The Nottingham Wildcats managed to snap a six-game losing streak on Saturday against the Cardiff Met Archers with a 75-69 victory.
Guard, Kayla Shaw led the way for the Wildcats with 22 points and five rebounds and Martha Stewart provided excellent support, posting a double-double with 17 points and 19 rebounds.
Nicholas Kennedy also grabbed her 500th career rebound in 38 games for the Wildcats.
For the Archers, it was Shannon Hatch who provided the bulk of the scoring with 21 points and Point Guard Lauren Saiki set the table for the rest of the Archers with 13 assists, as well as posting 10 points by herself.
The match was very competitive in the first half, with neither team gaining a lead of more than six points.
In the second half the Wildcats built a comfortable lead, which grew to as much as 11 points in the fourth quarter, but the Archers managed to get back in the game, due their good defence, as well as sloppy passing from Nottingham, and trailed by just two points with just over a minute to play.
However, the Wildcats managed to regain composure with a basket and two free-throws to seal the game with a six-point victory.
The play of the game for the Archers came from Saiki, who spun past her defender and finished with an acrobatic layup to end the first half.
The Wildcats’ play of the game came in the next quarter, where they ran the fastbreak to perfection.
It started with a rebound and outlet pass from Nichols to Shaw, who passed the ball ahead to Brahe Ashton, who then threw an excellently placed bounce pass to Martha Stewart who finished with a layup and forced the Archers to call a timeout.
“It feels good to get an important win as a team”, said Wildcats’ Guard, Shaw, “We have been focusing on just improving together each day, so it feels good to finally have our hard work pay off.
“It was nice to walk away with a win, but there is still so much work and improvement to be done.
“We are excited to show who we can be the rest of the season.”
While the Archers still have two position lead on the Wildcats, currently sitting at 7th place, they are now in a three-way tie for points with Nottingham as well as the Oaklands Wolves.
The Wildcats now face a long break with their next fixture being against the Newcastle Eagles on February 19.
