Two Lower Seeds Through as Suns, Wildcats and…
WBBL Play-offs, Quarter-Final
Leicester Riders 69-81 Nottingham Wildcats (13-27, 28-44, 53-55)
(Riders – Hamilton 19, Robb 19, Lappenkuper 11; Wildcats – Pannell 21, Gyles 20, Egharevba 12)
WBBL Play-offs, Quarter-Final
Sevenoaks Suns 66-55 Essex Rebels (13-15, 28-35, 41-46)
(Suns – Carr 29, Monakana 13, Wurtz 10; Rebels – Bieg Salazar 10, Costa 10, Kohlhaas 9)
WBBL Play-offs, Quarter-Final
Sheffield Hatters 77-86 Caledonia Pride (24-18, 44-39, 61-64)
(Hatters – Horton 21, Gayle 16, Naylor 15; Pride – James 18, McGarrahan 15, Edwards 14)
There was the potential for upsets in the WBBL Play-off quarter-finals on Sunday, with some of the lower seeds entering the post-season as form teams, and that’s exactly what we got as Caledonia Pride and Nottingham Wildcats progressed, alongside the second-seed Sevenoaks Suns who themselves nearly fell victim to an upset.
In a tantalising East Midlands Derby, the fifth-seed Nottingham Wildcats travelled to fourth-seed Leicester Riders on the back of four straight wins which had seen them make a late surge up the WBBL Championship table, and they prevailed 81-69.
The game started with the form book as Wildcats opened 12-5 when captain Brahe Ashton hit a three-pointer and the league’s leading scorer Brooklyn Pannell scored five early points.
The lead reached double-figures at 21-9 when Jahnae Gyles came from the bench to become the third different Wildcat to hit a triple, and they posted a 10-2 run over the first quarter break started by a Shaunay Edmonds ‘and-one’ and ended in the same manner by Praise Egharevba, Nottingham up 32-15.
With their season on the line, the hosts responded after the break, starting the third 12-4 and coming all the way back to tie the game at 53 as Oceana Hamilton scored ten points and Hannah Robb eight in what became a 21-7 spell.
But Wildcats never slipped behind as Kennedy Nicholas helped them find their feet with the last score of the third, before Gyles scored eight points in the first four minutes of the fourth in what proved to be a decisive 16-6 spell, Pannell adding six more and making it 71-59 after another trey.
Overall, Pannell led the scoring once more, hitting 4-6 (66%) from the three-point line on her way to 21 points, while Gyles added 4-8 (50%) for 20 points from the bench as Wildcats shot 10-20 (50%) from long range in the game.
In a bigger upset according to seeding, sixth-placed Caledonia Pride beat 2015 Play-off winners Sheffield Hatters 86-77 on the road to reach the WBBL Play-off semi-finals for the first time ever, with five players scoring in double-figures led by 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds from Laken James.
Again, Pride came in on form having won 10 of their last 12 games since February, including beating Hatters in that time, and this game was close all the way through despite Helen Naylor hitting consecutive three-pointers early on in an 8-0 run for the hosts as they led 21-15.
But the teams were never separated by more than two possessions until late in the third, when Pride edged back in front on a 10-3 burst book-ended by Maud Ranger three-pointers as she finished with 14 points on 4-6 (66%) from beyond the arc, Pride up 64-59.
From there Pride never trailed again, eventually pushing the lead out as James and Taylor Edwards scored the opening two buckets of the fourth for a 68-61 lead, and when Hatters got back to within one, Erin McGarrahan scored six points in a 9-2 response, and the advantage was 84-72 with two minutes to play when Edwards made an ‘and-one’.
Finally, in the one game that went to seeding, Sevenoaks Suns had to use a dramatic late surge after trailing for much of the game at home against Essex Rebels, the three-time WBBL Play-off champions eventually winning 66-55.
In a low-scoring game, Rebels made a 10-2 run midway through the first as Andrea Kohlhaas hit a pair of three-pointers to lead 15-7 and they subsequently led for over 30 minutes of the contest, and briefly by double-figures in the third period as they held their hosts scoreless for numerous spells.
Trailing by five points heading into the fourth, Suns showed their credentials when it mattered as they hit the first five points of the decisive period to immediately tie the game at 46 on a Janice Monakana three-pointer, before former league and Play-off Final MVP Cat Carr took over.
That start became a 19-3 push over seven minutes as Renee Busch added another triple and Carr scored ten points, making it 60-49 and including an exclamation mark ‘and-one’ play that all but settled the game with three minutes remaining.
Carr finished the game with a huge haul of 29 points, nearly completing a triple-double as she grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out nine assists. There were double-doubles of 13 points and 12 rebounds for Monakana, and 10 points and 10 rebounds for Frankie Wurtz.
In the semi-finals, Caledonia Pride will face top-seed London Lions and Sevenoaks Suns will meet Nottingham Wildcats.
Via: WBBL
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