The Wrap

Manchester Mystics made history by becoming the first-ever winners of the WBBL Cup in front of a large crowd at the Barclaycard Arena.

Jeff Jones’ side never trailed in the contest and pushed clear for good in the third en route to a 71-60 success over the league leaders, Nottingham Wildcats.

Leading trio Rheanne Bailey, Dominique Allen and Georgia Jones combined for 60 points in the win with Allen claiming MVP honours with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 11 rebounds.

“It’s absolutely great,” enthused head-coach Jones. “We made a conscious decision in February, although it may have taken until July to see what we could do to help transform [the club].

“We just thought that with the new facility, new ownership, a new direction, make a change.
Obviously we were very fortunate to get the players in of the calibre that we got and keep the majority of the team from last year.

“From our point, it’s absolutely phenomenal and it’s a first step on a pretty long journey.

 

“We played about 25 minutes of our kind of basketball, moving the ball and sharing it.

“The character of the team is exceptional, their composure under pressure is really good.
We’ll take it. It’s the first trophy and hopefully it’s not the last.”

There was also one other game that took place over the weekend as Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters recorded an 83-74 win over Team Northumbria behind 27 points from Steph Gandy.