Palatinates 70-64 Giants

Marg Jones and her team took their talents to Durham looking to topple the Durham Palatinates in round 5 of Women’s British Basketball League action. 

Both teams will be looking to continue their winning ways with Manchester snapping the unbeaten streak of the Sheffield Hatters. Durham meanwhile, bested the Nottingham Wildcats off the back of Janika Griffith-Wallace and Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby combining for 54 points in an 85-72 win. 

Manchester and Sheffield saw some stellar performances from multiple Giants. Brooklyn Mcalear-Fanus, Myah Pace and Sydney Hunter combined for 48 points and 33 rebounds seemingly being unplayable and drawing fouls at every possible chance. 

Durham struck first in this tie, Ottewill-Soulsby converted from closer off a Griffith-Wallace steal. Hannah Shaw answered back with a 2 of her own and this game was truly underway. Both teams went shot for shot in the opening few minutes of the quarter before Durham began to establish a lead over Manchester. Durham began to put some distance between them and Manchester in the latter parts of the quarter, Despite efforts from: Myah Pace, Sydney Hunter, Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus and Leah McDerment, Manchester were down by 9. 

Hannah Shaw continued her interior domination into the second quarter with another scoring clinic from inside the paint to reduce Durham’s lead to 5. Sydney Hunter’s fadeaway kept the pressure up as a healthy 9 point lead at the beginning of the quarter became a one possession lead. Durham bit back as they converted 3 of their next 4 offensive possessions. Despite this, Manchester still kept it close throughout the quarter, never letting them get more than 2 possessions away from the on the scoreboards.  

Second Half: 

What started as a 2 possessions lead became a single possession lead by the end of the third, Hannah Shaw picked up where she left off in the start of the previous 2 quarters and rallied Manchester as she scored the opening 6 Manchester Giants points in the second half. Manchester then endured a dry spell through the middle of the third until Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus hit from way downtown to get Manchester out of the rut. Emilie Black and Myah Pace followed up with points of their own before Leah McDerment struck once more from downtown. 

Durham struck first at the start of the final quarter, a pair of back to back makes from inside the key made it an early 7 point lead. It was a difficult quarter scoring wise as 7 of the 13 Manchester Giants points from that quarter came from the free throw line. Despite the result and having a depleted team for the away trip it was a loss for the Manchester Giants in Durham as they went behind and could not get ahead again as they lost by 6. 

Stats: 

Sydney Hunter: 16 Points, 11 Rebounds, 2 Steals 

Hannah Shaw: 16 Points, 63% FG, 1 Block. 

Brooklyn Macalear-Fanus: 11 Points, 12 Assists, 4 Rebounds. 

The Manchester Giants are back at home for their next game as they host the Oakland Wolves. The Giants and Wolves tip off on December 2nd at 2:00pm. 

The full game footage from tonight’s game will be available to view below: