WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 83-62 Newcastle Eagles (27-10, 53-26, 67-49)
(Archers – Hatch 28, Saiki 22, Marchizotti 21; Eagles – Fernandez Pardo 32, Gaynor 23, Bland 5)
WBBL Championship
Essex Rebels 86-62 Oaklands Wolves (23-19, 42-37, 67-52)
(Rebels – Waithe 25, Freeman 17, Costa 13; Wolves – Quick 24, Milligan 8, Sarson 7)
WBBL Championship
Manchester Met Mystics 38-103 London Lions (13-29, 21-56, 31-78)
(Mystics – Moore 13, Jones 8, Williams 5; Lions – Winterburn 21, Beckford-Norton 16, Breen 15)
London Lions are now one win away from the WBBL Championship title, while the Play-off picture has become much clearer as three teams had their post-season berth confirmed with results on Wednesday night.
The unbeaten Lions, now 22-0, were dominant in winning 103-38 on the road at Manchester Met Mystics, and can now win the title on Friday night when they face Essex Rebels, thereby avoiding a final day title showdown with rivals Sevenoaks Suns.
Another impressive team performance saw all ten players on the scoresheet led by 21 from Holly Winterburn, while captain Shanice Beckford-Norton posted an incredible double-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in under 20 minutes off the bench.
A one possession game midway through the first period, North West native Jo Leedham-Warner hit a three-pointer that sparked a 20-4 Lions’ surge in which she added another before Stephanie Umeh came from the bench to score three straight baskets, making it 29-10.
The lead was through 20 points at 45-19 on consecutive triples from Sheiquila Joseph and Cassie Breen, twice, in a 9-0 burst early in the second; and there was no way back when they started the third period with 13 unanswered points on another pair of back-to-back triples from Breen and seven points from Beckford-Norton.
That result confirmed that Essex Rebels, Caledonia Pride, and Nottingham Wildcats have all qualified for the post-season with 11 wins, due in large part to Mystics having lost the head-to-heads with all of the teams around them. Mystics now face an uphill battle for the final Play-off spot, as they will need to beat Leicester on Sunday and hope that Durham Palatinates lose to bottom-placed Gloucester City Queens.
Rebels would have confirmed their place anyway regardless of that result after beating Oaklands Wolves 86-62 later in the night to move to 12-10 in fifth place, making it four wins in the last five games as DeAngelique Waithe posted a huge double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Rebels had to dig themselves out of an early hole after Merissa Quick scored all of the points in a 10-1 start for the visitors. But Rebels soon found their footing, and then stormed back with a 14-3 surge of their own, Jade Mbam hitting two three-pointers before they took a 23-19 lead at the end of the first on a Waithe score, as she had 13 off the bench in the first half, key to the fightback.
The hosts then opened the second 9-2 as Tia Freeman scored consecutively among her 17 points, also off the bench, taking a double-digit lead at 32-21 on another Waithe basket, and the lead was still double-figures in the third as Lucrezia Costa and then Cara Bieg Salazar both made ‘and-one’ plays.
The lead reached 65-48 as Waithe started and ended a run of seven straight points, and from there Rebels kept Wolves at arm’s length as Bieg Salazar hit a triple midway through the fourth to send the lead to 20 at 77-57.
Finally, outside of the Play-off places, Cardiff Met Archers made it three wins in their last four games by beating Newcastle Eagles 83-62 at home for a sixth win of the campaign. They could still finish with the same record as the tenth-placed Eagles, but cannot pass them as tonight’s win was not enough to secure the head-to-head, although results guarantee that they will finish eleventh ahead of Oaklands Wolves, while Eagles will finish tenth.
Archers were quick out of the blocks and led from tip-to-buzzer, starting 10-3 as Mara Marchizotti scored five and Lauren Saiki hit a three-pointer, the lead reaching 27-10 by the end of the first quarter on a further pair of Saiki triples.
Archers then dominated the second stanza, going 22-6 over the first seven minutes as Saiki connected another three times from long-range in just two minutes, with Shannon Hatch also adding nine points as the lead reached 49-16. Saiki had 20 points on 6-7 (85%) three-point shooting at the midway point.
Needing to win by a massive 36 points to take the head-to-head, and still have a chance to finish above Newcastle in the table, the closest they got to that was a 63-30 lead on a Kim Kheing three-pointer midway through the third, and from there they saw the game out for a comfortable win on the night.
Archers had huge double-doubles of 28 points and 18 rebounds from Shannon Hatch, and 22 points with 14 assists from Saiki.