Five D1W games fill the next few days, including an exciting NBL Live clash in the North West between Manchester Mystics and CoLA Southwark Pride.
Attention then turns to the Midlands on Sunday as Loughborough Riders and Endeavour Ipswich Basketball will battle it out to book a spot in next month's National Cup final.
We take a look at all the weekend's matchups below, with links to live stats at the bottom of the page.
The NBL Live cameras will be in Manchester this weekend to see the Mystics taking on co-leaders CoLA Southwark Pride.
With just one loss in their last six, a surprise defeat to Bristol, CoLA are in fine form and have wasted no time in assuming a position near the summit of the table.
Manchester are trending in the other direction however, after winning three in a row to start the season before going a more modest 2-3 in their last five outings.
Neither of these teams have players who dominate the league's stats leaderboards, instead going about their business and getting the job done as part of a wider team approach.
That is best displayed by the fact these two teams own the best two defences in D1W, with CoLA giving up a measly 57.9PPG, with Manchester (58.9PPG) only just behind.
Likewise, both teams average over 20 points per game from their opponent's turnovers, forcing other teams into mistakes before capitalising at the other end.
Manchester are sure to lean heavily on the experienced Rehana Khalil (11.9PPG, 8.0RPG, 3.8APG), who leads the Mystics in points, rebounds, assists and efficiency this season, with youngsters Irene Oboavwoduo (11.5PPG), Elizandra Costa (10.7PPG) and Kizzy Spence (8.6PPG) all doing their bit as well.
For CoLA, it's a similar story, with Ayla Habbal (16.5PPG) leading the way with ample support from the likes of Chandera Jones-Aryeh (11.0PPG), Adaora Dioramma (9.4PPG) and Debra Wilson-Osuide (8.4PPG).
Tomorrow's game is unlikely to be a shootout, but it should provide plenty of quality basketball from two teams looking to end 2024 on a high.
John Hobbs and Co. will have all the action from Manchester on the Basketball England YouTube channel, starting at from 3:30pm.
.
That leaves three other games for Saturday, plus one more on Sunday.
Cobham Cobras (4-6) host Thames Valley Cavaliers (4-5) as a pair of teams on eight points go head-to-head. The winner will end the year in the playoff places heading in 2025, a fine prize that both teams will be going all out to secure.
Bristol Academy Flyers (5-5) enjoyed some solid form to get them into the playoff mix before a recent a pair of defeats threatened to blow that momentum off course. They'll look to try and beat struggling Barking Abbey (1-7) and get back on course.
Saturday comes to a close with a home tie for Worcester Wolves (3-5), who have enjoyed some bright spots in the first half of their return campaign in D1W. They'll look to close out strong with a win against Anglia Ruskin University (6-4), who are currently tied for a place in the top four.
Sunday's only league game takes place in Brent as the Bulls (6-2) will try continue their push to get to top spot against a Reading Rockets (1-8) still trying to get out of the mire at the other end.
The first of this season's WNBL National Cup semi-finals takes place on Sunday as Endeavour Ipswich Basketball travel to Loughborough Riders in an all-D1W clash.
Both these teams have plenty of fond memories of this competition, with Ipswich being current holders and 2017/18 winners, whilst the Riders last got their hands on the trophy in 2018/19 for their only win.
D1W scoring leader Harriet Welham will no doubt be hoping to keep her scoring exploits going, she averages 24.4PPG and is a tough problem for any team to solve right now.
Loughborough don't have a scorer like that on their roster right now, but Erin Caldwell (12.4PPG), Alex Shaw (11.4PPG) and Daisy Porter (8.4PPG) can all get the job done if not properly attended to.
The winner will book a spot in Manchester for next month's Cup final, played on Sunday 19 January 2025, with Brent Bulls and Thames Valley Cavaliers battling it out for the other spot in the showpiece on 5 January.
1pm - Cobham Cobras vs Thames Valley Cavaliers - LIVE STATS
3:30pm - Manchester Mystics vs CoLA Southwark Pride - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
5:30pm - Bristol Academy Flyers vs Barking Abbey - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
7pm - Worcester Wolves vs Anglia Ruskin University - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
3pm - Brent Bulls vs Reading Rockets - LIVE STATS
5pm - Loughborough Riders vs Endeavour Ipswich Basketball - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM
Live stream details will be added as they become available.
.
Main image credit - Flo Alalade
