Depiro beat Hibs

Depiro McDonald’s recovered from their defeat to Athleta in the previous match to beat Hibs Melita Gardens and join Alyssa Ashley Loyola at the top of the standings.

Hibs led in the early stages but nine consecutive points helped Depiro to take an 18-11 lead.

They continued to dictate matters and 16 points without reply saw them comfortably 36-13 ahead midway through the second quarter.

Hibs improved to reduce the gap to 39-20 at half-time but hard as they tried they were never able to apply any kind of pressure on Depiro who deservely won the match 72-59.

As expected, Loyola were never troubled by lowly Qormi.

After opening a 17-9 lead by the end of the first quarter, Loyola went on to change ends 31-11 ahead. They continued to dictate matters freely to win 67-24.

Athleta lost consistency and got beaten by Luxol to see their chances of a play-off place diminish. With Athleta’s chief scorer Alexandra Ratanska subdued, Luxol took an early lead which they preserved till the end of the first quarter 17-8.

Athleta lifted their game but Luxol held on to their lead (26-18) and came out better after the interval to start the last session 41-28 ahead.

Athleta closed the gap to 44-38 but lost easy pots and got punished with a three-pointer, eventually losing the match 49-40.

Standings: Loyola 16 (7-2), Depiro 16 (7-2), Luxol 15 (7-1), Hibs 14 (5-4), Athleta 12 (3-6), Starlites 9 (1-7), Qormi 8 (0-8).

Next fixtures: (Thursday) 18.15 Depiro vs Qormi, 20.00 Luxol vs Hibs. (Friday) 20.00 Starlites vs Athleta. (Saturday) 13.45 Qormi vs Luxol. (Sunday) 11.15 Hibs vs Starlites, 13.00 Loyola vs Depiro.