25 hours later the Manchester Giants and the Caledonia Gladiators are back at battle against one another in the Women’s British Basketball League. 

A very quick turnaround for both sides after having previously played down in Manchester which saw the Giants/Gladiators seal the victory, the Gladiators/Giants will be looking to hit back and fast this time around but may struggle due to the quick turnaround as well as the travel up to East Kilbride. 

Starting 5’s: 

Manchester Giants: Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus © , Myah Pace, Leah McDerment, Sydney Hunter, Hannah Shaw. 

Caledonia Gladiators: Robyn Lewis, Hannah Robb, Samantha Roscoe, Erin McGarrachan ©, Sokhna Binton Lo Sylla. 

First Half: 

Manchester struck first in this reverse fixture as Myah Pace went 2-2 from the free throw line. Pace tacked on another 3 poins as she went back to the line off the foul from McGarrachan. Caledonia responded through Roscoe and took the lead from Manchester.

Caledonia’s McGarrachan and Pujol extended the newly acquired lead in an attempt to put some daylight between them and the Giants. Eva Karasaite cut the lead back down to a single possession with just under 3 minutes left.

Lo Sylla responded back from the free throw line, Pujol followed suit and gave Caledonia a 6 point lead after the opening 10 minutes. 

An unsportsmanlike foul from Caledonia’s Kirsty Brown sent Syndey Hunter to the line for her first 2 points of the afternoon. Hannah Shaw and Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus connected for another make on the inside to reduce the lead to a single point.

Brown would redeem her foul from earlier as she found the basket for her first points of the afternoon and triple Caledonia’s advantage over Manchester. Laken James doubled Caledonia’s advantage from 3 point range to restore the previous 6 point lead before Roscoe would make it 8. 

Idil Turk would get fouled by Kirsty Brown and later sank both of her free throws to get Manchester ticking and momentum in their favour. Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus and Leah McDerment both made from 2 and Myah Pace connected from the line once again in the final seconds to bring the Caledonia lead back down to 6. 

Second Half: 

The 3rd quarter turned out to be a huge momentum shift in favour of the Gladiators as they held the Giants to 6 total points in 10 minutes whilst they tacked on 18 of their own to gather an 18 point lead.

A suffocating display as the Gladiators seemingly capitalised on everything the Giants gave them. From turnovers and quick points in transition to wide open looks to converting their chances at the free throw line. Manchester struggled for an answer and subsequently struggled to stop the bleeding.

Myah Pace, Leah McDerment and Eva Karasaite combined for Manchester’s 6 points for the quarter. 

Manchester managed to more than double their points tally from the previous quarter, only being bested by a single possession in their final 10 minutes of action. The damage was already done for Manchester as they started the quarter down by 20. And despite best efforts that would be where they ultimately stayed. Caledonia would take the first 2 victories between these 2 teams in the space of 24 hours. 

Stats: 

Sydney Hunter: 5 Points, 10 Rebounds, 3 Assists. 

Myah Pace: 9 Points, 8 Rebounds. 

Hannah Shaw: 10 Points, 4 Rebounds, 1 Block. 

Marg Jones and her squad will now be looking ahead to their next fixture, next week the Manchester giants will be hosting the unbeaten league leaders and reigning Women's British Basketball League Trophy champions the London Lions. Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 pm on February 18th with doors opening an hour prior to tip off.