Mystics Make History In WBBL Cup
15 January 2017 - Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
Manchester Mystics - 71 (18, 14, 20, 19)
Nottingham Wildcats - 60 (13, 11, 13, 23)
Manchester Mystics became the first ever
winners of the WBBL Cup with a wire-to-wire victory over Nottingham Wildcats at the Barclaycard Arena as they continued their resurgence during the 2016/17 season.
The Belle Vue outfit were lead by strong performances by Rheanne Bailey-registering 23 points and 13 rebounds, Georgia Jones-adding 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, and the MVP of the Final Dominique Allen-with an outstanding 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and 11 rebounds to give the victory a distinctly British flavour. In reply for Nottingham would be Ashley Harris' 12 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, Melissa Mendes' 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and Lauren Herbert's 13 points, 4 rebound, and 2 assists, but it would not be enough to see off Manchester.
Allen was key in a fast start for Mystics, scoring 4 of the first 6 points, and helping keep Nottingham quiet with a spectacular block as her side set the tone. A Siobhan Prior 3-pointer to open the scoring for Wildcats was immediately responded to in kind by Mystics captain & GB point guard Jones in a thrilling start. Manchester's lead was as much as 12 in the first quarter, but Nottingham would fight back to be down 5 at the end of the period.
Jade Lucas and Allen would push Manchester's lead back into double-figures, before Jones became the first individual over that threshold in the contest.
Not willing to lay down, Wildcats put together a 10-0 run across the halftime break to pull back within 2 points, and they would be even on the scoreboard following a Lauren Herbert basket, but that was as good as it got for the East-Midlands outfit. Playing in their hometown, Bailey and Allen lead a 15-3 run in response for Manchester, capped off by another 3-point make by Jones heading into the final quarter break.
Manchester completed a professional job keeping their opponents at bay to seal the win, and capture their first piece of WBBL silverware.
Mystics coach Jeff Jones said afterwards: "From our point of view, absolutely phenomenal. It's the first step on a pretty long journey. We played about 25 minutes of our kind of basketball. We expected the run, the character and composure of the team are exceptional. It's the first, and hopefully it's not the last."
Wildcats guard Prior commented: "We didn't come out ready to play. Collectively we played maybe 6 minutes the way that we should have on both ends of the floor, and you can't win a final playing like that, unfortunately."
