It was a long weekend on the road for the WBBL team having travelled north to Durham then back south London on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday the team came away with a win of 73-75 after a tough game on the road at Durham Palatines.
Karly Murphy led the way with a massive 28 points and 16 rebounds, but the most important points of the game went to Helen Naylor.
She had been scoreless for 39 minutes and 53 seconds, but her three after a well-designed play out of the timeout saw Georgia Gayle find Naylor for an open shot that put the WBBL team up by two.
With one last chance, Jess Wayne couldn’t find the same success on a buzzer beating shot as her Palatines fell after a great battle.
Durham got out to a good start after Helen Ottewill-Soulsby grabbed an offensive rebound off Elle Hendershot’s miss, and put it back to score the first two of her 25-point outing.
A brief flurry from the WBBL team got us back in the game before the Palatines regained the lead going to end the first quarter.
Murphy took over with seven minutes left in the second. She grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, then followed it up by a three.
Nicolette Fairley joined the action for the Hatters with a pair of floaters, and her team took a seven-point lead going into the half.
The teams played each other to a stalemate in the third, and the Hatters looked in control with somewhere between a five and nine-point lead for most of the frame.
It was Wayne and Ottewill-Soulsby who led the Palatinates comeback to start the fourth. But Hendershot and Chukwu-Etu gave Durham the lead with less than two minutes to go.
The cool head of Helen Naylor took over, as she found Murphy twice to regain the lead for the WBBL team – a floater putting them up 72-71 with 30 seconds to go.
On the other end, Murphy made the mistake of fouling Ottweill-Soulsby, who sunk both free throws with 14 seconds left.
However, in the dying seconds Naylor took the biggest shot of the game, which she hit to put the team up by two and take the well-earned win on the road.
After a tough game on Saturday, it was on to an even tougher match up against London on Sunday 2 April 2023, with a depleted roster of just 8 players.
The Lions demonstrated their dominance from the start of the game, distributing the ball unselfishly, forcing the Hatters to move on defence.
The Lions found their rhythm and put points on the board early on.
However, the Hatters refused to back down, with Lena Niang and Charli Wroe sinking consecutive buckets and a deep three-pointer to slice the Lions’ lead to just two points.
London’s Ty Battle and Snytsina orchestrated a well-timed pick-and-roll, leaving Battle wide open for a layup to keep the home side on top.
The Hatters hit back, with Hannah Shaw battling fiercely on the offensive boards to draw a nice layup in the closing minutes.
Sheffield turnovers allowed the Lions to extend their lead, finishing the opening quarter ahead by double figures, 27-17.
Snystina continued putting up shots in the second quarter, remaining perfect from three-point range going 4/4.
The Hatters managed to keep the Lions’ attack relatively quiet for a few minutes before Nicolette Fairley hit an old-school fadeaway jumper from the elbow.
The Lions put together a 13-2 run to round up the first half, culminating with a Chantel Charles and-one play to go up 56-27.
Hatters made a good start out of the halftime break, scoring six quick points as they attempted the comeback.
However, the Lions regained control with a no-look pass from Vorpahl to Battle resulting in a score under the basket.
The Lions went on an 18-0 run, before Fairley broke the scoring drought for the Hatters with a mid-range jump shot.
But the Lions’ relentless offence and dominant defence proved too much for the Hatters and they finished the game with an 87-48 win.