaround from Helen Naylor reduced the gap, but Essex led 18-13 heading into the second.

In the second quarter, Essex began to turn the screws as a three from Andrea Kohlhaas gave Essex their first double-digit of the game at 30-20 with 6:05 remaining in the second.

The Hatters started the quarter poorly as they could not execute offensively; despite patient team play, the final product wasn’t there, and Essex took advantage, with their lead peaking at 12 in the period.

Settling for a six-point lead going into the third quarter, Essex then began to struggle, and slowly, Sheffield kept narrowing the gap early on by attacking the basket and getting to the foul line.

Sune Swart single-handedly kept Essex in the game towards the midway point of the quarter, keeping her side in front. Still, the Hatters’ comeback was completed with 15 seconds left in the third as Murphy connected inside to give the hosts a 57-55 lead going into the fourth.

In a low-scoring start to the final period, Murphy scored under the basket with 5:36 remaining to hand the Hatters a 63-58 cushion as the hosts took advantage of some loose possessions from their counterparts, which resulted in turnovers.

But neither team were able to shake off the other in a closely contested fourth resulting in a thrilling finale.

Cardiff Met Archers moved to seventh place in the WBBL Championship standings with a crucial 77-68 win over the Newcastle Eagles at the Vertu Motors Arena.

With less than two weeks left in the season, this was the first time these teams had met this season, and despite a slow start, the Archers came flying out of the blocks in the second quarter to erase a 14-point deficit.

And once they took their first lead in the early stages of the third quarter, Cardiff could not be caught again.

Abigail Yunker paced Cardiff with 19 points, going 3/6 from three-point land helped by 16 for Shannon Hatch and 15 points and 12 assists for Lauren Saiki.

Antoinette Lewis led the Eagles attack with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds.

With head coach Noelia Cacheiro unavailable, assistant Luke Orwin stepped in for the Eagles and with the former fan, turned coach at the helm, the hosts raced out to an 11-4 advantage with 6:54 left in the first, forcing Stef Collins into a timeout.

The timeout didn’t seem to deter Newcastle as a tough lay-up from Abby Lowe extended her side’s lead to 14 points (22-8) with 3:18 remaining in the first. Cardiff managed to keep the scoreboard ticking, but their counterparts were able to take a 29-18 lead after one.

Cardiff hit back in the second quarter as they kept Newcastle to just six points while getting to within a point to trail 35-34 at the half.

And less than two minutes into the third quarter, the Archers took their first lead of the game thanks to a jumper from Hatch, which started a 7-0 run as the visitors took a 41-35 lead before Lewis ended the spurt with a score inside.

The Archers, though, were in rhythm and offensively were too hot for the Eagles to handle. A beautiful, around-the-back pass from Saiki found Hatch inside to put Cardiff in front 51-40.

Newcastle couldn’t contain the transition game and intelligent team play, led by Saiki in the third and heading into the fourth; the visitors led 63-46.

Fortunately for the Archers, they maintained a solid enough lead in the fourth to move up in the table ahead of their next clash with the Eagles next Saturday (22 April).

In a battle at the bottom of the WBBL Championship, Oaklands Wolves came out with a 112-78 win over the Nottingham Wildcats at the Wildcats Arena.

Grace George exploded for 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves, helped by 24 for Jorjah Smith and 17 for Beth Sarson.

Kennedy Nicholas led the Wildcats with 31 points and 11 rebounds.

With a combined seven wins from 39 games played in the league this season, both teams have nothing but pride to play for, and it was the Wolves who raced out to an early 26-13 lead after one and never relinquished their advantage from there.

From the start, Oaklands ran out to an 11-2 run capped by a jumper by Grace George as Nottingham struggled from the field, going just 1/5 in the first three minutes.

A three from Beth Sarson gave the Wolves their first double-digit lead of the game as she connected on a triple, and as the half wore on, the visitors became larger.

George attacked the basket with 4:07 left in the second to give her side a comfortable 45-26 cushion in a one-sided first two quarters where Oaklands shot a solid 53% compared to 37% from the Wildcats, resulting in the Wolves leading 56-30.

For Nottingham, who will miss the post-season for the first time in seven seasons, there would be no comeback as the visitors’ lead peaked at 41 points as they recorded a comfortable win.

There are five more WBBL games coming tomorrow (Sunday). To see your team in action, head to our YouTube channel to like, share and subscribe.