WNBL Round Up – Hatters Go Three Games Clear

Sheffield Hatters are now three games clear at the top of the division one Women’s league after beating Loughborough Riders 59-78 and the Nottingham Wildcats go ahead of Cardiff Archers after their 61-89. Sevenoaks Suns split their weekend with a six point win at Barking Abbey and a loss against Team Northumbria, who also had a double header weekend beating Manchester Mystics 85-33.

Loughborough were eager to bounce back from their home defeat against Cardiff Archers last weekend when they faced top of the table Sheffield Hatters.

The Hatters grasped onto a narrow two point lead after the first quarter, but stepped it up a gear in the second to go up 38-25 at half time. The Riders were able to hold off the Hatters from adding to their lead, winning the third quarter by two points and being in a position to potentially turn the game around being down 11 points.

However this was not to be as The Hatters went on a run that left Loughborough unable to respond as they dropped 21 points in the final stanza. Naylor and Johnson both scored 19 for the Hatters, followed by Gandy with 15. Top scorer for Loughborough was Kirschbaum with 20.

Nottingham clinched second in the league table with their win at the Archers Arena. The Wildcats stormed off to an 26-18 start, mounting the pressure on the home side as they went on to score another 24 points in the second quarter.

The second half showed an improved defensive performance from Cardiff, however it was not enough to make a difference in the result as Nottingham continued to score consistently. Nottingham’s win was led by Adrien Ritchie who scored 30 points. Bicane followed with 22. Cardiff’s top scorers were Jenkins (18) and Wagstaff (12)

Sevenoaks Suns started their weekend with a win at Barking Abbey, holding off the home side by 6 points. With no team going up by more than eight points throughout the game, the contest between the two teams went right to the final buzzer.

The first half saw the lead change on numerous occasions with both teams finding it difficult to covert first chance scoring opportunities. Abbey struggled to score consistently in the second and third quarter, allowing the Suns to get stops defensively and take their time to put up high percentage shots on the offensive end. Sevenoaks held off the home side in a close fourth quarter, setting them up in good stead for their game VS Nottingham the following day.
Sevenoaks were led by Carr (13) and Wright (10) and Dianna Goranoava led the scores for Barking with 14.

Team Northumbria made short work of Manchester Mystics, winning 85-33. Manchester scored just 5 points whilst Northumbria ran away with 22 first quarter points. The first quarter set the tone and Northumbria never looked back, sailing to their first win of the weekend. Top scorers for Northumbria were Spotwood (24) Clark (13) and Voynova (12).

Northumbria hosted Sevenoaks as both teams faced their second game in as many days with both teams eager to finish the weekend with two wins. Northumbria led by just 4 at half time, but were able to double that lead as the third quarter progressed. Sevenoaks hung around, making it difficult for Northumbria to run away with the game with a much closer third quarter, where Sevenoaks trailed just

This weekend Sheffield host Cardiff as they look to increase their gap from Nottingham at the top of the table. Loughborough will travel to Nottingham. Barking Abbey will look to pick up their second win against Manchester at the Amaechi Center.