Depiro, Luxol advance

Depiro McDonald’s booked their place in the semi-finals of the Louis Borg Cup after seeing off the bold challenge of Alyssa Ashley Loyola over two legs. Luxol also progressed to the last four after easing past Qormi Phoenix.

In Sunday’s second leg, Loyola looked well-placed to reach the semi-finals but their hopes were jolted when they lost Lena Donooz on five fouls.

Depiro took advantage of Donooz’s exclusion as they overturned the deficit to go through 93-90 on aggregate.

In the opening leg, Depiro scored the first eight points. Loyola fought back to reduce the deficit to a basket, 26-24, at half-time. The match remained balanced but a last-minute basket gave Depiro a 45-43 victory.

The equilibrium persisted in the second leg with Loyola levelling matters on aggregate as they led 20-18 at half-time.

The match seemed to turn in Loyola’s favour as they dominated the third quarter to start the last 10 minutes 37-22 ahead.

Loyola’s trouble started when they lost Donooz. At that point, Loyola were 10 points clear but their performance took a nosedive.

Fast breaks and free-throws allowed Depiro to cancel out the deficit and advance to the semi-finals with a 48-47 win.

As expected, Luxol dominated the other preliminary round match. Qormi were never in contention as Luxol cruised to a 78-30 victory in the first leg to all but close the qualification issue.

Luxol stayed on top in the second match, prevailing 72-32 for an aggregate win of 150-62.