Lions' captain Shanice Beckford-Norton is looking for her side to continue their regular season form when they host Durham Palatinates at University of East London in the play-offs, on Saturday (3.30pm).
A perfect WBBL season was wrapped up with a 90-76 victory at closest challengers Sevenoaks Suns on Sunday, and Beckford-Norton was delighted with the result saying
"Sevenoaks came out to play us and wouldn't roll over. That's what we want from our games, we want to be challenged and it was great that we completed an unbeaten league season with that kind of game"
When speaking on going through the season unbeaten, she added
"The standard we set for ourselves meant we were never going to let any upset happen, so it was fantastic to get the result. It was good to make history among all the other records, both as a team and individually, it was fantastic that we could put on a show in our final league game. The biggest thing for me was that we could show young people - not just 10 or 11-year-olds, but academy players as well - what you can achieve when you're truly committed to winning as a team.
"We're going full on for the rest of the season, we're not letting up. We had a great practice on Wednesday and it was good to be back in the gum. We had a bit of a celebration on Tuesday - because people go home quickly after the play-offs - and it was nice to be able to relax and have some time together off court. But now we're focused on winning the play-offs."
Lions are now the holders of all four pieces of WBBL silverware - the first team to ever achieve that feat - but Beckford-Norton doesn't expect their defence of the play-off crown to be easy
"Durham are a bit like Essex, they're relentless, but regardless who play from this point on, they'll won't take us lightly. They'll know our players and what we bring, and they'll want to beat us in our own house. They'll be prepared, they shoot the ball well and run, while they pass from the guard positions well. We'll be ready and we need to communicate well with each other."
Tickets for Saturday's game are free but need to be book through here
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