The play-offs pairings in the women’s championship were determined last weekend despite another round of matches left to complete the regular season.

Athleta made sure of third place in the standings after narrowly beating Hibs 55-53 and, as expected, champions Caffe Moak Luxol made sure of the top placing with a clear victory over lowly Phoenix – 58-32.

Athleta did win an important match on Sunday but, again, they left much to be desired in the final quarter and almost ruined all their good work as the Paolites fought back admirably to stay in contention.

After leading 14-9 at the end of the first quarter, Athleta went on to extend their advantage to 34-25 at half-time.

Balance prevailed for most of the third quarter but Athleta started to stutter badly in the last five minutes as Hibs just fell short of forcing extra-time after potting eight points without reply.

In the end, however, Hibs ran out of time.

On Sunday, Luxol allowed plenty of playing time to their fringe players and the team was still strong enough to beat Phoenix.

Phoenix stayed in touch until the half-time break but Luxol, who led 32-21 at the half-way stage, then increased their tempo to swamp their opponents.

Standings: Luxol 21 (10-1); Depiro 18 (7-4); Athleta 18 (6-6), Hibs 16 (5-6), Phoenix 11 (0-11).

Top scorers: A. Simmonds (Athleta) 280, C. Grima (Hibs) 218, S. Evans (Depiro) 206, L. Alston (Luxol) 195, S. DeMartino (Luxol) 124.

League: (March 19) 11.15 Luxol vs Depiro, 14.45 Hibs vs Phoenix.