London Lions opened their WBBL season with a bang, as they hammered Oaklands Wolves 114-23 in Hertfordshire, on Saturday.
The 91-point destruction of a Wolves side comprising of under-19 academy players, was the joint biggest road win in WBBL history, and saw eight Lions finish in double figures led by Ty Battle’s 22 point, 11 rebound double-double.
The margin of victory was just two points shy of equalling Sheffield Hatters’ record 109-16 victory, against Leeds in February 2015.
Paulina Hersler (15 and Mikiah Herbert-Harrington (14) also scored well, while Paige Robinson missed a double-double by a rebound with 12 points. Shequilla Joseph and Shanice Beckford-Norton both added 11 points, while Chantel Charles and Taylor Murray had ten apiece, with the latter adding adding eight assists and seven boards.
17-year-old point guard Miriam Carrasco-Mendez was Wolves only player in double-figures with ten points.
Leonard opened the scoring before triples from Charles and Murray made it 8-0, and it captain Beckford-Norton who wrapped up the 17-0 start to the game for Mark Clark’s side.
Daisy Porter finally got the hosts off the mark, but Lions went into the first break 24-3 ahead and Hersler scored the first four points of the second period, as London slowly built their lead to 53-13 going into the locker room at half-time.
Herbert-Harrington buried a pair of triples to open the second half and Lions poured in the first 16 points, capped by a Joseph jumper; before Porter ended a five minute drought for the hosts. That proved to be Wolves’ only score of the third period as Charles scored the final six points in an 18-0 run as Linos went into the final break with an 87-15 lead.
Carrasco-Mendez opened the fourth period scoring but Joseph brought up the century with 6:26 on the clock and it was Battle who completed the scoring to set Lions up nicely for Sunday’s big game against Sevenoaks Suns at the Copper Box.
