Lions completed a perfect season as a 70-45 victory against Sevenoaks Suns to lift the WBBL Play-off crown.
Mark Clark’s side outscored the league runners-up 40-20 in the second half to complete the most dominant season in top flight British basketball history.
Captain Shanice Beckford-Norton led five Lions in double figures with 15 points and four rebounds as Lions won their 34th game of the season to become the first side to go unbeaten and win all four WBBL trophies.
Kennedy Leonard added 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds for Mark Clark’s team to lift the finals MVP award while Holly Winterburn finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. League MVP Jo Leedham added 11 points , six boards and four assists, while Azania Stewart had a ten point, ten-rebound double-double.
Frankie Wurtz led the Suns with 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists as Cat Carr was limited to ten points, adding eight boards, seven assists and as many turnovers.
It took three minutes for Lions to open the scoring as they fell behind 5-0 before Winterburn hit a nice jumper and a lovely Chantel Charles assist to Stewart kept London within a point at 7-6 with five minutes gone.
Shequila Joseph tied the score at seven with as many minutes gone before a long Wurtz two put the Kent side ahead again and Carr’s triple sent the Suns into the first break with a 12-7 lead.
Linos haven’t trailed much this season and they opened the second half on fire with Shanice Beckford-Norton and Cassie Breen sinking triples and forcing Suns’ coach Len Busch to call a timeout with just under two second period minutes gone and Lions leading for the first time at 13-12.
Beckford-Norton’s put-back extended that lead before a lovely move saw convert while being fouled and then converting the and-one. Stewart’s jumper extended the run to 13-2 and the Lions forced a 24-second shot violation before Charles drained another from the Land of Plenty.
Stewart kept the tear going before Wurtz finally broke scored form Sunds only to see Kennedy Leonard reply within seconds. Wurtz dropped a three on the Lions to reduce their lead to five, forcing a Clark timeout with 2:23 on the clock
Monrakana converted an and-one before getting a technical foul after driving to the basket, and Leedham converted from the charity stripe before Beckford-Norton drove to the basket to beat the buzzer and send London into the locker room leading 30-25.
Leedham opened the second half scoring with a driving layup before a big Winterburn triple to the lead into double-digits Wurtz replied with three at the foul line but Lions’ three point barrage continued as Leedham scored from downtown to force a Suns timeout with three minutes gone and London up 40-28 ahead.
A pair of nice jumpers from Stewart kept Lions ahead before Monrakana’s jumper and a Thompson free-throw reduced Lions lead to 44-38 at the final break.
Breen’s floater opened the fourth period and Beckford-Noton hit a pair at the foul line to take her tally to 15 before Leonard buried a triple to make it 51-38 with a little over seven minutes remining
Two Leonard triples sent Lions into the final five minutes with a massive 21-point lead and forced another Busch timeout
There was no way back for Suns after that and Charles added to the lead from downtown before a perfect Leedham pass set up Winterburn.
Leedham repeated the trick with what proved to be her last touch as he left the court with 67 seconds and Stewart’s block wrapped up a tremendous season for coach Clark and his team.
