WBBL Championship
London Lions 92-33 Essex Rebels (33-9, 22-7, 21-7, 16-10)
(Lions – Herbert Harrian 18, Winterburn 15, Vorpahl 10; Rebels – Freeman 10, Swart 9, Haines 5
WBBL championship
Manchester Mystics 49-72 Sheffield Hatters (16-8, 12-11, 13-25, 16-20)
(Mystics – Sanchez Czerniecki 18, Keltos 15, Niehues 11; Hatters – Murphy 19, Niang 12, Whitehouse 10)
The London Lions put on an impressive performance to down the Essex Rebels 92-33 at the CopperBox Arena on Sunday. With an unyielding defensive strategy, the Lions swarming defence saw them emerge with an early 17 point lead.
Led by Taylor Murray, who finished with five crucial steals in the afternoon, the Lions full-court pressure defence was too much for the Essex side. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan led the Lions with 18 points and Holly Winterburn added 15 points and seven assists.
The Essex Rebels struggled in the opening quarter, and never managed to build much confidence from that point.
The Lions had 18 steals in the game – limiting the Rebels to 33 points in the contest; the Lions managed this feat in the first quarter.
Lions opened proceedings with 17 unanswered points – picking up multiple steals off a full-court pressure defence.
Harrigan was the major force early connecting on a triple from the arc and at the hoop plus the foul. The Lions picked up endless steals, ran the floor exceptionally well and connected at the hoop.
Harrigan, who is averaging 19 points, six rebounds, was unstoppable on the offensive end. Rebels were struggling against the double-teams and pressure defence of the Lions.
The Rebels finally got on the scoreboard, with Tia Freeman scoring from the free-throw line.
Freeman followed this up with a triple off some excellent penetration by Megan Haynes. However London was soon back to normal.
Murray picked up her fourth steal of the game and Lions scored two late baskets to extend their lead to 24. The Rebels managed to find some breathing space in the second quarter; holding off any further damage for some time.
However turnovers plagued Essex and Lions were able to capitalise at the other end. Leslie Vorphal, Winterburn and Azania Stewart scored inside.
London’s defence continued to swarm, suffocate and disrupt the Rebels, who struggled getting the ball up the court.
Vorphal knocked down a three for Lions with Stewart coming up with a well-timed block and a buzzer-beating jumper from the high post to end the half.
Lions shot 70% from the field compared to 17% for the Rebels. Megan Haynes a bright spark for Rebels scoring six unanswered points in the third quarter.
The resilient Rebels surmounted a few runs that pulled back some of the margin. However the Lions came roaring back. Hannigan connected on her second triple and pushed the lead to 48 points.
Shaquila Joseph makes it a 50 point lead scoring at the stripe. As if that wasn’t enough, Chantelle Charles picked up a huge buzzer-beating block to fire up the home crowd. Winterburn opened up the fourth with a three-pointer.
At this point the Lions were able to cruise comfortably to victory. They remained steadfast to their defence; adding spurts of full court pressure and picking up steals. Katsiaryna Snytsina and Shanice Beckford-Norton added to the scoring onslaught.W
Sheffield Hatters propelled themselves past the Manchester Mystics 72-49 at the NBPC.
The Hatters built a small lead early on but really got things going in the third quarter, ultimately winning the contest as Karly Murphy led all scorers with 19 points. Lena Niang had 12 points and seven boards.
For Manchester, Shaelynne Sanchez Czerniecki finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Samantha Keltos had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Sheffield started strong – building a seven-point lead through scores from Niang and Abbey Whitehouse. The scoring didn’t come easy, though, as Manchester’s defence was able to regain some control. Abby Niehues picked up a block. However, Hatters seized the final moments of the quarter with an 8-0 run.
Keltos’ three-pointer cut Sheffield’s lead down to three points. With a few traded free throws, Helen Naylor connected from beyond the arc.
A pair of jump shots for Shaw steadied the offence as the Hatters held onto a seven-point lead.
In the third quarter, the level of intensity and action really stepped up. The Hatters poured in a game-high 25 points and started to gain complete control.
Scores from Niang and Murphy pushed the lead to 11 points. Before Niehues and Keltos clawed back some of the lead for Manchester.
Despite back to back scores from Sanchez Czerniecki the Hatters had a 16 point lead.
Murphy was aggressive getting to the free-throw line, and Helen Shaw racked up four points as Sheffield built their largest lead of the game at 19 points.
Mystics had an uphill battle on their hands – which they responded to. Niehues led the charge with six points. The Hatters got balanced scoring from Whitehouse, Murphy and Shaw.
Claire Abbott’s jumper managed to get the lead down to 15 points, but that was the closest it would get.
Murphy and Niang took over the scoring with some help from Whitehouse and youngster Charli Wroe. The Hatters pushed the lead to 24 points in the end. Murphy connected on a late three-pointer and also secured the final defensive rebound for her side.
Next weekend the Hatters will face off against the Sevenoaks Suns next week. The Mystics will take on the Durham Palatinates.
With a huge victory in sight, the Lions final score came from Shequila Joseph. The Lions sit in second place in the WBBL table behind the Leicester Riders, whilst the Essex Rebels are in seventh.