All-Star 5 – Week 12 – Women’s British Basketball…

The latest WBBL All-Star 5 is full of Great Britain internationals including a pair of London Lions as they remained unbeaten atop the WBBL Championship and progressed to the WBBL Cup Final, where they will face Leicester Riders who are also represented in this week’s team after Cup semi-final success.

Holly Winterburn – London Lions
London Lions improved to 7-0 in defence of their WBBL Championship title with a big win over Nottingham Wildcats in the capital on Saturday, led by Great Britain international guard Holly Winterburn as the three-time Molten WBBL Young Player of the Year makes her first All-Star 5 appearance of this campaign. In just 20 minutes of play she poured in 25 points on 9-13 (69%) shooting, along with eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, including six points and two assists in the opening four minutes as Lions led 34-10 at the end of the first and never looked back.

Karly Murphy – Sheffield Hatters
American forward Karly Murphy is the overall appearances leader, as the Molten WBBL Player of the Month for November stays in fine form by making her second consecutive showing and fifth of the season so far, with Hatters beating Essex Rebels on the road for back-to-back wins. She had another huge double-double of 18 points and 17 rebounds, while also handing out four assists, including four points and three boards in the last five minutes as Hatters broke a tie with a 25-17 fourth quarter to snatch the road win.

McKenzie Johnston – Leicester Riders
Leicester Riders are in January’s WBBL Cup Final as they look to regain the trophy that they won in 2021 after beating Essex Rebels in Sunday’s semi-final behind a double-double from American point guard McKenzie Johnston, as she makes her second All-Star 5 appearance of the season, but first since the opening week. She scored 11 points on 5-7 (71%) interior shooting and dished out 12 assists for her teammates, along with five rebounds and four steals, including six points, three assists and two steals in a fourth quarter that Riders won 24-12 to settle an otherwise tight contest.

Shequila Joseph – London Lions
Another Great Britain international from the Lions making her first appearance of the season in the weekly team is Shequila Joseph, who put up a double-double off the bench in the win over Nottingham. She scored 14 points, knocking down two of her three long-range attempts in a game where Lions shot 46% from the three-point line, while grabbing 10 rebounds with two assists. Six of those boards were at the offensive end and led directly to nine points in a game where Lions scored 20 second chance points, as she also scored seven points in two second stanza minutes as the lead swelled to 30 before the break.

Chantelle Handy – Caledonia Gladiators
Veteran Great Britain forward and London 2012 Olympian Chantelle Handy led Caledonia Gladiators to a bounce back win and a 5-1 WBBL Championship record with home victory over Manchester Met Mystics, leading to her second All-Star 5 appearance of the campaign so far. She scored 16 points on 4-7 (57%) shooting from beyond the three-point line, with six rebounds and five assists, including eight points and a pair of triples in a 21-9 third quarter that set-up the win and gave Gladiators a cushion to hold off a late fightback.

Off the bench: Samantha Keltos (Manchester Met Mystics), Araion Bradshaw (Sevenoaks Suns), Emma Fee (Leicester Riders), Kennedy Nicholas (Nottingham Wildcats), Judit Fritz (Sevenoaks Suns), Helen Naylor (Sheffield Hatters), Claire Paxton (Essex Rebels).