Giants toppled by Lions as the Euro Cup champions beat Manchester 86-50. 

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Marg Jones and her Manchetser giants take to the road once more in the latest round of Women’s British basketball League action as they headed down south to take on the London Lions. 

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The London Lions would be riding high heading into this one as they made history recently by becoming the winners of the Women’s Eurocup and in doing so also became the first british team ever to achieve that feat by toppling Besiktas in a triumphant second leg comeback. sThey now had their eyes set on the domestic league and the Manchester Giants. 

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 Starting 5’s: 

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Manchester Giants: Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus ©, Myah pace, Leah McDerment, Eva Karasaite, Hannah Shaw. 

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London Lions: Ivana Katinic, Katsiaryna Snytsina, Abby Meyers, Holly Winterburn, Savannah Wilkinson. 

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First Half: 

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It was an intense and competitive 1st quarter from Manchester, Hannah Shaw opened the Giants scoring account from close before she doubled up with another jumper from close range. London started to begin to pull away from Manchester through the efforts of Wilkinson and Winterburn. Leah McDerment and Myah Pace made short work of London’s advantage and kept the Giants close to the Euro Cup winners by a single possession. 

Just when it looked like London would run away once more, a much needed 3 ball from Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus sliced the lead in half before Hannah Shaw and Myah Pace made it advantage Giants. This would be short lived as London's Fágbénlé would promptly act in retaining the lead for London. Manchester were not shaken by this as, despite a 5 point lead from London, Eva Karasaite would hit another much needed 3 ball to bring it to a single possession lead. 

The 2nd quarter became a completely different story. London began to flex their muscle and show why they were the Eurocup champions with a staggering yet equally nauseating 30-9 scoring quarter. Manchester struggled offensively after Myah Pace got another bucket at the 8 minute mark. It wouldn’t be until the 4 minute mark until Pace got Manchester ticking again after a plethora of unsuccessful attempts coupled with costly turnovers. In the time between Myah Pace’s buckets, London had stretched their 2 point lead to an 18 point lead and only continued to build as far as 21 points to end the half. 

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Second Half: 

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The following 3rd quarter did not bear much more fruit for Manchester. Whilst they did hold London to just 18 points they themselves only managed to score 6. As a result, that 21 point gap became a colossus at 35 points. Whilst Giants like Hannah Shaw, Idil Turk, Myah Pace and Brooklynn Macalear-Fanus all contributed offensively, they were unable to stop the force that is the Lions. Fágbénlé and Beckford-Norton would carry the scoring load for London in the first 5 minutes of action whilst being solidified defensively by Wilkinson whilst all being facilitated by Endean. Winterburn, Meyers and Katantic would take over for the final 5 minutes to ensure a comfortable London lead. 

It would remain a comfortable London lead throughout the final 10 minutes of action. Whilst Manchester began to show glimpses of their offensive prowess once more as they took it to London in their final minutes even winning the quarter 19-18, it was too late for any sort of comeback. Manchester began by raining 3’s on London as Idil Turk and Kizzy Spence went back to back for the visitors. Turk would connect from 3 again later on and be followed up by Emilie Black who even got another make taking her personal tally to 5. Leah McDerment and Myah Pace struck from the free throw line to end the quarter. 

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The Manchester giants make their return to the National Basketball Performance Centre in their next game as they host the Durham Palatinates, a game that is set to be pivotal in the Giants hunt for the final playoff spot. Tip off is scheduled for April 20th at 2:00pm. 

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All the game footage from this afternoon’s bout will be available to view below: