EBL Women’s Final Fours – Day 1 Recap

Saturday saw UWIC Archers and Sheffield Hatters book their place in the EBL Division One Playoff Final, as they knocked off Leeds Carnegie and Nottingham Wildcats respectively in the Women’s EBL Final Fours at the Amaechi Centre, Manchester.

Semi Final 1 – Sheffield Hatters vs. Leeds Carnegie

In the first semi final of the day Sheffield were ruthless in their demise of Leeds Carnegie, winning 87-52.

Sheffield opened up an 11-0 lead to start the game before Rehana Khalil got to the line to put Leeds on the board.  Behind the brilliant play making of Lisa Hutchinson and the scoring of Stefanie Gandy, Hatters extended their lead to 34-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Carnegie’s Tina Menz struggled in the second quarter and despite brilliant flashes from Khalil and Jo Clayden, Sheffield executed well and pushed their advantage to 33 points by the half.

Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee checked into the game for Leeds mid way through the third quarter and her energy sparked a surge for Carnegie on the offensive end. They started to put points on the board, Nicolette finishing the quarter with 10 points, but it was too late.

Although there were moments of great play from Leeds, Sheffield seemed to be going through the motions on their way to victory as Gandy, Hutchinson and Helen Naylor picked apart Carnegie’s defence for the remainder of the game. The three finished with 23, 15 and 19 points respectively whilst Lisa Hutchinson recorded a triple double of 15 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists. Sheffield took the win and advanced to the Final.

Full stats and play by play can be found here.

Semi Final 2 – UWIC Archers vs. Nottingham Wildcats

The second semi final was a much closer contest. UWIC led throughout the game, coming out with a 72-64 victory.

UWIC began the game executing well, using their speed to get to basket however it seemed they had no answer for Nottingham’s Lele Hardy, who managed to keep her team close at the end of the first quarter.

With five minutes to go in the half and UWIC leading by just three, Leah Dehaan knocked down a long two, followed by Megan Hoffman stepping up and draining back-to-back jump shots to extend the Welsh side’s lead to 36-26 at the half.

In the third, UWIC got some great production from Torunn Eilertsen Ytrehus off the bench for Stef Collins, who had been reliable at the point as always, creating for her team at every opportunity. This helped maintain UWIC’s intensity, and save Collin’s legs for the Final too. Despite some reluctance to take open jump shots from UWIC, making offensive production laborious, they went into the final break 54-41 up over the Wildcats.

The fourth quarter saw Nottingham eat into UWIC’s lead due to Nottingham’s bench production at a crucial time, from Jennie Rodgers, and some great post play from Hannah Shaw. After a shooting exchange from both team’s guards, Nottingham got to with four points with just three minutes to go. This would be as close as they would get as UWIC continued to answer the Wildcats’ push and closed out the game to win 72-64. The Archers were led by Megan Hoffman’s 21 points, 14 rebounds performance whilst Nottingham’s Lele Hardy totalled 20 points and 17 boards for her team.

Full stats and play by play can be found here.

Surprised by anything today? Got something to add? Who do you think is going to take the Championship later on today? Drop a comment and let us know.