London Lions bounce back in EuroCup Women for first win

Image credit: FIBA

London Lions bounced back from an opening loss in the EuroCup Women regular season as they defeated Roche Vendee 90-79 at Crystal Palace, on Thursday evening.

Mark Clark’s side faced French opposition for the second week running, but returned to winning ways in the competition behind a strong third quarter to improve to 1-1 in Group J.

Holly Winterburn starred with 19 points, seven rebounds and nine assists in the win with Kiki Herbert-Harrigan adding 18 points as five players reached double figures in total.

Box score.

Ty Battle scored London’s first six points of the game and they used a 7-0 run to move 13-6 ahead. Their lead hit eight points when Kennedy Leonard came off the bench to sink a pair of free throws with the hosts 19-13 in front after 10 minutes.

The Lions were 32-23 ahead when Katsiaryna Snytsina hit a triple in the second period, but the visitors responded with a 16-6 spell to take the lead with the two sides going in level at the break at 43-43.

Winterburn began to take over at the start of the third with plays on both sides of the floor as London seized control. They saw big and-1 finishes from Herbert-Harrigan and Taylor Murray in the midst of establishing a double-digit cushion with Winterburn making it 68-56 from beyond the arc.

The gap peaked at 14 points in the fourth and while Roche Vendee did reduce the deficit to single figures, London kept their composure and were rarely troubled as they closed out an important victory.

London are back on the road next week when they head to Italy to take on Sassari (0-2) in another important clash in the group.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix