Loyola and Luxol will contest another final after knocking out Hibs and Depiro in the Shield last-four stage on Sunday.

Loyola-Hibs was a thrilling affair despite the latter team having opened a 27-2 lead at the start of the second session.

Loyola, without their captain Christine Grima, who is expected to continue her season in the Italian league, soon got their act together though and while Hibs lost their plot, Loyola embarked on an impressive recovery.

Trailing 29-13 at half-time, Loyola gradually began to eat into their opponents’ lead as Hibs conceded no fewer than 16 turnovers.

Before the last quarter got underway, the score was close – 30-29 for the Paolites.

Loyola’s confidence were high now and they went on to seal their place in the final thanks to a 50-40 win.

The other tie was more balanced with the lead changing hands several times until Luxol’s last efforts saw them through.

Luxol led 14-13 at the end of the first quarter as no team succeeded in imposing any kind of supremacy on court.

So much so that at half-time, Luxol were only a basket in front – 26-24.

Depiro had the better start after the interval to open a four-point lead (41-37) but 10 consecutive points at the start of the fourth quarter pushed Luxol 47-41 ahead.

Despite missing a couple of free-throws, Depiro still managed to forge ahead only for Luxol to bounce back. They kept Depiro at bay in a tense finale for a 54-51 win and a place in the final against Loyola.