London Lions will look to take another step towards the WBBL Championship title when they face Sheffield Hatters at University of East London on Saturday, tip-off 2.30pm.
The top-of-the-table clash forms part of a double header with East London Phoenix’s wheelchair basketball game. Tickets on sale now.
Hatters will arrive in East London sitting third in the table with a 11-2 record but last week’s 57-54 loss at Sevenoaks Suns in a game that went down to the final shot means that a defeat against Lions will effectively end their title chances.
Having gone a fortnight without a game head coach Mark Clark knows that facing Hatters will be a difficult proposition for his side: Playing against Sheffield is always difficult especially after having such a long break and we need to get back into the rhythm we were before” he said.
“Practice had gone well for us, but it’s not the same as playing games. Obviously Hatters had a tough game against Sevenoaks last week but any team that has Helen Naylor and Georgia Gayle on their team is going to be difficult to beat.”
Lions have already travelled to Hatters’ All-Saints School venue twice this season, recording contrasting victories. The WBBL Cup semi-final in November saw a dominant London performance see them run out 100-66 winners while in the league meeting a month later Lions overcame a double-digit half-time deficit to win 67-65.
Young Great Britain international Georgia Gayle leads the Hatters with 18 points per game, adding 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists. At the other end of the age-scale, veteran Helen Naylor averages 16.3ppg, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists while Ebony Horton has been a useful addition since joining from Newcastle Eagles, averaging 12.3 points, seven rebounds and four assists in her three games.
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