WNBL Week 7 Round Up

An upset for the previously unbeaten Nottingham Wildcats is the headline story in week seven of the WNBL.

Loughborough Riders halted the Wildcats 4 game winning streak, leaving Cardiff Archers as the only remaining unbeaten club. Sevenoaks narrowly missed out on achieving their first win with a 6 point loss to Team Northumbria, whilst Barking also remain winless at the hands of Sheffield Hatters. At the top of the league Cardiff Archers took a 17 point road win against Manchester Magic.

Game of the week Loughborough Riders and Nottingham Wildcats promised to be an exciting contest after Loughborough knocked the Wildcats out of the national cup competition a few weeks prior. Loughborough took the lead by 4 points after the first quarter, with the second bringing big defensive efforts from both teams leading to a narrow 2 point margin between the home side and the joint league leaders. Loughborough continued to hold the edge over the visitors, winning the third quarter by 5. The Wildcats couldn’t quite manage to break the Riders defence in the fourth and despite winning the quarter, it wasn’t enough and Nottingham took their first league loss 64-70.

Riders Coach Matt Harber was delighted with the win, recognising the importance of getting results against the top teams.

“This league game against Nottingham was always going to be highly competitive and went down to the wire as expected. I am really proud of the team for holding their nerve down the stretch. Particular mention to Maaja Bratka for an exceptional rebounding performance which helped the team to perform as we did.”

Seven players across both teams hit double figures, with Adrien Ritchie leading with 24, followed by 14 from Bicane and Baranowski with 11 for the Wildcats. Bratka top scored for the Riders with 16, with Georgia Jones adding 14. Rheanne Bailey and Gill Baird each added 12 to take the Riders to 4-1.

Sevenoaks travelled to Northumbria where a stand out 29 point performance from new signing and ex Team Northumbria player Catherine Carr took Sevenoaks very close to recording their first league win. The home side started the game strongly, recording 19 points while continuing to show defensive strength keeping the Suns to 14, however the roles reversed in the second quarter.

Sevenoaks closed the 5 point lead to tie the game 36-36 at half time. The second half continued to be as close as the first; however a solid performance getting to the basket from Leola Spotwood and good shooting from team mate Kat Hulme held the Suns off resulting in a 6 point win. Spotwood led Team Northumbria with 24 whilst Hulme scored 17. Catherine Carr dropped an impressive 29 points against her previous team, followed by 12 from Lewis and 11 from Green.

Manchester Magic hosted Cardiff Archers, where the home side put on a strong first half performance but were unable to hold of the Archers over the full 40 minutes. Cardiff only began to break away from the Mystics during the second quarter after tying the first quarter. The second half was completely in the Archers hands, dropping 29 in the third, outscoring the home side 52-30 in the second half.

Jenkins led the Archers with 26, followed by 20 from player/ Coach Stef Collins. Browne (27) and Lucas (23) put on an impressive performance for Manchester, combining for 50 of the Mystics 60 points.

Sheffield Hatters were looking to continue their winning ways after an early home loss against Cardiff Archers. Sheffield took an quick lead over Barking, however the home side picked up their defensive effort to keep Sheffield engaged over all four quarters. Trailing by 12 at half time, Barking were aware of the challenge that lay ahead of them in the second half.

Mason, Walton and Durojaye combined efficiently for Barking, as well as a good shooting performance from Leah McDerment, however the young side were unable to convert consistently and lost the game 62-75.

“I hope this is the last time I have to talk about moral victories,” said BA Head Coach Mark Clark, looking for the positives within another loss.

“There’s a lot of rumour about the ‘the demise of Sheffield’ this season, but I think that’s been greatly exaggerated. That’s a decent Sheffield team; they’re well coached, they did an excellent job down the stretch and they have some young players that looked very effective.

“But we’ve got to stop getting moral victories, and get the W.”

Helen Naylor top scored for the Hatters with 21, whilst Gandy and Thomas had 13 each. Mason and Walton top scored for Barking with 16 and Durojaye scored 14.

Week 8 Preview

Barking Abbey will be hoping to draw on the positives of their loss against Sheffield Hatters when they face the only unbeaten team remaining in the league, Cardiff Archers. Team Northumbria takes on Loughborough Riders and Nottingham Wildcats will be looking to bounce back from their close loss against the Riders when they face Team Northumbria. Sevenoaks play Manchester, where both teams will be looking to record their second league win.