WBBL Championship
Sevenoaks Suns 69-91 London Lions (22-21, 19-23, 18-23, 10-24)
Suns – Monakana 18, Hodges 17, Bradshaw 12; Lions – Herbert-Harrigan 23, Snytsina 19, Vorpahl 16

Durham Palatinates 73-75 B Braun Sheffield Hatters (25-18, 8-22, 18-17, 22-28)
Palatinates – Ottweill-Soulsby 25, Hendershot 13, Brault 11; Hatters Murphy 28, Gayle 15, Niang 9

Manchester Met Mystics 70-79 Caledonia Gladiators (17-15, 22-20, 17-28, 14-16)
Mystics – Keltos 19, Sanchez 19, McDerment 17; Gladiators – Adams 23, McGarrachan/Wolf 13, Elias 12

Leicester Riders 75-59 Newcastle Eagles (14-17, 21-19, 19-9, 21-4)
Riders – Johnston 19, Robb 13, Arlen/Squires 10; Eagles – Gaynor/Lewis 13, Bland/Clasen/Justinak 9

Nottingham Wildcats 75-79 Cardiff Met Archers (31-21, 15-13, 16-22, 23-13)
Wildcats – Shaw 25, Stewart 20, Nicholas 18; Saiki 30, Bunyan 22, Hatch 11

A packed slate of WBBL Championship games saw the Sevenoaks Suns compete hard with the London Lions until a fourth-quarter charge saw the visitors pull away at TASIS England to win 91-69.

The Lions were led by Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan, who kept getting to the line, where she simply wouldn’t miss – hitting nine perfect free throws for a total of 23 points.

Meanwhile, a barn-burner took place at the Sports and Wellbeing Park, where the Durham Palatinates pushed the B Braun Sheffield Hatters to the limit.

The visitors needed game-winning three from Helen Naylor to secure victory after Karly Murphy scored 28 points to get them there.

Caledonia Gladiators completed a come-from-behind 79-70 victory when they visited the Manchester Met Mystics, thanks to the defence and speed of Tea Adams.

The Leicester Riders protected home court at the Netball Centre, where the Newcastle Eagles started out well. 

They needed a great fourth quarter from Mckenzie Johnston, who finished with 19, to secure a 75-59 win.

And in the nightcap, another exciting contest saw Lauren Saiki score 30 points for the Cardiff Met Archers to earn a tough win on the road over the Nottingham Wildcats.

With the London Lions learning a new system under new coach Stella Kaltsidou since winning the WBBL Cup in January, the rest of the league have doubled efforts to take down the team that many pundits see as a quadruple champion in waiting.

The scouting has seen defences pack the paint and make it hard for the Lions to use their size. And on offence, opponents have focused on shooting from distance.

This has seen the Caledonia Gladiators take a game off them in the Championship, and the Leicester Riders give them a good game at the Betty Codona WBBL Trophy Final. 

To tip off a packed Saturday slate, the Sevenoaks Suns used this gameplan to good effect to start the game. Renee Busch, Judit Fritz and Janice Monaka all scored threes early to take an 11-8 lead.

This scoring meant the Lions weren’t able to get out in transition, and without starting point guard Taylor Murray, the visitors’ offence looked a little out of sorts.

This is when Holly Winterburn took over. The Brit put her head down and drove to the basket, squeezing an overhead hook-layup over the outstretched arms of a defender.

The next time down, Winterburn worked from the low post, dribbled away from a double team, and while falling backwards she found Ty Battle streaking through the lane for a layup and the foul shot to take a one-point lead.

Leslie Vorpahl added a final highlight for the Lions to close the first quarter, dribbling across the lane into a fadeaway jumper.

To start the second, Vorpahl tied the game at 26, but the Suns went on a 10-2 run, led by Araion Bradshaw’s good free throw shooting and a steal that led to a transition layup.

The Lions responded but couldn’t rely on Winterburn as she went down with an ankle injury.

So Kat Snytsina scored and Herbert-Harrigan scored a pair of close buckets with help from Vorpahl.

The visitors carried this lead into the half, but it wouldn’t last long into the third quarter, as Monakana hit a couple of threes in the first few minutes to take a four-point lead.

Within the opening minute, head coach Len Busch took Renee Busch out after an apparent injury.

Snytsina responded again, which kickstarted a flurry of team scoring to create a nine-point margin in London’s favour, after being down five two minutes earlier.

The Suns made an effort to attack in the dying minutes, with Julia Koppl getting to the line. 

Bradshaw got out in transition but surprised Shequila Joseph with a three-point pull-up. Joseph fouled her and Bradshaw went to the line, hitting two out of three free throws to make it 59-68.

Vorpahl was set two high screens on the in-bound to start the fourth, which gave her an open lane for a quick, easy layup.

The Lions turned up the defensive intensity using  three-quarter court zone, which forced Sevenoaks down to the dying seconds of seemingly every shot clock.

Meanwhile, Herbert-Harrigan proved too tough and long on offence, as Snytsina found the American open for a layup.

And Ty Battle used her size and strength to steal the ball from Fritz to break out for a score of her own.

This created a 14-point gap with six minutes to go, which the Lions continued to build until the final buzzer and a 21-point win.

While it was tough for three-quarters, the Lions will be grateful for the comfortable gap down the stretch, especially as they face the B Braun Sheffield Sharks back at the Copper Box tomorrow.

The third-placed B Braun Sheffield Hatters won a tough game on the road 72-71 over the Durham Palatines, who came into the game ninth in the WBBL Championship.

Karly Murphy led the travellers to the Sports and Wellbeing Park with a massive 28 points and 16 rebounds, but the most important points of the game went to Helen Naylor.

The captain was scoreless for 39 minutes and 53 seconds, but her three after a well-designed  play out of the timeout saw Georgia Gayle find Naylor for an open shot that put her team up two.

With one last chance, Jess Wayne couldn’t find the same success on a buzzer beating shot as her Palatines fell after a great battle.

Durham got out to a good start after Helen Ottewill-Soulsby grabbed an offensive rebound off Elle Hendershot’s miss, and put it back to score the first two of her 25-point outing.

A brief flurry from Sheffield got back in the game before the Palatines regained the lead going  to end the first quarter.

Murphy took over with seven minutes left in the second. She grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, then followed it up by a three.

Nicolette Fairley joined the action for the Hatters with a pair of floaters, and her team took a seven-point lead going into the half.

The teams played each other to a stalemate in the third, and the Hatters looked in control with somewhere between a five and nine-point lead for most of the frame.

It was Wayne and Ottewill-Soulsby who led the Palatinates comeback to start the fourth. 

But Hendershot and Chukwu-Etu gave Durham the lead with less than two minutes to go.

The cool head of Sheffield’s Naylor took over, as she found Murphy twice to regain the lead – a floater putting them up 72-71 with 30 seconds to go. 

On the other end, Murphy made the mistake of fouling Ottweill-Soulsby, who sunk both free throws with 14 seconds left.

And despite missing all four of her shots up to that point, Coach Ellis looked for Naylor to take the biggest shot of the game, which she hit to put her team up two and take the well-earned win on the road.

The road trip will continue tomorrow as they face the league-leading London Lions at the Copper Box.

The opening frame was too close to call when the Caledonia Gladiators drove down to the Platt Lane Sports Complex to take on the Manchester Met Mystics.

Sam Keltos was fighting for the Met Mystics on the boards, while Leah McDerment showed why they missed her when she was out with injury. 

Her hustle and good footwork to create turnaround jumpers and step-through floaters made sure the Mystics stayed with Caledonia, despite the visitors sitting fourth in the WBBL Championship table coming into the game.

Tea Adams scored well for the Gladiators, but good Mystics ball movement led to a Sanchez three to put the home team up one with three minutes to go in the first half.

McDerment made it a four-point lead at the line with 40 seconds to go in the game. And Princess Odegan hit a wide, scooping fingeroll to avoid the outstretched arms of her defender, which fell high off the glass.

The Mystics went into the locker room 39-35 over the Gladiators.

Adams got out in transition for Caledonia after a missed Mystics layup, and cut the Manchester lead to three.

Good ball movement and patient offence saw the Gladiators get points from the same play on back-to-back possessions:

A down screen from Abbie Wolf got Chantelle Handy open to receive the pass at the top of the key, but she passed down into Wolf who got a deep hook shot to fall.

They ran the same action but with Manchester’s focus on the middle of the lane, Adams burst to the basket for a layup.

Manchester were still scoring, and stayed five points up thanks to a big Sanchez three.

But Caledonia finally grabbed the lead, which was quickly extended by Adams, whose good hands, crafty ball handling and speed kept getting into the lane. She scored consecutive layups to get a six point lead with 40 seconds left in the third.

A beautiful display of passing between Erin McGarrachan and Handy saw the pair play a one-two, with McGarrachan cutting down the lane to receive a pass and get the layup.

To start the fourth, good defence from Manchester held Caledonia from making it a double-digit lead for the visitors.

Keltos did what she could to close the gap on a baseline drive for a sweet reverse layup.

Adams continued to be a pest on defence and found her way to cup again, and found Jamila Thompson running with her on the next steal to score another two points, which pushed the lead up to 11 with four minutes to go.

The Mystics fought to close the gap, but the Gladiators Robyn Lewis hit a big three with time remaining, which made it too big a gap for the home team to close.

Caledonia will come away confident about finishing in the top four for the playoffs, especially after seeing the fifth-placed Sevenoaks Suns lose earlier in the day.

While Manchester will have little time to regroup, as they travel to Leicester tomorrow.

A famous rivalry in British basketball saw the visiting Newcastle Eagles get out to a 9-0 lead over the Leicester Riders thanks to a tough score and the foul from Antoinette Lewis, followed by a pair of threes from Rachael Bland.

While Leicester stopped the run with a McKenzie Johnston layup, Bland hit another three, as did Marina Fernandez Pardo to make it 15-5.

The loud Leicester crowd inside the Netball Centre willed Ashley Arlen and Kirsty Brown to plenty of rebounds on both ends, and Johnston wasted no time in attacking in transition to close the gap.

This was closed further when Hannah Robb and Brown made it so the home team trailed Newcastle by just three at the end of the first quarter.

Marina Fernandez Pardo got the scoring going for the Eagles in the second quarter with her second three of the game.

But she then fouled Leicester’s Oliana Squires, and seeing two foul shots go through the net gave the scorer new confidence.

The next time down, Squires attacked the middle of the lane and found Robb in the corner for an open three.

Leicester tied the game up with an Arlen jumper. They eventually took the lead on a Brown layup, after Squires scored, then stole the ball on defence and found her big running the floor to score and go up 24-22.

Newcastle got their rhythm back thanks to two big threes from Courtney Clasen, and this inspired her Eagles teammate Maggie Justinak to get to the line and score again.

This put Newcastle up one heading into the break, and Justinak pushed this to four straight out of the break with a big three.

From there, Leicester locked in – especially Robb. 

The Scot’s hustle helped her grab an offensive rebound and she got the ball to Arlen for a layup. Robb then got hot with back-to-back scores from distance.

Johnston and Squires kept this going, and with four minutes to go in the third, the Riders had taken a 47-41 lead over the Eagles.

It was Robb again who led the fast break and found Squires for an easy two that pushed Leicester up 11 going into the fourth quarter.

The Riders look like a different team when Johnston looks for her own shot. She is such a skilled passer that defences often try to hide gaps in the passing lanes.

But to start the fourth, Arlen found Johnston for a change, which gave the point guard the confidence to drive into the lane for a mid-range on the next possession.

Johnston then got a baseline jumper to go off an Arlen kick-out, and the pair connected again. 

To finish off the mini-run, Johnston grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed the ball ahead to Robb. Johnston relocated on the three-point line where Robb found her open to hit a three – within just a few possessions, the Riders up by 18.

With four minutes to go, after Eadsforth-Yates hit a three, the shooter tried another but missed. Brown came out of nowhere to grab an offensive rebound and put it back up for a score – and with just a few minutes to go, the Riders lead was insurmountable.

Confident with the scoring margin, coach Krumesh Patel gave Emma Dunshire the chance to get in the game. She scored her first WBBL points when Fiona O’Dwyer found her cutting back door for a reverse layup.

This made it a 16-point gap, which is how it finished.

The Cardiff Met Archers will have been hoping for a win to give them a cushion over the Durham Palatinates for eighth place, when they visited the Nottingham Wildcats Arena.

But Kayla Shaw wasn’t going to give them an easy ride.

The guard’s scoring average for the season is 17.4, but she bettered that with 18 points in the opening 10 minutes to give Nottingham a 31-21 lead in the first quarter.

The Cardiff offence was more balanced, with Lauren Saiki scoring eight points early to keep her team within reach.

Wildcats captain Mari Stewart wasn’t putting her team’s scoring load solely on Shaw, and she started the second quarter with a pair of layups and a pull-up jumper that pushed the lead to 13 half way through the second frame.

Issy Bunyan did her best to bring the Archers back into the game by going scoring seven straight point for Cardiff, but Shaw returned for Nottingham to put a closing stamp on the first half with her team up 46-34.

Saiki came out of the break with a vengeance. Archers teammate Abi Yunker found the point guard, who got to the rack for a layup.

Saiki then made the most out of a dwindling shot clock and pulled up from well outside the three-point arc, but nailed the long-distance shot.

A few possessions later, Shannon Hatch stole the ball for Cardiff and found Saiki streaking ahead, who cut the deficit to seven.

And she caught the cross court pass from Yunker on a flare screen to hit the mid-range fadeaway.

The Wildcats poured cold water on Saiki’s personal streak, with Stewart getting a bucket and the foul, and Shaw hitting from distance to put their team up by 13. 

By the time Kennedy Nicholas made it a 15-point margin, Archers coach Stef Collins called a timeout.

Whatever the coach said clearly had an impact. Her team went on an 11-2 run to close the quarter, and opened the fourth with more scoring without response.

Yunker stole the ball from Stewart and kicked it ahead to Saiki, who found Hatch cutting to the basket for a layup, and this tied the game at 62 apiece – the first time both teams were on the same score since it was 0-0.

This woke the Wildcats up, particularly Nicholas, who got to the line to slow down the Archers’ momentum, and followed it up with a jumper.

Down the stretch we saw each team trade haymakers with their best players: Shaw and Stewart kept attacking for Nottingham, while Bunyan and Saiki weren’t backing down for Cardiff.

The Archers pulled ahead, and while the loud Wildcats supports did everything they could to put Cardiff’s free throw shooters off down the stretch, Yunker and Saiki sunk enough to hold on to the lead as the clock ticked away.