Another big week of WBBL Championship action leads to some familiar faces in the latest All-Star 5 including British forwards Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby and Kiki Herbert-Harrigan, alongside the season-leader in overall appearances.

Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby – Durham Palatinates
Durham Palatinates jumped up into the WBBL Championship play-off places with a third home win in their last four in the North East, beating Essex Rebels who are now just one place above them, and leading to Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby featuring in the All-Star 5 for the second time in four weeks. She poured in 36 points in just over 36 minutes, drawing eight fouls and shooting 12-14 (85%) from the free-throw line, while completing a double-double with 14 rebounds and adding six assists and three blocks in an all-round captain’s performance. Durham led from tip to buzzer after a 26-11 first quarter in which she scored nine points, with four boards and two blocks in that spell.

Karly Murphy – Sheffield Hatters
Hatters are up to third in the table after three straight league wins, beating Nottingham Wildcats on Sunday, as American centre Karly Murphy makes her eighth All-Star 5 showing of the campaign, two clear of any other player in overall appearances. The WBBL’s leading rebounder had her tenth double-double in league play with 24 points on 11-13 (84%) shooting in just under 25 minutes, grabbing 12 rebounds with five assists and two steals. Hatters led throughout on the road after a 16-2 opening, as Murphy had eight points and five rebounds in the first six minutes, followed by another six points in a similar spell to open the second half.

Samantha Keltos – Manchester Met Mystics
Manchester Met Mystics got a first WBBL Championship win of the season by beating Nottingham Wildcats at the National Basketball Performance Centre on Saturday, leading to a first All-Star 5 appearance for Canadian forward Samantha Keltos, who is second in the league in scoring, seventh in rebounds and fourth in blocks. In this game, she had a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 5-7 (71%) on the interior, with seven assists, three blocks and two steals, including seven points, four boards, three assists and a block in the fourth quarter as they produced a late 12-5 run to overturn a narrow deficit and win a tight game.

Kiki Herbert Harrigan – London Lions
Former WNBA star Kiki Herbert Harrigan makes her fourth All-Star 5 appearance, and third in the last five weeks, as Lions had another big scoring performance with 115 points at the Copper Box Arena to beat Oaklands Wolves on Sunday. In 25 minutes of play, she scored 25 points on 11-14 (78%) shooting, with seven rebounds, two assists and a block, including the three-pointer to open the game as Lions never trailed, followed by 12 points in the third quarter as they scored 32 in their highest-scoring spell.

Jess Wayne – Durham Palatinates
The Molten WBBL Player of the Month for December, do-it-all American guard Jess Wayne makes her second All-Star 5 showing in four weeks as a key part of Durham’s run of form and a big performance in the win over Essex. She finished with 17 points, including 3-5 (60%) from the three-point line, with seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals – she is third overall in the WBBL for steals. In the decisive opening period she hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the first with her team up 26-11, handing out four assists with three rebounds and three steals to set the tone early on, before back-to-back triples to keep the visitors at arm’s length in the third.

Off the bench: Cassidy Gould (Oaklands Wolves), Taylor Murray (London Lions), Daniela Turner (Essex Rebels), Grace George (Oaklands Wolves), McKenzie Johnston (Leicester Riders), Lena Niang (Sheffield Hatters), Abby Niehues (Manchester Met Mystics).