Caffe Moak Luxol strengthened their top placing in the women’s National League after defeating Honey Athleta on Sunday as PAVI Depiro swept past bottom-placed DHL Phoenix.

After their defeat to Hibernians, Luxol were back to winning ways in the championship with victory over third-placed Athleta who were again let down by their poor showing in the final quarter.

Athleta potted 12 consecutive points to open a 16-6 lead and though the champions improved their positional play on court, it was still not enough to keep their opponents from changing ends 36-25 in front.

But, Luxol came more into the picture as the third quarter progressed and succeeded in taking a one-point lead, 43-42, before the last 10-minute session got underway.

Luxol grew in stature but Athleta could not master a reaction, allowing their opponents to dictate matters and pave the way for a 60-51 win.

As expected, Depiro were too strong for modest Phoenix who gave a good account of themselves despite having a few regulars missing.

In fact, it was only towards the end of the second quarter that Depiro pulled away to change ends 28-18 ahead.

After the interval, Depiro made sure of victory when they stretched their lead to 40-24 before cruising past their opponents in the last quarter for a clear 48-33 victory.

Standings: Luxol 19 (9-1); Depiro 18 (7-4); Athleta 16 (5-6); Hibs 15 (5-5); Phoenix 10 (0-10).

Top scorers: A. Simmons (Athleta) 253, S. Evans (Depiro) 206, C. Grima (Hibs) 197, L. Alston (Luxol) 191, S. DeMartino (Luxol) 124.

Next fixtures: (Saturday) 14.45 Luxol vs Phoenix. (Sunday) 11.15 Hibernians vs Athleta.