WBBL Championship
Essex Rebels 73-71 Leicester Riders (15-14, 39-32, 48-52)
(Rebels: Turner, 21; Swart, 15; Haines, 13 – Riders: Squires, 15; Arlen, 14; O’Dwyer, 12)
WBBL Championship
Cardiff Met Archers 92-67 Manchester Met Mystics (28-20, 44-35, 71-58)
(Archers: Hatch/Saiki, 24; Bunyan, 19; Yunker, 11 – Mystics: Sanchez, 22; Keltos, 17; Niehues, 14)
WBBL Championship
Oaklands Wolves 54-81 Caledonia Gladiators (17-26, 33-47, 43-69)
(Wolves: Gould, 20; Sarson, 11; George, 10 – Gladiators: Wolf, 26; Handy, 19; McGarrachan, 12)
A trio of WBBL Championship games saw a record crowd witness a big upset as the Essex Rebels beat the Leicester Riders in a close-fought contest, winning 73-71, thanks to a big game from Daniela Turner with 21 points.
Meanwhile, the Cardiff Met Archers and Caledonia Gladiators secured big wins, respectively, over the Manchester Met Mystics and Oaklands Wolves.
Essex Rebels successfully knocked off Leicester Riders, 73-71, in an incredible nail-biter.
Supported by a whopping 1,505 fans, setting a WBBL record, the Rebels came up with the dub behind Daniela Turner’s 21 points, shooting an efficient 76% from the field.
An exciting match-up from the tip, the home crowd bellowed as Turner opened up her scoring tab and put the home side in the lead immediately.
30 seconds later, Andrea Kohlhaas put away a long-ranged effort to send the crowd roaring, once again.
Leicester fought hard to find points past a motivated side and animated home crowd, but had to rely on visits to the free-throw line to chalk up their opening points.
Turner’s shooting spree continued throughout the opening quarter, keeping the hosts in the game.
Riders began expanding their scoring, as Oliana Squires rained in a triple and layup on consecutive plays.
But the Rebels stood ahead at the end of the first quarter, 15-14.
Second quarter action saw Essex’s centre Sune Swart command the space inside, proving a nightmare for the Riders’ defence.
With Turner running the playmaker role and Swart on the finish, the Rebels drove their lead up to almost double-figures.
Leicester hit back at the rampant hosts, as Ashley Arlen shot the lights out from outside the arc, while Fiona O’Dwyer worked fearlessly inside, getting to the free-throw line for crucial points.
With that, the Rebels remained ahead by six at the half-time buzzer.
Leicester flipped the game on its head in the third, beginning with a 9-2 blitz to tie the game up at 41 apiece.
An acrobatic McKenzie Johnston offensive rebound led to a Squires three-point score.
Essex continued to give the Riders free-throw opportunities, as the Leicester side battled their way against the Rebels defence.
With more stellar shooting from Leicester’s O’Dwyer and Kirsty Brown, the visitors were ahead going into the fourth, 48-52.
Leicester kept a lid on the Rebels’ pressure with vital scores from Jessica Eadsforth-Yates and Emma Fee.
However, Essex found their mojo from three-point range, as Tia Freeman and Claire Paxton put away successive triples to be within two points of the lead.
A clutch pair of buckets from Turner enabled the Rebels to leapfrog over the Riders, as the clock wound down.
But the lead was short-lived, as Hannah Robb sank home another three for the Riders, and a successive score from O’Dwyer put the Rebels’ chances of victory in jeopardy.
Scoring in the final minute after a sneaky steal, Squires and the Riders trailed by just one point, 69-68.
With the Rebels looking to play the clock out, the Riders were forced to foul, sending Paxton to the line, who knocked down one of two shots.
Riders called a timeout. On their first play from the timeout, a heroic pass from Arlen found Robb for a layup, putting the Riders in front with 30 seconds to go.
The Rebels sought a three-point shot, but came short, but Megan Haines was there to sweep up the offensive board, drawing a foul, and converted both free throws.
With the Rebels now back in the lead, and with less than 10 seconds left, the Riders went full-force at the Essex defenders, managing to draw a foul and head to the line – twice!
Essex held on to a 73-71 win, their seventh win of the season, to stay seventh in the standings.
The Leicester Riders now have two losses, but were by no means beaten easily.
Cardiff Met Archers are back to winning ways after a 92-67 victory over the Manchester Met Mystics.
Lauren Saiki stuffed the statsheet for the hosts, tallying 24 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds – her third career triple-double.
Saiki combined with forward Shannon Hatch for 48 points on their way to victory.
An intense start to the game, Archers engineered a great full-court defence and generated three quick turnovers, resulting in easy layups on the other end.
Manchester Met responded with a prototypical scoring clinic by Samantha Keltos, lifting the Mystics back into the game.
Despite the Mystics’ six offensive rebounds, the Archers maintained a small points advantage.
Cardiff Met concluded the first quarter strong, with Hatch draining a corner three-pointer to put them up by eight.
The second quarter saw the Mystics clawing their way back into the game, but the Archers went on a 10-0 run to make it 38-25 midway through the period.
A layup from Saiki in the closing seconds of the half provided the hosts with a nine-point advantage, 44-35.
In a high-scoring third quarter, the visiting Mystics got familiar with the three-point line, with their first three opening scores coming from beyond the perimeter.
Abby Niehues proved crucial to Manchester Met’s comeback effort, hitting back-to-back layups, with some great Mystics ball movement along the way.
Despite this, the Archers held firm, scoring from virtually every section of the floor, keeping them on top by double figures, heading into the last quarter.
Cardiff Met began firing on all cylinders in the final period, inflicting a 21-9 score line.
Though Claire Abbott got the scoring started for Manchester, with a nice assist from Shaelynne Sanchez Czerniecki, an 8-2 run for the Archers brought their lead up to the 20-point mark.
Saiki continued to find her teammates, setting up Isobel Bunyan and Hatch on successive plays.
An 8-0 run wrapped up the contest for the Cardiff Met Archers, who moved up to a 5-9 record as they look to hang on for a playoff spot.
Manchester Met Mystics log their 14th defeat of the season.
Caledonia Gladiators extended their unbeaten run with a dominant 81-54 victory over the Oaklands Wolves.
Aiding the Gladiators to their tenth win was Abbie Wolf, who put up a career high of 26 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
The Wolves got the first points logged, courtesy of a clean jump shot by talented forward Grace George.
But a subsequent 10-0 charge by the determined Gladiators quickly turned the game around.
Chantelle Handy and Wolf began to dominate, as the two forwards tested the Oaklands defence.
Handy shot well from outside, while Wolf operated efficiently inside the key.
Oaklands drew up a few nice plays to hit back at the strong Caledonia force, but Handy’s shooting propelled the Gladiators in front at the end of the opening quarter, 17-26.
Oaklands’ dynamic duo of George of Cassidy Gould provided a banquet of points for the trailing home side, combining for 14 of the Wolves’ 16 second-quarter points.
Despite almost reclaiming the lead, a pair of tough outside shots from Robyn Lewis and Tea Adams catapulted Caledonia back into the lead.
Wolf continued to play well inside the paint, providing a vital stream of points for the visiting side.
With a great team effort, the Gladiators sustained their advantage into halftime, with the score at 33-47.
Erin McGarrachan added to Caledonia’s mounting lead with a pair of nice layups, before a well-executed pull-up jumper from Gould prevented another Gladiator scoring run.
Caledonia continued to control the ball game, with Adams’ triple midway through bringing their lead up to 20 points.
The Wolves scored just 10 points in the third quarter, which made the fourth-quarter comeback too much to overcome.
With that dominant display, the Caledonia Gladiators now sit at 10 victories on the season, while the Oaklands Wolves linger in 11th place, adding their 13th loss of the season.
View the full WBBL Championship standings HERE.