WBBL Trophy Quarterfinals

Nottingham Wildcats 117-82 Cardiff Met Archers (31-18, 54-42, 91-55)
(Wildcats – Gyles 34, Egharevba 20, Pannell 19; Archers – Hatch 35, Saiki 19, Bunyan 10)

Essex Rebels 71-86 Sevenoaks Suns (19-19, 37-39, 49-59)
(Rebels – Waithe 24, Paxton 14, Kohlhaas 10; Suns – Monakana 24, Koppl 18, Wurtz 17)

The Nottingham Wildcats roared into an early lead at the Wildcats Arena as they built a 12-1 gap almost instantly against Stef Collins’ Cardiff Met Archers in the first WBBL Trophy Quarterfinal action of the day.

Kenrick Liburd’s side enjoyed balanced scoring and contributions from across the roster as they powered to that early lead, which they maintained all the way to halftime, despite Shannon Hatch playing like a woman possessed, with 21 points, six rebounds and four steals at halftime for the Archers to try and pull her team back into the game.

A 10-2 start to the second half for the Wildcats gave them a 20-point lead on the night, which eventually stretched far beyond 30 points as six scorers in double figures and Praise Egharevba notching a 20-point double-double proved too much for the visiting Archers to handle. A trip to the London Lions or Manchester Met Mystics in the semifinals awaits the Wildcats now.

At the Essex Sports Arena, Tom Sadler’s Essex Rebels welcomed Len Busch’s Sevenoaks Suns to town for the second quarterfinal of the day, and what a contest we were treated to as the Rebels really took the game to the Suns in the first half in particular.

19-19 after the first quarter, the Rebels prevented their opponents from going on runs for the most part in the early stages of the game, however the Suns did pull ahead slightly in the second period, before the Rebels produced a run of their own and pulled the deficit back to just two points at the break.

Matching the Suns’ scoring output in the first half, the Rebels’ shooting hit a cold patch in the third quarter as the visitors went on a 13-6 run out of the halftime break, and that dip proved costly as Sevenoaks kept the home side at arm’s length for the rest of the tie and went on to secure a 15-point victory.