Hibs Medsea 63

Depiro 31

(11-11)(13-3)(23-15)(16-2)

Hibs completely forgot the two defeats they suffered at the hands of Depiro, in the last few days, and overran their opponents. Depiro were never at ease in the match, and the champions exercised control, to pull away easily, as from the second quarter. Depiro’s close marking didn’t pay off, and Caroline Fenech was left unattended, to sink in her hoops, to her heart’s content.

Both sides adopted personal marking at the start, but later on the Paolites reverted to their old zone defence. Depiro stuck to their task, and Hibs had a hard time, at first, in finding unmarked team mates. Depiro went into a 5-2 lead, as Greta Zarb made a couple of hoops. The champions’ reply came through Maria Desira, and later on Bev Zammit sank her trey. Depiro recovered late in the quarter, as Sarah Pace found the basket twice, the last one in the very last second, as both teams went in on a level score.

The two teams were too wary of each other in the second session, and Depiro could find no way through in the first eight minutes. Hibs slowly began to build up their lead, and a 9-0 run, ending with a second Bev Zammit trey, gave them a 20-11 lead. Rachel Camilleri finally ended Depiro’s drought, but the Paolites still managed to add a brace of hoops, as they went into the half time interval on a 24-14 advantage.

After the break Depiro were still in turmoil. A 7-1 HIbs run, starting with a third Zammit trey, pushed the champions further ahead. Depiro could only reply through free shots, as Hibs put in a trio of hoops. Greta Zarb picked Depiro up, as she sank three treys, but Hibs always found the way to basket, and Alexis Darmanin was putting them in. After three sessions the Paolites were on a strong 47-29 advantage.

The last quarter was even worse for Depiro. A last effort was expected from them, but except for a lone Rachel Camilleri hoop, they could only watch as Caroline Fenech and Maria Desira made havoc in the opposing defence.

Depiro must now look to make amends in the next match to be played today, if they want to prevent the Paolites from making a clean sweep of the honours this season.

HIBS: 16 C. Fenech, 15 B. Zammit, F. Bianco, F. Tabone, 14 M. Desira, 10 D. Parnis, 8 A. Darmanin, N. Mifsud, S. Debono, M. Cutajar

DEPIRO: R. Camenzuli, C. Riolo, 6 S. Pace, 2 J. Cardona, R. Spiteri, 9 R. Camilleri, A. Muscat, C. Hawkins, 1 A. Sciberras, E. Vella, 13 G. Zarb

REFEREES: Stephen Micallef, Alfred Carbonaro.