WBBL Championship
Manchester Met Mystics 37-82 Durham Palatinates (9-25, 15-41, 27-59)
(Mystics: Keltos, 20; Niehues, 7; Sanchez Czerniecki, 5 – Palatinates: Hendershot/Ottewill-Soulsby, 21; Wayne, 14; Brault, 9)
WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 71-75 Caledonia Gladiators (18-22, 42-32, 60-57)
(Archers: Hatch, 17; Yunker, 15; Marchizotti, 14 – Gladiators: Adams, 23; McGarrachan, 17; Lewis, 16)
WBBL Championship
Essex Rebels 81-69 Nottingham Wildcats (16-22, 42-44, 66-52)
(Rebels: Paxton, 22; Kohlhaas, 19; Munns, 13 – Wildcats: Stewart, 32; Shaw, 21; Nicholas, 10)
WBBL Championship
B. Braun Sheffield Hatters 64-57 Sevenoaks Suns (12-13, 35-22, 57-40)
(Hatters: Fairley, 16; Gayle, 14; Naylor, 12 – Suns: Monakana, 15; Koppl, 14; Busch, 10)
WBBL Championship
Oaklands Wolves 92-88 Newcastle Eagles (23-18, 34-41, 61-59, 81-81)
(Wolves: Gould, 27; Sarson, 17; Smith, 16 – Eagles: Fernandez Pardo, 28; Lewis, 17; Clasen/Justinak, 14)
The Durham Palatinates put together a dominant 37-82 victory over the Manchester Met Mystics.
Elle Hendershot recorded her fifth double-double of the season, amassing 21 points, 13 rebounds, and six steals.
While Jessica Wayne contributed 14 points and a WBBL record of 11 steals.
Tight defence was on the cards early on for the Durham side, pickpocketing the Manchester Met attackers six times in the first period alone.
Wayne started the defensive masterclass, picking up steals and blocks on consecutive possessions in the opening minutes.
One of the best scorers in the league, Manchester Met’s Samantha Keltos worked well to score twice in succession past the strong full-court Palatinates defence.
After Keltos notched her third basket, providing all of Mystics’ points, Durham ramped up the attacking intensity.
What followed was a 15-3 run by Durham, capitalising on every steal and forced turnover.
Despite a solid Durham defence, forcing Manchester Met to go scoreless for almost five whole minutes, Mystics debutant Maisie Keys recorded her first WBBL points with a clean three-point effort.
Durham’s defence haunted the Mystics continuing into the second period, as Bautista and Katie Bennett and Inma Bautista snatched a pair of misguided Mystics passes resulting in scores.
Mystics did what they could to hit back – Abby Niehues crashed the offensive boards midway through, getting fouled and sent to the free-throw line to increase the Mystics scoring tally.
Niehues followed up with a clean layup. However, with six more points off turnovers for the Palatinates, the northeast side boasted a 26-point advantage at the halftime break.
Manchester Met returned to the floor stronger for the third quarter, coming close to outsourcing the commanding Palatinates.
Shaelynne Sanchez Czerniecki got in her bag, knocking down a nice layup before plunging a triple on the next Mystics play.
Keltos, too, got the hot hands, responsible for the Mystics final six points in the period, with Durham unsuccessfully keeping Keltos away from offensive boards.
Despite a better third-quarter performance from the home Mystics, Durham extended their dominant lead – in front by 32 heading into the last quarter.
Durham cruised through the final quarter, with towering centre Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby putting on an unstoppable scoring clinic,
Keltos added to her scoring tally, however, registering a team-high 20 points, making it her ninth 20+ point performance of the season.
Durham never let off the accelerator, extending their lead more and more, finishing with a monster 45-point advantage.
Palatinates continue to linger around playoff contention, with a big win over Durham putting them on the right tracks.
Unfortunately for Manchester Met, they suffer their 15th defeat of the season.
The Caledonia Gladiators pulled through a final quarter battle to defeat the Cardiff Met Archers, 71-75.
Tea Adams was the difference-maker, scoring a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, and five steals.
A back-and-forth exchange of tough buckets started the contest off: Adams converted her first of nine field goals for the Glads, before Abigail Yunker responded with a clean layup.
Caledonia were electric from outside early on, Robyn Lewis knocking down the first three-pointer of the game, quickly followed by Adams and Patricia Elias.
Archers found their points inside, with Mara Marchizotti and Shannon Hatch working hard beneath the basket to keep it a tight first quarter.
With both teams scoring effectively, the visitors secured a small lead to round up the opening period.
But, a swift 4-0 start for the Archers to start the second quarter flipped the game on its head.
Caledonia held off sacrificing their slim lead, with Erin McGarrachan getting a clutch and-one play to go in her favour.
However, Archers were determined to take the lead, and with Laura Shanahan delivering a crushing three, followed by a Yunker jumper, the Archers had their advantage.
A 10-4 run contributed further to Cardiff Met’s comeback effort, resulting in a double-digit lead at the halftime buzzer, 42-32.
Fierce Archers centre Marchizotti continued her assault on the Caledonia defence to start things off in the second half, responsible for the hosts’ opening six points.
Cardiff Met maintained their double-figure lead, until another Lewis triple began an 11-2 run to dissolve the Welsh team’s lead to just three.
Adams continued being a scoring threat, and Abbie Wolf was Mrs Reliable, posing a problem for Marchizotti on the low block.
In a decisive final quarter, the visiting Gladiators kept on the Archers coattails, as veteran Chantelle Handy’s early three set the tone for a gripping comeback.
Cardiff Met tried their best to keep the edge on Caledonia, with big-time plays by Hatch in the opening minutes of the period,
Though Issy Bunyan’s layup midway through the period placed Cardiff Met ahead by one, marking Lauren Saiki’s 12th assist of the evening, Caledonia gave one last big effort.
Lewis converted a clutch jump shot with under 2:23 to play to tie the game up at 71 apiece.
With 30 seconds remaining, McGarrachan hit the money shot, after following up her initial missed jumper.
Cardiff Met attempted to snatch back the lead through fast guard Saiki, but Jamille Thompson denied her vital shot at the basket.
McGarrachan knocked down a few more free-throws before time expired, with Caledonia able to hold on for a tremendous victory.
Essex Rebels took a fierce boost in the third quarter to take down Nottingham Wildcats, 81-69 in the southeast.
Sune Swart was a major fixture to Essex’s success, getting things done defensively with 15 rebounds, two steals and blocks.
On the attacking front, Claire Paxton and Andrea Kohlhaas combined for 41 points, knocking down 10 three-pointers together.
Despite falling short, Wildcats forward Mari Stewart produced an eye-watering statline of 32 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
Rebels started the better, getting off to a 6-0 start as Kohlhaas and Paxton got themselves familiar with shooting beyond the perimeter.
With the score at 9-3 and over two minutes gone, Nottingham’s Stewart provided the first two-point shot of the matchup.
Meanwhile, Essex continued the bombardment from beyond-the-arc with Paxton scoring a few more from way outside to keep the hosts slightly on top.
A drought of inside scoring hurt the Rebels in the closing minutes, while Stewart and Kayla Shaw worked terrifically to ramp up the scoring for the Wildcats to end the first period.
Nottingham looked towards Stewart again to kickstart their second quarter scoring, putting away a nice jump shot from a well-timed Jocie Leavold pass.
Essex eventually scored from inside for the first time in the game, doing so in style with Ashleigh Munns converting an impressive and-one play to keep the leading Wildcats grounded.
Alexa Naessens and Megan Haines appeared off the bench and sank more threes for the Rebels, while Shaw and Stewart were on-hand once again to deliver crucial baskets close to the basket.
Swart’s consecutive inside scores provided Rebels with the advantage as the first half approached its close.
However, Stewart was by no means finished with her scoring show, flushing a three to tie the score up, before draining a decisive jump shot to take the lead for the Wildcats at halftime, 42-44.
Paxton matched Stewart’s quick-scoring repertoire with a pair of back-to-back scores for herself.
Paxton combined with Kohlhaas for 16 of Essex’s third-quarter points, dealing enough damage to bring the host side’s advantage up to 10 points with two minutes to spare.
Forcing the Wildcats to go without a field goal in the final three minutes, Rebels entered the final quarter with a stellar 65-52 lead.
Nottingham tried valiantly to get back into the game with Shaw and Stewart executing plenty of effective scoring plays.
However, Essex kept their lead safely secure, extending their double-lead advantage in the final minute through a pair of Kohlhaas scores.
B. Braun Sheffield Hatters came out on top 64-57 in an exciting victory over the Sevenoaks Suns.
Karly Murphy was a valuable asset in the Hatters win, putting up seven points, 11 rebounds, and five assists with zero turnovers.
Georgia Gayle got things started for the Hatters, sinking a three-point shot with ease straight out of the gate.
Suns would quickly gain the lead after a pair of skilful moves resulted in two-pointers for Janice Monakana and Renee Busch, respectively.
Gayle was able to reply with her second triple of the afternoon, before Nicolette Fairley knocked down her first two points of a team-high 16.
But, an 8-0 run down the stretch enabled the Suns to pull back at Sheffield.
Both teams played tough defence in the closing minutes, disallowing any easy chances at the basket, remaining tied up at the end of the first period.
The Hatters turned up the temperature for the second quarter, keeping the Suns to just nine points.
Kian Omer-Jones featured from the bench, confidently draining a three mere minutes after taking to the floor.
A 12-0 run ensued allowing Sheffield to breathe a sigh of relief following Sevenoaks’ impressive first quarter performance.
Sheffield maintained their attacking might while keeping Sevenoaks’ scoring opportunities limited.
Hatters continued to dominate into the second half of the contest, with Gayle’s trip to the free-throw line midway through the third quarter placing the Hatters in front by a defiant 22 points.
However, Sevenoaks replied in the concluding minutes of the penultimate quarter, with Judit Fritz and Julia Koppl notching the final six points, reducing the Hatters lead slightly, to 17.
Mounting a noticeable comeback effort, the Sevenoaks Suns catapulted themselves in reaching distance of victory, starting with a burst of eight sudden points as Fritz and Koppl came in clutch again.
Sheffield attempted to regain their sizable advantage, but a Busch triple along with a four-minute scoring drought cut the Hatters lead down considerably.
In the end, however, Hatters did enough in the earlier phases of the game to see off a determined Suns side.
Oaklands Wolves edged out Newcastle Eagles, 92-88, in a gripping overtime matchup.
Helping the Wolves earn their first win since January, Cassidy Gould delivered 27 points on 83% shooting, nine rebounds, and six assists.
An early four points for Antoinette Lewis started the Eagles up nicely, going up 2-7 in no time at all.
A pair of back-to-back conversions by Beth Sarson, however, brought the Eagles back down to earth, as the Wolves began levelling the score out.
However, Marina Fernandez Pardo, on her way to a game-high 28 points, kept the scoring going for the Eagles to close out the first quarter.
But Oaklands edged out at the end of the first, with a handful of trips to the line allowing for a marginal Wolves lead.
The tables turned in the second quarter, as some great defensive display by the Eagles forced Oaklands to go scoreless in the opening minutes, before Daisy Porter was able to break through for a score.
Back-to-back threes courtesy of Fernandez Pardo tied the score up, and Lewis followed up with a strong inside move to put the visitors back in front.
Fernandez Pardo and Lewis’ scoring endured for the remainder of the first half, pushing the Eagles to a 34-41 lead at the halftime buzzer.
Oaklands came back vengeful as the game entered the second half, with the Wolves chipping back the deficit with a 9-2 scoring streak, aided by successive Gould scores.
Beth Sarson and Fernandez Pardo exchanged threes midway through the period, as Oaklands looked to tally scores from the perimeter to regain the lead.
Their prayers were answered when Eva Karasaite was located twice in transition for easy buckets, including a crucial three-point shot, taking the lead back 61-59 in the closing minutes of the third.