It was the penultimate game of the season for Marg Jones and her Manchester Giants as they welcomed the Durham Palatinates to the National Basketball Performance Centre. 

Both teams are vying for the final playoff spot here this afternoon, a win for both would put them in good stead for post season basketball. 

Starting 5’s: 

Manchester Giants: Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus, Georgia Anderson ©, Myah Pace, Lauren Thomas-Johnson, Hannah Shaw. 

Durham Palatinates: Janika Griffith-Wallace, Eliza Brault, Orieoma Chukwu-Etu, Elle Hendershot ©, Sophie Klassen.

First Half: 

It was an electric start for Manchester from tip, Georgia Anderson and Myah Pace set the Giants on their way with a 7-0 scoring run in the opening 90 seconds prompting a timeout from Palatinates head coach Lee Davie. The timeout proved to be effective as Durham replied with an 11 point scoring run of their own through the midway point of the quarter to take the lead.

Idil Turk responded from 3 point range to bring Durham within a single point. Durham filtered their offense through Griffith-Wallace who went 4/7 from the field and even 75% from 3 in the quarter. With an 11 point quarter from the Durham guard, the Palatinates found themselves up by 3. 

Manchester found themselves down by as much as 10 in the 2nd quarter, a slow start as Griffith-Wallace continued to rain 3’s as well as Brault too. Idil Turk then went to work on the inside, getting 2 layups to fall as well as an and one play. Manchester managed to tie it up at the halfway point in the quarter at 32 a piece as Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus, Myah Pace and Lauren Thomas-Johnson all contributed from 2 point range. 

The game slowly started to slip once again as Brault and Griffith-Wallace combined once more from inside and outside scoring. The duo finished on 32 combined points across both quarters as the Palatinates led the Giants 37-42. 

Second Half: 

It was a quiet 3rd quarter for this game's standards yet a close one all the same, a single point separated Manchester and Durham. Griffith-Wallace continued to be a constant threat for the Giants defense especially from the perimeter as she notched another pair of threes and another 10 points in total out of Durham’s 17 points all quarter.

Myah Pace would continue to be a scoring threat for Manchester until she pulled up with an injury and would check out of the game for the final time. All eyes were on Manchester to provide a scoring boost and the Giants did exactly that. Lauren Thomas-Johnson from close range, Hannah Shaw with darts from the midrange and even Idil Turk from the free throw line to bring it within 2. 

The final quarter was a close 10 minutes of basketball. Leah McDerment and Klassen traded baskets to start the quarter. Durham attempted to pull ahead as Grifftih-Wallace continued on her scoring rampage scoring 18 of Durham’s 22 points. Durham would do their damage from the free throw line in this quarter, catching Manchester on countless fouls on defense as Durham found themselves at the line 9 separate times. The free throws were ultimately the killing blow for Manchester as they were bested at home by 8. 

Stats: 

Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus: 13 Points, 9 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals.

Myah Pace: 11 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Assists. 

Idil Turk: 15 Points, 4 Rebounds, 3 Steals. 

Georgia Anderson: 13 Points, 5 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Steals. 

Manchester are back on the road for the final game of the season as they travel to Tyneside to take on the Newcastle Eagles. Tip off is scheduled for April 27th at 7:30pm and will be available to view via the Women’s British Basketball League’s YouTube channel. 

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