City of Sheffield Hatters won the battle of last season's top two as they defeated UWIC Archers 69-64. The Hatters welcomed back Sarah Naylor for her first game of the season, and she finished with nine points, but it was her sister Helen who stole the headlines with 22 points.

 

Great Britain duo Stef Collins and Meagan Hoffman led Archers with 16 and 14 points respectively, while Leah Dehaan added eight for UWIC and Lisa Hutchinson finished with nine for the Hatters.

 

A 20-10 first period proved key for the Hatters, as they were pegged back to 27-21 at half-time after a low scoring second quarter. Each team scored 17 in the third quarter and although Archers outscored the hosts 16-15 in the fourth period it wasn't enough to prevent Hatters picking up their fourth straight win against the Welsh team.

 

Archers coach Damian Jennings couldn't hide his disappointment after the game.

 

"Clearly we are disappointed with the result," he said.

 

"We prepared particularly well and genuinely felt that we are capable of playing at a level required to beat any of the teams in the EBL. The game was lost from so many areas for us. Missing ten free-throws is very uncharacteristic of us, alongside so many lay-ups. Neither team shot well from the field, but we struggled most.

 

"Our timing, tempo and authority offensively was not even close to recent games. Defensively we had really good spells where Sheffield struggled to create anything but deep looks. I felt we took away their major threat in their fastbreak with our defensive transition, but it turned out not to be enough when we struggled to execute consistently at the offensive end."

 

However, Jennings remained positive that his side can continue to challenge at the top of the table:

 

"We are still a very new team with players only just returning to the team after lengthy periods out, so I know there is plenty more sync, timing, and awareness of each other to happen."

 

The result means that Hatters now have sole possession of second place with a 7-1 record, while Archers drop to fourth spot.

 

Leaders Leeds Carnegie made it seven straight wins at the top of the table with a 93-48 (Game Stats) success at basement side Wellingborough Phoenix on Sunday. However, Phoenix again showed they are making progress putting in a solid first half display against the league leaders,

 

There were still some traits that reared their head in a poor third period, but otherwise it was an encouraging performance from the Wellingborough side.

 

Wellingborough had by far their best first quarter of the season to date, as they seem to finally be getting acclimatised to the requirements of Division One. They battled toe to toe with the league leaders, with Imogen Cox nailing a three-pointer with 1:07 to go to close the gap to just three points.

 

Phoenix looked well set to the challenge, but two late turnovers resulting in lay ups for Leeds allowed them to take a 23-16 lead into the second period.

 

Crystal Sterling opened the second period with a three-point play for Phoenix closing the gap to four points, before a 10-0 run for the visitors opened a lead that would prove insurmountable for the home side.

 

Wellingborough, however, did recover their poise and had the best of the next seven minutes before another couple of turnovers sent Leeds into the locker room with a 48-32 lead.

 

The hosts suffered a trip down memory lane in the third period, when they struggled to get any offence going, and allowed the visitors to open with a 21-0 run. However, the Phoenix players didn't let their heads drop and battled to a 74-38 deficit after three periods.

 

Phoenix had the best of the final quarter until fatigue set in and Leeds ran in a late 12-1 run to wrap up the 45-point win.

 

Crystal Sterling top scored for Wellingborough with 10 points, debutant Jeni Smith and Michelle Sampson both added 8 points and Naomi Sterling had 7 points, but there was no answer for Joanna Clayden who notched 24 and six rebounds for the visitors, aided by 16 points and seven boards from Loui Hall and 12 from Brykeesha Tate. All 12 Leeds players got on the scoresheet and each had a minumum 10 minutes court time.

 

Phoenix coach Barry Powell was again upbeat:

 

"We have made more progress this week and the signs are good to continue the improvement. We just need to improve our concentration levels, because if we didn't allow Leeds their 10 and 20 point runs the game would have been a lot closer than the result suggested.

 

"We are doing that less and less now, and that bodes well for the future."

 

 

 

Dec 5 2009	City Of Sheffield Hatters	69	v	64	UWIC Archers
Dec 5 2009	Nottingham Wildcats	78	v	56	London Heathrow Acers Game Stats
Dec 5 2009	Sevenoaks Suns	60	v	44	London Mets
Dec 5 2009	Birmingham A's	47	v	94	Team Northumbria
Dec 6 2009	Wellingborough Phoenix	48	v	93	Leeds Carnegie Game Stats
Dec 6 2009	Brixton Topcats	54	v	55	Barking Abbey
Dec 6 2009	London Mets	40	v	81	Team Northumbria