WBBL Championship
London Lions 92-52 Cardiff Met Archers (14-15, 42-30, 68-44)
(Lions – Beckford Norton 22, Winterburn 19, Breen 15; Archers – Hatch 21, Saiki 11, Lemoigne 7)
WBBL Championship
Oaklands Wolves 59-67 Manchester Met Mystics (16-14, 29-28, 43-48)
(Wolves – Uprus 13, Sarson 12, Menendez 11; Mystics – Jones 20, Allen 14, James 13)
WBBL Championship
Leicester Riders 80-84 Essex Rebels (30-25, 46-49, 62-63)
(Riders – Hamilton 18, Mcalear 16, Stone 15; Rebels – Munns 20, Paxton 20, Costa 15)
WBBL Championship
Newcastle Eagles 69-56 Durham Palatinates (22-13, 36-28, 53-42)
(Eagles – Gaynor 22, Mcvicar 16, Fernandez Pardo 14; Palatinates – Hendershot 16, Wayne 15, Lowe 11)
London Lions kept up their 100% record, Newcastle Eagles picked up their second win of the weekend and there were victories for Essex Rebels and Manchester Met Mystics in a bumper day of WBBL Championship action.
In the day’s early tip-off Cardiff Met Archers traveled to the undefeated London Lions. After a closely thought first quarter, it looked like there could be an upset on the cards with the away side leading 15-14.
Lions, however, turned up the heat in the second. They outscored Archers 28-15 in the period to lead 42-30 at the half-time break. The home side added another 26 points in the third to lead 68-44 going into the last with the game all but out of sight for Archers.
The side from the capital added 24 more in the last to wrap a comfortable 40-point, 92-52 win.
Manchester Met Mystics picked up their tenth victory of the season as they beat Oaklands Wolves 67-59.
Much like the first game of the day, the teams could barely be separated in the first quarter with Oaklands just ahead as they led 16-14. It was a lead that they would just about hold on to until half-time. Mystics won a low-scoring second quarter 14-13 to reduce the deficit to 29-28 at the break.
With the game still up for grabs for both sides, it was Mystics that would start to pull away. The away side scored 20 points in the third to take a 48-43 lead into the fourth and final quarter. Both teams battled to the very end in a fantastic matchup. Mystics again limited Wolves to 15 in the quarter whilst adding 19 to their total to secure the win.
Georgia Jones scored a game-high 20 points for Mystics as she played all 40 minutes in a superb display that saw her narrowly miss out on a double-double performance with nine rebounds and seven assists.
The third game of the day saw Essex Rebels travel to Leicester Riders. Riders scored a huge 30 points in the first quarter but were unable to blow their opponents away as Rebels scored 25 of their own.
The game then swung in the favour of Rebels as they won the second quarter 24-16 to lead 49-46 at half-time. Riders, however, hit back and going into third there was just one point in it with Rebels leading 63-62. Rebels held on in the last to wrap up the 84-80 win.
Ashleigh Munns and Claire Paxton both finished on 20 points for Rebels whilst Oceana Hamilton starred for Riders with 18 points and 12 assists.
Newcastle Eagles picked up their second win in as many days as they beat Durham Palatinates 69-56 in an impressive performance.
Eagles got out of the blocks quickly and by the end of the first quarter were 22-13 ahead. It was a lead they would not give up. They scored 24 points in the second to lead Palatinates 36-28 at half-time.
They added 17 in the third and 16 in the fourth to take the game away from Durham and cap off an impressive weekend with a well-rounded performance.
Chloe Gaynor was on top form as she scored 22 points and contributed 15 rebounds in a dominant display. Layne Murphy also finished with a double-double for the home side with 12 points and 10 rebounds.