In the next round of the Betty Codona Trophy the Manchester Giants are hosting the Nottingham Wildcats in the National Basketball Performance Centre. 

Both teams advanced to the next round as the Manchester Giants bested the Cardiff Metropolitan Archers whilst the Nottingham Wildcats advanced after beating the Newcastle Eagles in what some might deem an upset. 

The last time Manchester and Nottingham faced off we saw the Nottingham Wildcats get their first win of the BBL Championship campaign as they beat the Manchester Giants 72-86. Manchester were looking for redemption meanwhile Nottingham were looking to keep the bragging rights they earned December 17th. 

The opening few minutes were all Lauren Thomas-Johnson. A make from the line coupled with a three ball saw Manchester take an early 2 point lead. Sydney Hunter and Leah McDerment combined for another 5 points before Nottingham went on a 9-0 scoring run that was halted by a scoring clinic from Idil Turk. The Giants guard put up 7 points scoring from all 3 levels to keep the Giants close in this affair. Turk would cut the lead to just 1 before Nottingham’s Stewart would bring it to 3 to end the quarter. 

Manchester put their foot on the accelerator in this second quarter as Idil Turk once again added to her tally and put pressure on the Nottingham Wildcats. Myah Pace and Sydney Hunter hit their shots from inside the key before a 3 from Georgia Anderson and another make from Myah Pace made the lead change hands in Giants favour. The Giants lead would grow to as big as 13 points through the hot hands of Idil Turk. Everything she touched turned into gold around the rim, from free throws to lay ups to 3 pointers everything was falling for Idil Turk as she hit a season high 23 points in the first half and was responsible for 26 in total. Manchester held a big lead over Nottingham going into the half as they were up 53-37. 

Second Half: 

Manchester managed their 16 point lead through the first 5 minutes and began to extend their lead to 18 when Lauren Thomas-Johnson hit a pair of free throws and Leah McDerment shot a deep 2. Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus extended the lead to 20 and Idil Turk made a tough layup to keep it there. Both teams began to clamp each other up on defence despite Nottingham’s Bjelko making hookshot after hookshot to claw back the Giants lead. Sydney Hunter responded with a basket of her own to disrupt Nottingham. A close quarter in scoring as both teams tallied 19 a piece to keep the 16 point Giants lead intact. 

The Giants didn’t stop there as they wanted to keep making this lead bigger and bigger and did so early doors through Leah McDerment. The Giants guard was on fire to open the quarter with 4 of Manchester’s opening 5 points coming off her shots. It was a difficult opening 5 minutes of the quarter for Nottingham, only scoring a single point in comparison to Manchester’s 12. The Wildcats did rally and shots began to drop. Meanwhile, Manchester kept on scoring. Manchester would soon stretch this lead out to 29 points as they consistently found Idil Turk on the fastbreak as Manchester beat the Nottingham Wildcats to extend their Trophy run. 

Stats: 

Idil Turk: 35 Points, 2 Steals, 72%FG, 62%3PT. 

Sydney Hunter: 13 Points, 12 Rebounds, 54%FG.

Myah Pace: 11 Points, 11 Rebounds, 9 Assists. 

Lauren Thomas-Johnson: 14 Points, 5 Rebounds, 87%FT.

The Manchester Giants advance into the next round of the Betty Codona Trophy where they will face off against the Essex Rebels. Tip off is at 4pm on January 20th. 

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