Lions will look to end Sevenoaks Suns' domination of the WBBL Play-offs when they face the Kent side in Sunday's title game.
Suns won the last three titles - the 2020 competition was cancelled due to Covid - prior to Lions' success last season, and lost only three games in the league and post-season over the last three and half campaigns.
Len Busch's side have only lost five games this season, but defeat against Lions in each of the three WBBL competitions, including two in the league, his season has been enough to deny them any silverware.
The teams met in the WBBL Cup on the opening weekend of the season, and Lions' 82-76 win was enough to put them into the semi-finals of the competition. Kennedy Leonard went close to a triple-double that afternoon, finishing with 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, adding three steals for good measure.
The second meeting came at Emirates Arena in Glasgow in March and a dominant London performance saw them run out 72-36 winners in front of a sell-out crowd and the Sky Sports cameras. Young British player Holly Winterburn won the MVP award after a superb performance of 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, draining four of her six three-point attempts. Jo Leedham continued her fine season with 14 points, six rebounds and as many assists in just 23 minutes, while Shanice Beckford-Norton came off the bench to finish with 11 points and three rebounds.
The sides met again just five days later and Lions took a giant step towards the league title with a 67-58 victory. Captain Beckford-Norton led by example as she led Clark’s team with 15 points along with three assists, rebounds and steals as they ended Suns’ unbeaten start to the league season. On a night where Lions held 2020/21 WBBL MVP Cat Carr to 11 points, Suns were led by Frankie Wurtz as she finished with a 17 point, 12 rebound double-double but the visitors were cold from outside the arc as they missed all 12 three points shot.90-79 victory at Sevenoaks Suns, on Sunday evening.
Mark Clark’s side had won the league with a big home victory against Essex Rebels on Friday evening but faced the rarity of trailing at half-time before outscoring the hosts by double-digits in each of the third and fourth periods.
Leedham led the visitors with an impressive 16 point, ten assist double-double, adding seven rebounds and three steals. Beckford-Norton finished with 17 points and four rebounds while Azania Stewart needed only nine shots to finish with 15 points, adding four boards. Winterburn (12) and Cassie Breen (10) also finished in double figures while Shequila Joseph added nine rebounds to her eight points.Janie Monakana recorded a 24 point, 12 rebound double-double for league runners-up Suns but reigning Carr again found it tough going against Lions' smothering defence, taking 20 shots to get 14 points, adding eight assists and six rebounds.
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