Former San Diego teammates shine in first round of the Trophy. Main Image Photo Credit: Mark Ferris, All Sports Photography.

The Manchester Giants move on to the quarter finals of the WBBL Betty Codona Trophy after a 82-68 win over the Cardiff Met Archers this weekend. 

Sydney Hunter racked up a huge double double, her 6th in 7 games, with 22 points, shooting 9/11 from the field and grabbing 18 boards! 18 rebounds is the most any Giants player has had this season and, if the Manchester Mystics all time stats roll in with the refranchise, is tied (with Evelyn Ovner) for the third highest single rebounding game in Manchester’s WBBL history: Abbey Niehues pulled down 22 in April 2023 and Lauren Thomas Johnson had 20 in 2017.

In her first WBBL season out of San Diego, Hunter is averaging 12.2 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 1.8 apg and shooting 47.5% from the field. Having averaged a double double when playing previously in Turkey, Australia and while at San Diego, she has made a huge impact for the Giants since arriving. 

Myah Pace also continues her impressive debut UK season as she showed off her all round game with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Leading the Giants in points(15.6) and steals (2.1), second in assists (4.1) and rebounds (8.8) she has been putting in work on both ends of the floor. Hunter and Pace played a season together in San Diego and that familiarity is showing itself on court as the pair have been in sync in their 7 games played together so far.

Without Georgia Anderson and Lauren Thomas Johnson on the roster this weekend, an all round team win saw all players get court time and produce in their minutes. Veteran Hannah Shaw had a season high 17 points along with 4 rebounds. Working hard under the basket all game, Shaw finished the first quarter converting the And-1 free throw after banking in a shot which took her to 12 points.

Off the bench, Eva Karasaite knocked down 2 shots from behind the arc on her way to a season high 8 points (2 rebs, 1ast), along with Idil Turk (8 pts, 2 reb, 4ast). Turk has made herself known as a spark off the bench for the Giants this season, routinely coming into a game and hitting big shots. Having played in her native Turkey the last few seasons, after graduating from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where she averaged 34.4% from 3, Turk is leading the Giants in 3pt% this season with 40.9%.

Brooklynn McAlear-Fannus’ playmaking ability was in full swing as she dished out 6 assists, and pulled down 7 rebounds to go along with 5 points and 3 steals. McAlear-Fannus leads the league in assists this season with 5.5. Having previously played with the Leicester Riders (where she led the team in assists), McAlear-Fannus spent last season in Germany before making a return to the UK.

Leah McDerment (4 pts, 3 ast) and Kizzy Spence (2 pts, 1 ast) rounded out the scoring for the team and Eve Shadrick added in a block. Emilie Black (1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl 1 blk) made her presence known on the defensive end. Having previously played WEABL and WNBL D1 with COLA Southwark Pride, Black, a former WEABL Final MVP, has shown the impact she can have on games off the ball throughout the season.

The Giants will face the Nottingham Wildcats in the quarter finals at home next weekend. The teams played each other before the Christmas break where the Wildcats came out on top 86-72 after a massive performance from 17 year old GB guard Valerie Cassidy De Falco scoring 28 points. The Giants will be aiming to have learnt from that encounter and for a different outcome this time around. The winner will play either the Essex Rebels or the Leicester Riders the weekend of the 20/21st January before the final in Birmingham on Jan 28th.