Capital loss for Spinners in opener

NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION 1 LONDON SPINNERS ALLEN GUNN 87 62 LONDON overpowered Lancashire as the Spinners dropped their National League D1 opener 87-62 on Saturday.

Connor Murtagh led the Spinners (0-4, 0-1 NBL1) with 19 points and eight rebounds. David Ulph added a double-double (10 and 11), but both forwards were in early foul trouble against a physically dominant London frontcourt.

Lituanica (3-1, 1-0 NBL1) outscored their hosts 60-34 in the paint behind 25 points and 14 rebounds from Ausridas Petraitis. Mantas Adomaitis had a gamehigh 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting.

Lancashire, whose four first quarter leads never grew larger than one, fell behind 21-13 following a 9-2 spurt by London. But the Spinners battled back to within four with 2:09 left before half time.

Lituanica then responded with an 8-0 run to close out the half to lead 42-30 and the Spinners never recovered.

The Spinners were held to just 2 of 17 from 3-point range after converting 10 against Bradford a week ago and 36 per cent overall.

Meanwhile, despite 19 points from Rachel Clayden, the Spinners Ladies were defeated 64-46 at Reading on Saturday. Lancashire trailed 34-23 at half-time before being outscored by seven after the break.

Shauna Harrison added nine points in the loss, as the Spinners fell to back-to-back losses to start the Division One season.

The Spinners return home to face Exeter on Saturday at Myerscough College, tip off 2pm. ●● Action from Rossendale under 16s’ game against Eccles at the weekend