BA London Lions signed off 2020 with their first win of the 2020/21 WBBL Championship campaign, defeating the Newcastle Eagles 85-72 in an entertaining affair on Sunday afternoon.
The result marked the Eagles’ third straight loss to kickstart their Championship campaign, as the Lions raced into an 18-point lead by halftime in an impressive showing.
The Lions were led by Cassie Breen’s incredible 26 point outing, with all of her points coming in the first half in a dominating display that saw Breen shoot 61% from the floor and an impressive 50% from three-point range. London had five players finish in double digits in points scoring and also had a sizeable advantage on the boards, and led by as much as 27 points in the ballgame.
Newcastle grew into the game in the second half off the back of impressive showings from Alison Gorrell, Maddy Mcivar and Lisa Koop, but the game was out of sight for the Eagles by halftime and the Lions carried out a professional job of seeing the game out.
Leicester Riders and Cardiff Met Archers both secured their first wins of their WBBL campaigns in a lively Saturday afternoon of basketball.
Riders raced into an early lead and finished the first ahead by three, a gap that Wildcats were not able to close all the way to the final whistle after a solid defensive performance from Riders. Holly Winterburn was the Riders star player finishing with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Kate Oliver was also key, contributing 14 with 8 rebounds.
Chelsey Shumpert put up a massive 36 points for the hosts however her efforts were not enough, and the Wildcats would go on to lose 69-64 in their second game of the season. It was the perfect start to the season for Riders who make it 1 win from 1 game to kickstart their campaign.
Cardiff Met Archers returned to winning ways following a loss to Wildcats last time out as they beat Manchester Met Mystics 72-67. A double double performance from Mara Marchizotti was the difference between the two sides as she finished the game with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
For the visitors, Ebony Horton supplied 18 points and 4 assists, but it would be Archers who would go home with the points and now have 1 win and 1 loss to their name. Mystics have the same record after two as well.
