Women's British Basketball League

Last updated
Women's British Basketball League (WBBL)
Current season, competition or edition:
Basketball current event.svg 2023–24 Women's British Basketball League season
Women's British Basketball League logo.png
Sport Basketball
Founded5 June 2014;9 years ago (2014-06-05)
No. of teams11
Country Great Britain
Continent FIBA Europe
Most recent
champion(s)		 Sevenoaks Suns
(3rd title)
Most titles Sevenoaks Suns
(3 titles)
TV partner(s) BBC Sport
Level on pyramid1
Domestic cup(s)WBBL Cup
WBBL Trophy
Related
competitions		 British Basketball League (men's counterpart)
Official website WBBL.org.uk

The Women's British Basketball League (WBBL) is the top-level women's basketball league in Great Britain, founded on 5 June 2014 as the women's counterpart to the British Basketball League (BBL). The league's headquarters are in Leicester alongside the offices of the men's BBL.

Contents

Like the BBL, the organisation uses a franchise-based system so there is no promotion and relegation between the WBBL and the English Women's Basketball League, which forms the lower divisions. Along with the WBBL Championship and the post-season Play-offs, it also runs two knockout competitions featuring all WBBL member teams - the WBBL Cup and WBBL Trophy.

History

Officially approved by the British Basketball League and England Basketball, the newly created Women's British Basketball League was announced to the public on 5 June 2014, and the 2014–15 season was the league's first full season of competition.

The initial line-up included pre-existing teams from England and Wales, competing in a franchise-based organisation similar to the men's British Basketball League model, with no promotion or relegation in operation with the lower leagues. [1] All eight teams from the pre-existing English Basketball League Division One (Women) competition were selected as member clubs, as well as the two finalists from the 2014 Division Two (Women) Play-offs, Brixton Lady TopCats and Leeds Beckett University. Since the league's inauguration, both Leeds and Brixton have resigned from the league, but three new clubs have joined in that time, including the league's first member club from Scotland. [2]

Teams

TeamLocationArenaFoundedJoinedHead Coach
Flag of Scotland.svg Caledonia Gladiators East Kilbride Playsport Arena 20162016 Flag of Spain.svg Miguel Ángel Ortega Marco
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Cardiff Met Archers Cardiff Archers Arena20002014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stef Collins
Flag of England.svg Durham Palatinates Durham Sports and Wellbeing Park20172017
Flag of England.svg Essex Rebels Colchester Essex Sports Arena20182018 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ashley Cookson
Flag of England.svg Leicester Riders Loughborough Loughborough University 20112014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Stanley
Flag of England.svg London Lions London (Stratford) Copper Box Arena 20082014 Flag of Greece.svg Styliani Kaltsidou
Flag of England.svg Manchester Giants Manchester National Basketball Centre 20042014 Flag of the United States.svg Marg Jones
Flag of England.svg Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Vertu Motors Arena 20052014 Flag of Spain.svg Noelia Cacheiro
Flag of England.svg Nottingham Wildcats Nottingham Nottingham Wildcats Arena19762014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Karen Burton
Flag of England.svg Oaklands Wolves St Albans Oaklands College20092016
Flag of England.svg Sheffield Hatters Sheffield All Saints Sports Centre19612021 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Vanessa Ellis

Former teams

TeamLocationArenaJoinedLeft
Flag of England.svg Leeds Beckett University Leeds Carnegie Sports Arena20142015
Flag of England.svg Brixton Lady TopCats London (Brixton)Brixton Recreation Centre20142016
Flag of England.svg Gloucester City Queens Gloucester Oxstalls Arena20212022
Flag of England.svg Sevenoaks Suns Sevenoaks (Guildford)Surrey Sports Park20142023

Competitions

WBBL Championship

The WBBL Championship is the flagship competition of the Women's British Basketball League and features all member teams playing a 22-game regular season (in a round robin format), from October through to April. Matches are played according to FIBA rules and games consist of four-quarters of 10 minutes each. Two points are awarded for a win, with overtime used if the score is tied at the final buzzer – unlimited numbers of 5-minute overtime periods are played until one team is ahead when a period ends. At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points is crowned as WBBL Champions. If points are equal between two or more teams then head-to-head results between said teams are used to determine the winners. In the case of a tie between multiple teams where this does not break the tie, the winners are then determined by the points difference in the games between said teams. [3] Following the completion of the Championship regular season, the top eight ranked teams advance into the post-season Play-offs which usually take place during April.

SeasonChampionsRunners UpThird Place
2014-15 Sheffield Hatters (1) Nottingham Wildcats Team Northumbria
2015-16 Nottingham Wildcats (1) Team Northumbria Sheffield Hatters
2016-17 Nottingham Wildcats (2) Leicester Riders Sevenoaks Suns
2017-18 Sevenoaks Suns (1) Leicester Riders Sheffield Hatters
2018-19 Sevenoaks Suns (2) Leicester Riders Sheffield Hatters
2019-20Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020-21 Sevenoaks Suns (3) Leicester Riders London Lions
2021-22 London Lions (1) Sevenoaks Suns Sheffield Hatters
2022-23 London Lions (2) Caledonia Gladiators Leicester Riders

WBBL Playoffs

The post-season Playoffs usually takes place in April, featuring the top eight ranked teams from the WBBL Championship regular season compete in a knockout tournament. Teams are seeded depending on their final positioning in the Championship standings, so first-place faces eighth-place, second versus seventh-place, third against sixth-place and finally fourth plays the fifth-placed team. Both the Quarter-finals and the succeeding Semi-finals are played over a two-game series (home & away) with the higher seed having choice of home advantage in the either the 1st or 2nd leg – an aggregated score over the two games will determine which team will advance to the next stage. As with the Quarter-finals, teams in the Semi-finals are also seeded, with the highest-ranking team drawn against the lowest-ranking team in one Semi-final and the two remaining teams drawn together in the other Semi-final. The culmination of the post-season is the grand Final, a one-off game played at the end of April, where the winners will be crowned as Play-off Champions. [4]

SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue
2014-15 Sheffield Hatters (1)84 - 69 Nottingham Wildcats Worcester Arena, Worcester
2015-16 Team Northumbria (1)75 - 68 Nottingham Wildcats The O2 Arena, London
2016-17 Sevenoaks Suns (1)70 - 61 Nottingham Wildcats The O2 Arena, London
2017-18 Sevenoaks Suns (2)69 - 44 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London
2018-19 Sevenoaks Suns (3)60 - 55 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London
2019-20Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020-21 London Lions (1)93 - 71 Newcastle Eagles Morningside Arena, Leicester
2021-22 London Lions (2)70 - 45 Sevenoaks Suns The O2 Arena, London
2022-23 London Lions (3)57 - 41 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London

Betty Codona Trophy

The WBBL Trophy, now officially the Betty Codona Trophy, is an annual pool stage and knockout tournament featuring all WBBL member clubs.

For the first two seasons, pairings were drawn completely at random – there were no seeds, and a draw took place after the majority of fixtures have been played in each round. A preliminary round took place between the lowest-finishing teams in the previous league season, so that the tournament proper started with eight teams in the first round.

From the 2016-17 season, the format was revamped, splitting the teams into a number of geographical groups. The top teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals, which are played as straight knockout ties.

SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue
2014-15 Sheffield Hatters (1)76 - 62 Nottingham Wildcats Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
2015-16 Sheffield Hatters (2)79 - 45 Barking Abbey Crusaders Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
2016-17 Sevenoaks Suns (1)82 - 67 Leicester Riders Emirates Arena, Glasgow
2017-18 Leicester Riders (1)68 - 53 Sevenoaks Suns Cheshire Oaks Arena, Ellesmere Port
2018-19 Leicester Riders (2)76 - 74 Durham Palatinates Emirates Arena, Glasgow
2019-20 Leicester Riders (3)70 - 66 Durham Palatinates Emirates Arena, Glasgow
2020-21 London Lions (1)96 - 64 Nottingham Wildcats Worcester Arena, Worcester
2021-22 London Lions (2)72 - 36 Sevenoaks Suns Emirates Arena, Glasgow
2022-23 London Lions (3)81 - 70 Leicester Riders Emirates Arena, Glasgow

WBBL Cup

The WBBL Cup is an annual knockout competition featuring all WBBL member clubs. It is a straight knockout competition.

SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue
2016-17 Manchester Mystics (1)71 - 60 Nottingham Wildcats Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham
2017-18 Nottingham Wildcats (1)70 - 66 Caledonia Pride Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
2018-19 Sheffield Hatters (1)62 - 60 Sevenoaks Suns Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
2019-20 Sevenoaks Suns (1)74 - 64 Durham Palatinates Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
2020-21 Leicester Riders (1)78 - 67 Sevenoaks Suns National Basketball Centre, Manchester
2021-22 London Lions (1)87 - 47 Newcastle Eagles Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
2022-23 London Lions (2)95 - 42 Leicester Riders Arena Birmingham, Birmingham

Betty Codona Classic

The Betty Codona Classic was an annual three-day tournament named in honour of Betty Codona OBE, a stalwart of women's basketball in Britain for over 50 years and founder of the country's first women's team, Sheffield Hatters. [5] The competition was originally set up as an independent event for the top clubs in Women's basketball and predates the creation of the WBBL by a year, but was adopted as an official WBBL competition after the league was established. [6]

The original format featured the top eight-placed WBBL teams after the first 8 games of regular season play. [7] For the 2016/2017 edition, the competition was moved to become the opening event for the WBBL season, resulting in a two-tiered format where the Classic Cup was contested by the top four from the previous season's league, with fifth to eighth placed teams from last year's league competing for the Classic Plate.

SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue
2013-14 Nottingham Wildcats (1)69 - 43 Loughborough Riders Nottingham Wildcats Arena
2014-15 Sheffield Hatters (1)79 - 73 Nottingham Wildcats All Saints Sports Centre, Sheffield
2015-16 Nottingham Wildcats (2)89 - 81 Sheffield Hatters All Saints Sports Centre, Sheffield
2016-17 Nottingham Wildcats (3)86 - 59 Sheffield Hatters Nottingham Wildcats Arena

Individual awards

The WBBL concludes each season with a number of individual awards based on overall performance from the year. [8] The three end-of-season awards are; MVP Award (Most Valuable Player - which proposes the player with the best performance over the year); the Young Player of the Year (the best performance of a younger player usually at the age before or during university); and Coach of the Year (the coach with the best performance over the season). The WBBL also awards MVP Awards for the Playoffs, Trophy and Cup finals. In addition, 'Team of the Year' and 'Defensive Team of the Year' places are awarded to demonstrate the best five players in the league as well as the best five defensively players of the year in the league.

SeasonMost Valuable PlayerYoung Player of the YearCoach of the Season
2014-15Steph Gandy (Sheffield Hatters)Savannah Wilkinson (Barking Abbey Crusaders)Vanessa Ellis (Sheffield Hatters)
2015-16Amber Stokes (Nottingham Wildcats)Georgia Gayle (Sheffield Hatters)Dave Greenaway (Nottingham Wildcats)
2016-17Ashley Harris (Nottingham Wildcats)Gabby Nikitinaite (Sevenoaks Suns)Len Busch (Sevenoaks Suns)
2017-18Cat Carr (Sevenoaks Suns)Holly Winterburn (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (2) (Sevenoaks Suns)
2018-19Sarah Toeiana (Sheffield Hatters)Holly Winterburn (2) (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (3) (Sevenoaks Suns)
2019-20Not awarded due to Covid-19Not awarded due to Covid-19Not awarded due to Covid-19
2020-21Cat Carr (2) (Sevenoaks Suns)Holly Winterburn (3) (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (4) (Sevenoaks Suns)

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Mark Woods (2014). "WBBL to upscale women's top tier". MVP 24-7. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "WBBL: Oaklands Wolves and Basketball Scotland added to league". BBC Sport.
  3. ↑ "WBBL Championship". WBBL.org.uk. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "WBBL Play-offs". WBBL.org.uk. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Wildcats win big at Betty Codona Classic". GBBasketball.com. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Nottingham Wildcats Arena to host Betty Codona Classic". 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Betty Codona Classic". WBBL.org.uk. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Molten WBBL Coach of the Season Winners – Women's British Basketball League".
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