All-Star Five – Week 15 – Women’s British Basketball League

This week’s All-Star Five is led by the WBBL Trophy Final MVP, Kennedy Leonard, just ahead of two of the league’s other in-form players in DeAngelique Waithe and Georgia Jones as, overall, the team features four of the top ten regulars.

Kennedy Leonard – London Lions
Leonard led Lions to their first ever piece of WBBL silverware on Sunday, winning MVP of the Trophy Final live on Sky Sports after posting a near triple-double of 21 points, nine assists, seven steals and six rebounds. She was influential in key early exchanges as Lions held a dominant lead throughout; and it is her sixth appearance in the All-Star Five, third most of any player, and her third in the last four weeks.

DeAngelique Waithe – Essex Rebels
Waithe is also making her third appearance in the last four weeks, having featured alongside Leonard on each occasion, and fourth overall after Rebels won a close one on the road at Cardiff Met Archers. The league’s sixth leading scorer and fifth leading rebounder put up a monster double-double of 26 points and 18 rebounds, the latter a season-high and including eight at the offensive end as Essex created 15 second chance points, six more than their hosts in a five point win.

Georgia Jones – Manchester Met Mystics
Featuring twice recently alongside Leonard and Waithe, Jones also makes the All-Star Five for the fourth time, and third in the last five weeks. She could have featured twice after a pair of wins for Mystics last week, first scoring 17 points with nine assists, six rebounds and three steals against Oaklands Wolves; and then a 20 point, 12 rebound double-double, with four assists and three steals to lead Mystics past Cardiff.

Cat Carr – Sevenoaks Suns
Suns remain the only unbeaten side in the WBBL Championship, after toppling the previously unbeaten Lions in midweek. Carr played all 40 minutes and finished on 24 points, six assists and five rebounds; and, decisively, Suns’ captain made the game-winning plays as she scored the final six points inside the last minute of the contest to turn a late deficit into a crucial win in the title race. It is her third All-Star Five appearance, but first for ten weeks.

Helen Naylor – Manchester Met Mystics
One of the WBBL’s leading lights in recent years – having featured five times in either the Molten WBBL Team of the Year or British Team of the Year – makes her first All-Star Five appearance of this season. Naylor came from the bench to score 19 points, with eight rebounds and four assists, as Mystics beat Cardiff. That included seven points, four boards and three assists in a fourth quarter that Mystics won 22-7 to settle a previously tight game.

Off the bench: Cristina Bigica (Cardiff Met Archers), Lucrezia Costa (Essex Rebels), Ta’Yani Clark (Sevenoaks Suns), Kara Elderkin (Durham Palatinates), Cassie Breen (London Lions), Maddy McVicar (Newcastle Eagles), Greeta Urpus (Oaklands Wolves).