Manchester Basketball cruised to a dominant 57-89 road victory against the Leicester Riders in the Super League Basketball Championship.

Irene Oboavwoduo exploded for 27 points in 31 minutes, going 11-15 from the field and a red hot 5-8 from three. The Riders had no answer for the British star.

She was one of two 20-point scorers for Manchester. Tiarra East also reached the tally and added 6 rebounds and 4 assists to her box score numbers. Meanwhile, Maaja Bratka had an impressive 17 points and 11 rebounds in a double-double performance.

Manchester held Leicester to 31% from the field and 23% from three-point range in a suffocating defensive performance. They forced 19 turnovers out of the home side, and scored 20 fastbreak points to the Riders’ 0.

The game was blown wide open in the second quarter after the sides duelled out an even first. Manchester held Leicester to just 8 points in the second, winning the quarter by 20 points to take a commanding lead into halftime.

East had 13 points in the first half to lead her team into a strong position to see the game out in the second. Then Oboavwoduo took over, scoring 10 in the third quarter to build the lead to 28 points and put the game beyond doubt.

The win means Manchester are now .500 on the season, rounding into form ahead of their SLB Cup final against the Sheffield Hatters later this month in Manchester.

But before then, they host the London Lions at the National Basketball Performance Centre on Sunday, March 29, at 6:00 pm.

You can get your tickets here!

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