Lions Trophy finals bound; Suns tame Wildcats

Betty Codona WBBL Trophy Semi-Final

London Lions 112-77 B. Braun Sheffield Hatters (27-25, 53-45, 89-59)
(Lions: Herbert Harrigan/Winterburn, 26; Battle, 17; Joseph, 10 – Hatters: Gayle/Murphy, 15; Niang/Shaw, 10; Naylor, 9)

WBBL Championship

Sevenoaks Suns 80-66 Nottingham Wildcats (23-21, 40-35, 68-42)
(Suns: Bradshaw/Monakana, 20; Fritz, 10; Busch, 8 – Wildcats: Whittington, 19; Stewart, 16; Shaw, 10)

London Lions advance to the Betty Codona WBBL Trophy Finals after a stunning 112-77 victory to Yorkshire powerhouse side B. Braun Sheffield Hatters.

Holly Winterburn and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan combined for a monstrous Lions performance as the former amassed 26 points, eight boards, and eight assists, while the latter added 26 points, six boards and three steals.

The Lions were indeed quick out of the gates, with Winterburn scoring a layup straight away to kickstart the contest.

However, the Hatters responded ferociously, as Georgia Gayle burst down the floor for a layup of her own, typifying a competitive Trophy semi-final fixture.

Herbert Harrigan made her presence felt early on for the London side, knocking down a pair of jump shots without breaking a sweat.

Truly a back-and-forth affair in the opening quarter, the combination of Gayle and Karly Murphy enabled the Hatters to boast a slim 12-10 lead over the league leaders midway through the first quarter.

The Lions, however, fought back. Starting on the defensive end, Winterburn drew a plethora of steals, creating chance after chance to make scores at the basket.

With the lead back in London’s favour, Gayle stepped up for the Hatters, shooting the lights out from way outside, sinking a big three off the dribble to get Sheffield back in the game.

Nevertheless, Lions capitalised on Sheffield’s minor mishaps in their offence, with Shequila Joseph able to finish confidently on the London counter attacks.

Despite accumulating points from turnovers, the Lions found themselves in considerable foul trouble, sending an efficient-scoring Sheffield Hatters side to the line to shoot 9/12 (75%) from the charity stripe.

Remaining a close game, the Lions maintained a 27-25 lead to finish off the opening quarter.

The second quarter saw the Lions mounting a strong defence inside, causing dominant Hatters forward Helen Naylor to fight exceptionally hard for important points.

Prolific inside the key, Naylor found herself on the floor, yet still able to dish the ball down to athletic forward Lena Niang, who converted acrobatically under the basket.

Chantel Charles then chalked the Lions’ first triple of the game. Winterburn continued to dominate, handling the ball as the principle playmaker for London down the stretch.

An exchange of clutch plays filled the closing minutes of the first half.

Firstly, youngster Charli Wroe drained a three-point shot past London’s overbearing defence.

Moments later, a Lions backdoor play between Katsiaryna Snytsina and Taylor Murray added two more vital points to London’s collection.

With London hitting harder and harder on every possession, they established their biggest lead before halftime, 50-41.

The second half witnessed the Lions takeover, putting on a dominant scoring display.

Hebert Harrigan put on a shooting clinic, notching 15 points in the third quarter, scoring from all areas of the court.

Wearing the Hatters defence out, the Lions quickly racked up a 20-point advantage.

Capping off the exceptional breakaway lead, Taylor Murray successfully sped past the Hatters defence to finish energetically at the basket.

The score standing 89-59 at the conclusion of the third quarter, the Lions bench were celebrating early.

Hatters, however, never waivered or backed down from the ferocious London third-quarter performance.

As the final quarter progressed, Niang worked well to drop two successive buckets past the wall of Lions jerseys.

London continued to push hard, reaching the century mark through a Shenice Beckford-Norton layup with 6:55 still left on the clock.

The Hatters struggled to get back into the game, as the hosts were able to dominate on both ends of the floor.

Simply put by Winterburn, who commented following the emphatic win, “It’s hard to stop us.”

In what will be a must-watch encounter, the Lions will face either the Leicester Riders or Newcastle Eagles, in the finals.

For the Hatters, they sadly drop out of the Trophy, but fought valiantly to the end, and will focus their attention on a strong playoff campaign to finish the season.

Sevenoaks Suns used a big third quarter performance to defeat the Nottingham Wildcats, 80-66.

Verging on a triple-double, Suns guard Araion Bradshaw registered 20 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists.

An astute defender, Bradshaw helped herself to three steals, as well as forcing numerous turnovers throughout the matchup.

In a highly-competitive first-half, the Suns found themselves in the lead against a depleted Nottingham Wildcats squad.

Suns forward Julia Koppl worked tirelessly on the offensive boards to start the contest, claiming the first two points for Sevenoaks.

Wildcats were tuned-in defensively, to begin with, as Kayla Shaw’s impressive block ignited a counter attack resulting in an and-one play for Imani Whittington.

The Wildcats’ offence got better, with Natalie Charity putting on the moves inside to get to the basket with ease.

Nevertheless, the Suns were formidable defenders, grabbing seven steals to Nottingham’s zero before halftime.

Subsequently, crucial steals by Bradshaw, pathed the way for a barrage of scoring opportunities for the Suns – Renee Busch knocking down back-to-back three-pointers to give Sevenoaks a 19-12 cushion.

Suns moved on to a 12-0 scoring run, before Nottingham’s Mari Stewart ended their scoring drought with a nice drive and finish.

A Shaw three-pointer late in the first quarter also helped matters for the trailing Wildcats, reducing Suns’ lead to 23-21, at the whistle.

Scoring off steals pathed the way for Sevenoaks’ success in the second quarter, as Bradshaw continued to pester the Nottingham playmakers.

Despite the mounting pressure, Nottingham replied with stellar plays from Whittington – drawing fouls and shooting efficiently from the line, on her way to 14 first half points.

Big-time three-pointers courtesy of Busch and Janice Monakana widened the Suns lead, but another deep triple by Shaw, before time expired, left the score at 41-36, going into the halftime interval.

Suns continued to push their lead in the second half, as the hosts cruised to an 11-2 run.

Looking to respond, the Wildcats found some success in Whittington, coming up with back-to-back layups.

However, the Suns were running riot before long as Bradshaw continuously rocketed down the stretch of the floor, widening the gap over Nottingham considerably.

Amassing a 20-point advantage, the Suns put the Wildcats away soundly.

Yet. the Wildcats came out of the challenging third quarter determined, getting off to a solid start in the closing period.

A big three from Maci Cook begun a 5-0 stretch for the visiting side, before Mari Stewart collected two more points from a crafty floating layup.

Despite the spark in Nottingham’s offensive flow, Suns hit back with some impressive moves of their own.

A beautiful pass from the post by Suns big Brittany Hodges lined Katie Richards up for an easy layup.

Sevenoaks were able to do enough to hang onto a comfortable lead as time expired.

With that, Sevenoaks improved to 11 wins on the season, chalking their fourth win in five games.

The Wildcats side, who picked up their fourth consecutive loss, now fall to 3-11 on the season.