Caffe Moak Luxol     68

Depiro   52

(17-15, 17-5, 15-16, 19-16)

 

Willie Vassallo

 

Depiro had drawn closer at the end of the first match but it was to no avail after a bright start.

Luxol went ahead and stayed in front for the remainder of the encounter denying their opponents any hopes of going into contention.

Luxol's victory was marred by Christine Curmi's elbow injury midway through the second session which left her on the bench and with doubts of a quick recovery. Depiro missed Claire Ciantar's contribution as she was abroad.

Depiro opened with a three hoop spread which gave false hopes. Paula Ellul replied with a brace of hoops for the champions and Steffi DeMartino sank a Depiro trey. Then it was Luxol with three hoops in a row and although depiro briefly were ahead again it was Luxol in front at the end of the period with Ashanti Plummer hoops.

In the next session, Luxol put in another three hoop spread with Martina Darmanin hoops before Depiro's reaction with another DeMartino triple. For the rest of the quarter Luxol took control making up a long 11-1 run despite Curmi's injury as Sarah Pace sank a triple and Cristina Sollami made her points.

At the interval the champions held a good 34-20 advantage.

After the break, Depiro began well enough with a 9-2 run but Luxol evened out the next points with their adversaries and then produced a 10-2 run as Kay Portelli netted her triple.

DeMartino also sank a Depiro trey but Luxol were holding a 49-36 lead.

In the last period there were more triples from DeMartino and Pace at the other end. Depiro were the slightly better side and their efforts took them closer but their loss in the first game was still against them.

Luxol made doubly sure in the late stages as they netted a 10-1 run with the last points made by Sollami once more.

Luxol will meet Starlites in the semis with Athleta playing against Hibs in the other match.

Luxol: S. Pace 13, C. Borg Millo, I. Baena Medina 2, N. Vella 2, A. Plummer 12, K. Portelli 8, P. Ellul 8, C. Sollami 11, M. Darmanin 10, C. Curmi 4

Depiro:  T. Mifsud 2, C. Camilleri 2, M. Bonett 10, S. DeMartino 27, N. Agius 4, No. Agius, A. Lloyd 3, J. Xuereb 4 

Referees: E. Mangani, K. Dworniczak, Miklos Rajczi