Oaklands Wolves picked up their first Championship win of the season as the BA London Lions made it a perfect five from five on Sunday, with the Essex Rebels picking up another impressive victory on an action-packed Sunday afternoon.
The Wolves put their first two points of the season on the board after a huge win away to Caledonia Pride, whilst the Lions ran out convincing winners against Nottingham Wildcats. Essex heaped more misery on a Durham Palatinates side still looking for their first Championship points of the season.
The afternoon’s action tipped off in London as the Lions looked to continue their 100% start to the WBBL Championship. Coming up against the formidable duo of Jasmine Joyner and Chelsey Shumpert, the Lions held the pair to 21 points combined as London put in yet another impressive showing.
With only five points separating the sides going into the final quarter, the Lions exploded in the fourth and outscored their rivals 22 points to nine. Kennedy Leonard racked up a double-double as she had 21 points to go along with 11 assists as the Lions bench tallied up 24 points, double that of the Wildcats.
Essex Rebels continued their fine start to the season with the victory over Durham Palatinates, as an early 16 point first quarter lead proved enough to keep the Palatinates at bay.
Deangelique Waithe posted another double-double in a fine individual showing, with a game high 22 points along with 10 rebounds, as the Rebels picked up their fourth Championship win of the campaign to as they bounced back from last week’s loss to the Manchester Met Mystics.
The day’s action was capped from a huge performance from Oaklands in the Scottish capital, as they picked up their first win of the season over a Caledonia side who have now lost three from their last four.
The Wolves led by as many as 14 in an impressive away showing, with Amari Carter leading the team in scoring with 20 points and Lauren Milligan racking up 10 points to match her 10 rebounds for the game. Sian Phillips enjoyed another fine individual performance as she amassed a mammoth double-double, posting 22 points with an incredible 16 rebounds, however the rest of the Pride could not follow suit as the Wolves left Edinburgh with those much sought after two points.
On Saturday, Manchester Met Mystics secured their third win of the WBBL Championship with an eighteen point victory over the Durham Palatinates.
Durham had a slender lead at the end of the first quarter, but were unable to hold onto the lead, as Manchester fought back to lead throughout the whole of the second half.
Ebony Horton was the top scorer for the Mystics, as she scored 15 points off the bench in just 21 minutes of action.
Also for the Mystics, Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee added eleven points and nine rebounds, and Hannah Shaw secured a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds.
Captain Georgia Jones provided all over the court for the Mystics, with eleven points, five rebounds, five assists and an incredible five steals.
It was a tough afternoon for the Palatinates, who fell to their fourth defeat in four, but the positive for coach Lee Davie was the performance of captain Kara Elderkin, who had 20 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
At the Archers Arena the Newcastle Eagles overcame the Cardiff Met Archers by 19 points, for their second win of the season.
Alison Gorrell led the game for the Eagles, scoring 19 points and contributing nine rebounds and seven assists.
Maddy McVicar provided a double-double for the visitors, with 14 points and eleven rebounds to help the Eagles produce a much needed victory.
It was a very convincing performance from Newcastle, growing the lead to 26 points late on in the game, and Cardiff were unable to gain one lead during the 40 minutes of basketball.
For the Archers, Sara Jorgensen and Christina Bigica led the team in scoring, both providing 14 points, but defeat sees Cardiff drop down to seventh in the Championship standings.
