WBBL Championship
Manchester Met Mystics 40-98 London Lions (21-22, 28-50, 32-75)
(Mystics: Keltos, 15; Niehues, 10; Abbott, 6 – Lions: Winterburn, 17; Beckford-Norton, 15; Joseph, 13)
Cardiff Met Archers 67-75 Newcastle Eagles (15-23, 35-43, 50-57)
(Archers: Hatch, 21; Bunyan/Habling/Saiki/Yunker, 9; Shanahan, 6 – Eagles: Justinak/Lewis, 20; Nolan, 14; Fernandez Pardo, 11)
B. Braun Sheffield Hatters 63-81 Leicester Riders (19-17, 37-42, 45-56)
(Hatters: Murphy, 18; Naylor, 11; Fairley/Omer-Jones, 7 – Riders: Squires, 23; Johnston, 13; Arlen, 12)
Oaklands Wolves 78-88 Durham Palatinates (18-30, 38-50, 63-67)
(Wolves: Sarson/Smith, 16; George, 15; Porter, 10 – Palatinates: Wayne, 20; Hendershot, 19; Brault, 16)
The penultimate game-day in the WBBL regular season saw the Leicester Riders pull off a big win over the B Braun Sheffield Hatters, while Durham Palatinates, Newcastle Eagles, and London Lions also notched victories on the road.
London Lions dealt the Manchester Mystics a 40-98 defeat on Saturday in the final weekend of the WBBL regular season.
The capital powerhouse prevailed, despite the absence of the team’s leading scorer, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan.
Entering the game with seven players, the short-staffed Mystics played valiantly in the first quarter, as Sam Keltos and Leah McDerment were quick out the gates to draw up points for the hosts.
Forcing the Lions to settle for well-contested shot attempts, the Mystics found themselves trailing by a single point, 21-22.
London turned up the heat defensively in the second frame, reducing Manchester Met to seven points, most of which came later in the period.
Holly Winterburn and Shanice Beckford-Norton led the charge for the Lions, as the league champs put the game away with a dominant 28-7 scoring clinic.
The third quarter saw more damage inflicted by the Lions, as Katsiaryna Snytsina shot the ball nearly perfect from the field, while Beckford-Norton extended her scoring tally.
Mystics fought hard, but struggled to get points past a defiant Lions defence, settling for four points scored in the third.
The Lions held the Mystics to eight points, while coming up just shy of the century mark in another dominant performance by the London powerhouse.
Cardiff Met Archers were handed a narrow 67-75 defeat by the Newcastle Eagles.
Newcastle’s disciplined attack hit hard at the Cardiff Met defenders throughout.
Though a slim final score, Newcastle’s Antoinette Lewis was the difference-maker, drawing up 20 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, and a combined six steals and blocks.
Maggie Justinak contributed a 20-piece and forward Katie Nolan finished with a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds.
The Archers started better in the opening minutes, with duo Lauren Saiki and Shannon Hatch causing all sorts of problems for the Eagles half-court defence.
A drive and dish by Saiki to Hatch for a deep-two early on set the tone for the remainder of the matchup – Saiki accumulating 10 assists in all, while Hatch led all scorers with 21.
Newcastle proved more impactful, however, as it didn’t take long for Lewis to get going in the post, where the centre is a lethal scoring option.
Despite a decent scoring run by the Archers at the end of the first quarter, capped off by a clean corner three by Laura Shanahan, the Eagles led convincingly, 15-23.
Cardiff Met were out for vengeance in the second quarter, as Saiki took to scoring a handful of elbow jumpshots to keep the Archers’ chances alive, while NCAA-bound Isobel Bunyan commanded the rebounds defensively.
Lewis remained the centrepiece to Newcastle’s attack but found valuable points through Justinak, who slashed her way to the basket with intensity to run up the Eagles’ advantage.
A triple from the top of the arc from Marina Fernandez Pardo in the closing seconds of the half kept Newcastle’s lead afloat, heading into the locker room with an eight-point edge, 35-43
Eagles sharpshooter Fernandez Pardo continued where she left off, nailing another clutch three-point effort to kickstart Newcastle’s third quarter of play.
Newcastle’s Nolan also proved a force on the boards, fiercely recovering a Justinak miss before going up strong for a putback layup.
Cardiff suppressed Newcastle’s impressive start with a pair of threes by Bunyan and Abigail Yunker, but the Archers trailed by double figures,
A series of scoreless possessions was broken by Yunker, who put away a strong lay up through traffic to draw an and-one play for the trailing Archers, 50-57.
Another quarter, another Fernandez Pardo three, but Cardiff replied with a Saiki triple as the Archers crept up on Newcastle’s lead.
Lara Habling worked hard on defence against Newcastle’s Lewis, forcing turnovers and crashing the offensive boards to grab valuable points for the hosts.
Habling stepped up for a big-time three midway through the last quarter, making it a one-possession game.
A Justinak three was followed by a pair of Lewis field goals in the closing seconds to give Newcastle a nail-biting win.
Newcastle matched Cardiff Met on points in the standings, and will await Sunday’s results to determine their respective fates, heading into the WBBL Playoffs.
The Leicester Riders came up with a big 63-81 victory over the B Braun Sheffield Hatters to shake up the top of the standings going into the WBBL Playoffs.
MacKenzie Johnston was instrumental for the Riders in their big victory, providing 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, while Oliana Squires provided game-high 23 points.
A competitive start saw the Hatters find their range early as Helen Naylor and Abbey Whitehouse drilled clutch threes off the back of a handful of sharp passing plays in the frontcourt.
Leicester wasted no time responding, with Fiona O’Dwyer collecting the Riders’ opening five points to her name.
Hatters forward Lena Niang proved challenging to contain in the opening quarter, and created a 7-2 run in the closing minutes.
But a final minute masterclass from the Riders saw them construct a 5-0 run with MacKenzie Johnston pulling off a tough and-one play to finish off the first quarter trailing by two points, 19-17.
Leicester’s fortunes improved to begin the second quarter, with Oliana Squires and Ashley Arlen doubling up to put the Riders ahead, 21-23.
Karly Murphy, as well as being a dominant rebounder, displayed her ability to make jump shots from midrange, enabling the Hatters to keep on the Riders’ coattails.
While Sheffield remained dependent on Murphy to deal blows to the Riders defence, the Leicester side had multiple players attack strongly, finding points from the charity stripe.
Nicolette Fairley poured in a crucial three followed by a midrange jumper to even up the scoreline for the Hatters, but Riders did enough to hang on to a first half score of 37-43.
Leicester crafted a 10-0 run behind a Squires scoring clinic, with the visitors flirting with a 20-point advantage midway through the quarter.
Hatters’ Murphy was primed and ready to chalk a couple of baskets for the Hatters on their comeback trail, but the Riders maintained an 11-point advantage going into the fourth.
The final quarter started well for the Hatters, as Kian Omer-Jones helped herself to multiple baskets, including an electrifying three-point shot to reduce their deficit to just five points.
But the trend switched as the quarter reached the midway point, with Leicester dealing a 6-0 blow to the Hatters.
Hatters played hard to the end, but the Riders responded well to the mounting pressure, seeing out a vital win for playoff seeding.
Durham Palatinates came away with their second consecutive away victory, outlasting the Oaklands Wolves with a scoreline of 78-88.
Elle Hendershot dominated in her 40-minute stint, accumulating 19 points, 18 rebounds, and a career-high 12 assists.
Hendershot joined four other Palatinates in double-figure scoring, with Jessica Wayne excelling with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and five steals.
Oaklands came back after a strong first quarter by Durham, with the team’s Grace George chalking her fourth consecutive double-double statline with 15 points, 11 rebounds to her name, while Jorjah Smith and Beth Sarson tallied 16 points each.
Wayne had hot hands to start the game off, scoring eight points in a matter of minutes –draining back-to-back threes on her way to a team-high 20 points.
Oaklands were able to mirror Wayne with Miriam Carrasco-Menendez stepping up for a clean three-point conversion to keep Oaklands in the game.
Kizzy Spence bombarded the Palatinates defence with another long-ranged effort for Oaklands, as they looked to derail Durham’s strong start.
Durham mounted a 6-0 run, however, as Harriett Ottewill-Soulsby, one of the league’s most prolific scorers, dealt damage underneath to the Wolves defence.
The home side made a few baskets to limit the deficit before the first quarter finished, but a pair of devastating threes by Eliza Brault off the bench catapulted the Durham advantage to 12 points at the end of the first, 18-30.
George and Smith would pair up effectively for the Wolves to begin a comeback effort in the second quarter, with both players collecting easy buckets.
A few minutes into the second period and another three-point contest ensued, between Oaklands’ Carrasco-Menendez versus Durham’s Wayne and Inma Bautista.
Despite an eye-catching back-and-forth battle from sides, the Palatinates maintained their grip on the game, finishing the first half still ahead by 12, 38-50.
The Wolves were hunting as a pack in the third quarter, but Sarson served up a huge three-point jumper on the second half’s opening possession.
Smith then knocked down successive makes inside to make it a single-digit score difference.
Palatinates were held to points from the charity stripe in the first few minutes, eventually finding a pair of layups through Orieoma Chukwu-Etu.
But as Oaklands got more comfortable scoring from outside the perimeter, they found themselves in reach of taking the lead.
Crunch-time scores by George and Daisy Porter made it a slim 55-57 scoreline before a Hendershot layup provided Durham a small burst.
Yet before the Palatinates could gain momentum, scores from George, once again, and Cleo Lewis-Gayle tied the game up at 59-59.
The Wolves took a slim temporary lead before Durham’s Hendershot hit back with five quick points, helping the Palatinates go into the final quarter ahead by four, 63-67.
Oaklands went full throttle in the final quarter, carving a crucial 6-0 run to be within two points of the Palatinates once again.
Hendershot set up Brault for a devastating three-point play, driving Durham’s lead back up to 10 points.
Oaklands worked hard to get back, but Durham successfully thwarted chances of a last minute Wolves comeback, completing the game with a 10-point edge.
With that, Oaklands remain in tenth position in the standings, sitting on 6 wins and 16 losses for the season, while Durham join Newcastle and Cardiff Met with nine wins each, heading into the final Sunday of the WBBL regular season.
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