The first honour of the season went to champions Luxol in the women’s sector of this competition. They fully deserved the victory over a hesitant Depiro outfit who paid the price in the opening part of the game.

A late surge only helped Depiro to a more respectable scoreline as Luxol by then had already built up a comfortable advantage.

The champions had Sarah Pace Greta Zarb and Justine Busuttil Gaerty (all ex-Depiro) in their ranks with Lara Chetcuti returning together with Kay Portelli. They also included a German, Amelie Paul, with their new coach also being a German, Christoph Stolp.

Depiro had Steffi and Tina De Martino with Emma Grech (all from Luxol) and Gaby Mifsud was upgraded from the second string.

Depiro obtained the opening point but Luxol reacted quickly to go into a 6-1 lead with a Zarb triple. Steffi De Martino also netted a trey as Depiro drew level. Till the end of the session the champions were in front once more with a three basket run.

The next session was worse for Depiro as Becky Naudi and Beverlee Zammit continued with a 12-0 run to leave their opponents stranded. Depiro tried to respond but their contribution was not up to standard and the Violets could keep control and increase their advantage to a 31-10 score at the halfway stage of the encounter.

The script changed a little after the break. Although Luxol seemed to continue where they left off and Zarb sank another triple, Depiro staged a sort of comeback but they didn’t gnaw away too much of their deficit. Towards the end of the quarter there were triples at both ends as Zammit added another for the champions and Steffi De Martino put in two more for Depiro with her side still trailing 28-44.

In the final session Depiro’s first hoop did not augur much as the Violets made up a solid 13-0 run and Depiro lost their faint hopes. They still ended the match on a good note with their final triples - two each from Antoinette Borg and De Martino. This gave them a more realistic score but Luxol had long since made sure of the result.

After the match, the new MBA president, Paul Sultana, presented the winning trophy to the Luxol captain Mandi Sciortino as the team celebrated their third time in winning this honour.

Luxol: 4 S. Pace, 9 M. Sciortino, 2 L. Serge, 15 B. Naudi, 4 J. Busuttil Gaerty, 10 G. Zarb, 1 K. Portelli, A. Paul, 1 D. Muscat, 4 L. Chetcuti, 10 B. Zammit

Depiro: 2 A. Mifsud, E. Grech, J. Xuereb, T. de Martino, M. Bonett, 4 F. Bianco,  G. Mifsud, 13 A. Borg, C. Sammut, E. Vella, 6 S. Micallef, 17 S. De Martino

Referees: E. Mangani, L. Camilleri