Riders have hopes of preventing Lions grand slam
LEICESTER Riders women travel to The O2 Arena on Sunday to take on the London Lions in the WBBL Play-off Final (1.15pm), with the Lions heavy favourites for a sweep of all four WBBL titles for the second season in a row.
The Lions are a team built to compete in European competition, with the cream of GB and international talent, and they duly won the WBBL Championship with just a single defeat to second place Caledonia Gladiators.
Riders finished fourth in the league but pulled off an extraordinary result in the Play-off semi-final in Glasgow, making light work of the Gladiators by 19 points to earn their trip to The O2.
The Lions and Riders have also met in the previous two showpiece finals this season, with the Lions winning both, but the more recent results will be encouraging for Leicester.
In the Cup Final in Birmingham in January, the Lions hammered Riders 95-42, taking control early through a flurry of three-pointers and never giving Leicester the possibility of a comeback.
The BBL Trophy Final at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow in March was a very different affair.
London eventually prevailed 81-70, but Riders had them rocking in the first half and still had a modest lead early in the third quarter.
So, head coach Krumesh Patel’s team will take heart from that performance, particularly as the Lions were so dependent on WNBA star Kiki Herbert-Harrigan.
Herbert-Harrigan scored a game high 33 points in that game at 62 per cent shooting, as well as pulling down seven rebounds, but is now back in the United States with the WNBA.
In that Trophy Final, Riders’ captain Ashley Arlen finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, a typical performance for the American forward which earned her selection in the WBBL Team of the Year.
One player who was unusually subdued in Glasgow was American guard Oliana Squires.
Squires has been averaging 13.8 points on 40 per cent shooting, along with 3.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, a key component in Riders’ offence, particularly when in transition and they run out of options in set play.
In the Trophy Final, Squires was relatively quiet, just five points on 20 per cent shooting along with three rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes of play.
Scottish international Hannah Robb and Irish International Fiona O’Dwyer are the key players who may prove the difference makers for Riders.
Robb and O’Dwyer scored 17 and 13 points respectively in the Trophy Final, well above their season averages of 11.2 and 7.1 points respectively, showing they are big game players.
Another big game player is ex-Rider and GB International Holly Winterburn.
Winterburn has also been selected in the WBBL Team of the Year and scored 16 points in the Cup Final and 18 points in the Trophy Final for London, and will be expected to fill part of the gap left by the departure of HerbertHarrigan.