A hard fought contest in a battle of the north vs the south saw the London Lions prevail over the Manchester Giants 53-104 in front of the Giants faithful. 

Marg Jones and her Manchester Giants are back in action this afternoon as they hosted the current Women’s British Basketball League Trophy Champions the London Lions. 

Both teams are heading into this afternoon’s game as opposites. London are off the back of a win against the Sheffield Hatters 92-74. As for Manchester, the Giants are looking to right this run of form after losing 66-46 to the hand of the Caledonia Gladiators. 

Starting 5’s: 

Manchester Giants: Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus, Georgia Anderson ©, Leah McDerment, Sydney Hunter, Hannah Shaw. 

London Lions: Shey Peddy, Karlie Samuelson, Abby Meyers, Temi Fágbénlé, Savannah Wilkinson. 

First Half: 

A tough opening few minutes for Manchester as they went down by double digits early, Soon after, Manchester’s Eva Karasaite found rhythm from long range to claw back the deficit. Idil Turk provided an offensive spark off the bench as she contributed from close range and beyond the arc. Manchester started to find some interior presence through Hannah Shaw.

A big offensive rebound from the Giants Centre followed up by a bucket cut the lead to as close as 5. London took a timeout with 16 seconds left to draw up a play that freed up London’s Snytsina for a 3 to keep an 8 point lead. 

London picked up where they left off in the 2nd quarter. The Lions began to tighten up their defence on the perimeter which left Manchester with limited options as they were held to just 5 points in the entire quarter.

London kept the pressure and intensity at an all time high. Combining their full-court press on defence with quick and precise ball movement around the perimeter and off ball screens on offence saw London take a staggering 36 point lead against Manchester heading into the half time interval. 

Second Half: 

Manchester came out the break and held London to a scoreless opening 3 minutes, not giving their opponents an inch on the offensive side of the ball. Manchester were able to put together a multitude of promising offensive looks but to no avail. Until Hannah Shaw produced a floater at the top of the key and simultaneously drew the foul to go to the line.

Georgia Anderson drew the foul whilst making a tough yet stylish layup under the basket as the Giants centre and guard combo began to claw back the deficit. Leah McDerment aided them with a much needed 3 ball from the corner. 

Manchester found their rhythm from beyond the arc as Idil Turk and Georgia Anderson hit nothing but net. A much needed 21-18 point quarter from Manchester but a 33 point deficit still to overcome. 

London opened the final quarter with a 14-0 scoring run only halted by a close make from Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus. The Giants guard’s efforts were bolstered by Eva Karasaite connecting once more from beyond the arc. Despite the efforts of a depleted Manchester Giants rotation, The Giants could not handle the London Lions at home. 

Next up on the Giants calendar is a home game against the Leicester Riders. Tip off is scheduled for Sunday 25th February at 2:00pm. 

The game footage from this afternoon’s clash will be available to view below: