Basketball: Sharks come home with the points while Hatters knocked out of cup

WBBL Cup, quarter-final

London Lions 102-48 Sheffield Hatters (31-12, 58-34, 76-43)

(Lions: Herbert Harrigan/Battle/Beckford-Norton, 14; Murray, 13; Joseph, 11 -- Hatters: Murphy, 17; Niang, 12; Campbell/Gayle, 5)

London Lions comfortably made the WBBL Cup semi-finals with a 102-48 win over the Sheffield Hatters.

With the game played at Oaklands College instead of the CopperBox Arena, you could have argued that both sides would have struggled to adjust to the different surroundings early on.

However, last season’s quadruple queens didn’t have that issue, racing to a 31-12 lead after one and following that with a devastating 44-14 second half that showcased the Lions at their best, with Sheffield unable to contain them.

Kiki Herbert Harrigan, Ty Battle and Shanice Beckford-Norton led seven London players in double figures with 14 points each, as the Lions shot 57% from the field and dished out 31 assists in an all-around offensive masterclass.

Karly Murphy led the Hatters with a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds, and a perfect 9/9 from the foul line.

Within five seconds of the tip, Battle got the ball rolling for the Lions as they went straight to work on a shellshocked Sheffield team, who missed their opening three-point attempts.

Sheffield, though, got into a groove and took a brief lead thanks to a lay-up from Bre Hampton-Bey as London’s shots were missing their mark.

The positive spell for Sheffield, though, didn’t last long, as the Lions restored their lead from the foul line, and they didn’t trail again.

A bucket from Azania Stewart gave Lions a 22-12 lead with 3:41 left in the first, with back-to-back three-pointers from Holly Winterburn and Kennedy Leonard to follow as London took a commanding 31-12 lead heading into the second.

The lead ballooned to 41-18 in the early stages of the second as Chantelle Charles dished to Beckford-Norton for a three-point play, and despite good patches of play from Sheffield, London were in control at the break.

From there, London went up a gear in the second half, leaving Sheffield for dust as they advanced to the last four.