Depiro’s match against Starlites was abandoned half-way through on Friday due to a slippery surface.

Alyssa Ashley Loyola profited to beat Athleta and take sole leadership in the standings.

Luxol were also out of action last weekend but Hibs relaunched their title bid with a victory over Qormi.

Loyola made it a double over Athleta this season. The latter opened strongly but Loyola improved to finish the first quarter 23-16 ahead.

The spirited Athleta levelled matters at 25-25 but eight consecutive points saw Loyola surpass their difficult patch only for Charles Bon-nici’s girls to close the gap to a single basket (33-31) at lemon time.

Loyola extended their lead to 44-32 after the break. Athleta battled gamely but this time they were unable to recover and Loyola won the match 64-52.

Hibs fielded a second-string team but were still strong enough to beat lowly Qormi 65-45.

Qormi surprised their opponents and led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter. Hibs coach Bruno Di Pietrantonio then introduced his most experienced players available and by half-time, Hibs had turned the tide in their favour (30-25).

But Qormi continued to make Hibs sweat and it was only in the last minutes that the Paolites finally opened a comfortable lead for their fourth victory in the league.

Standings: Loyola 13 (6-1), Depiro 11 (5-1), Luxol 11 (5-1), Hibs 11 (4-3), Athleta 9 (2-5), Starlites 7 (1-5), Qormi 7 (0-7).

Top scorers: D. Johnson (Loyola) 143, A. Ratomanska (Athleta) 132, L. Gipson (Hibs) 132, R. Murphy (Luxol) 116.

Next fixtures: (Monday) 11.15 Luxol vs Starlites, 13.00 Depiro vs Athleta, 14.45 Loyola vs Hibs.