The weekend preview

Wolves men return to action on Saturday with their penultimate game of the season as they host Ipswich, tip-off 6pm.

Coach Fatih Karahan will be looking for a repeat performance from La'Quarne Sayers who dropped 43 points on Ipswich when the sides met in Suffolk back in November, but a different result for his team 113-74.

It's been a tough season for the young Wolves side, and with relegation from Division Two confirmed, they are now only playing for pride. Meanwhile Ipswich are in the slightly bizarre position of aiming of aiming for play-offs while also looking over their shoulders at the final relegation spot. they are one of five sides tied on seven wins, with the group chasing the final three play-off spots, while 11th placed Brighton Bears will probably need to win their final three games to avoid joining Wolves in next season's new-look Division Three. 

Wolves women are on the road again, and they will look to complete a double over Nottingham Wildcats when they make the trip to the midlands. Jorjah Smith hit a season high 26 points in under 20 minutes when the teams met at Oaklands in November as her six-from-eight three-point shooting helped them win 113-82. It's a key game for Lee Ryan's team as they look to secure a place in the play-offs. Both teams have three wins, but with two games in hand Wolves are in joint seventh spot while Wildcats are tenth.

There's also plenty of FREE senior NBL action at Oaklands on Sunday afternoon, with the D3 men facing University of East Anglia at 2.30pm and the D2 women hosting Stevenage Royals at 5pm.  

It's the final home game of a tough season for the men and they host a side sitting fifth in the table, and they will be looking for revenge having lost 97-54 when they made the long trip to Norwich in December.

Meanwhile the women look likely to miss out on the post-season but will use the game as a warm-up for Wednesday's WEABL play-off quarter-final at Manchester. They'll also aim for a season sweep against basement side Royals having beaten them by 20 pre-season and 62-24 at Marriotts Sports Centre in November. 

The Junior NBL is also entering its final weeks, and there are four games at Oaklands this weekend, starting at 11am on Saturday when Wolves U-12 boys host Cambridge Cats at 11am. Michael Ball's side will aim for a repeat of the 64-45 victory they recorded against Cats earlier in the season. The young Wolves are already assured of the runners-up spot in the league, but there are no play-offs at this age group.

One side who are definitely going to the post-season is the U14 boys, and they will continue their push for home court advantage when they host London thunder at 1pm. Ibrahim Gariba's team won 73-47 when they visited the Millwall-based club in November and they'll look for their 15th win of the season against a side who are joint ninth in East Premier with a 5-13 record.

The action just keeps on coming, and the U-15 boys play their final home game of the season at 3pm when they host West Herts Warriors III.   Curiously Warriors III are having a much better season than their second team, and can still finish in the top three in the South East Conference as they head into the game with a 9-4 record. Sayers' Wolves side have found the going much tougher but they'll be looking for their fourth win of the season and revenge against a side who beat them 66-445 earlier in the campaign.

The action at Oaklands starts at midday on Sunday  when the U-12 girls also wrap up their home campaign with a home game against Solent Kestrels. George Walker's side have won five of their 12 games this season and they'll be looking to continue their record improvement against a side who beat them 65-21 when they visited Southampton in December 

While on the subject of Southampton, Saturday morning sees the U-14 girls travel to Solent where they will look avenge their 66-50 home loss against the Kestrels earlier in the season. The young Wolves will be even younger than normal as they include three players from the U-12s as several of the U-14s are playing for the U-16s at Reading Rockets on Saturday lunchtime. Complicated eh? The U-16s will have fond memories of their meeting with Rockets as Elise Beardsworth's late basket sealed a 51-49 victory when the sides met at Oaklands in December.  That is currently Wolves' only win of the season, but Rockets have also had a tough time with only two victories from 19 games.

The U-16 boys are also on the road on Saturday as they travel to Brentwood Fire where they will look to shake off any relegation fears against a side who are one place ahead of them in eighth spot. The meeting at Oaklands saw a lopsided 92-43 victory for the visitors but the Essex side go into the game with only two wins in their last nine games.

Last, but definitely not least, Sunday lunchtime sees the U-13 boys face a tough test at Bedford Thunder where they face a team who are looking to finish second in the Under-14 East Conference. When the teams met at Oaklands, the young Wolves struggled with Bedford's height as the visitors chalked up a 102-54 victory

U-13s double up as U-14s win again

After the U-14 boys reached the play-offs without bouncing a ball last week, their U-13 counterparts went one better at the won two games at the same time on Sunday lunchtime!

Opponents Braintree Blue Devils U-14s have lost all 15 games actually played their season, and the Essex side pulled out of the fixture on Friday morning. With a determination that the show should go on, an Oaklands Select team was put together consisting of eight U-14 development players as the three highest scorers from the U-12 NBL team, with the U-13s running out 98-64 winners. Harry Regan led the U-13s with 30 points with Rocky Starr adding 20.

The U-14 boys [pictured] did continue their winning run, despite being forced to actually play as they recorded a comfortable 102-55 home victory against London Stars II on Saturday.

Ibrahim Gariba's team made a good start with a 22-14 first period before taking control with a 27-7 second frame to lead by 26 at half-time. A 27-14 third period ended the game as a contest and the margin touched 50 a couple of times in the fourth quarter as Wolves improved their record to 14-6.

Albert Dye led the hosts with 21 points and four rebounds, while Liam Schertal missed a double-double by a single rebound, with 18 points. Titoaun Vimeux added 14 points, Zac Butterworth had 12 points , while Sam Mcree had six boards to go with his perfect 5/5 shooting for ten points.

In contrast, both U-16 teams faced tough tests as they lost at home.

The girls played some of their best basketball of the season as they trailed only 21-20 against South Premier runners-up elect CoLA Southwark Pride but were restricted to just 15 points during the rest of the game as they went down 68-35.

the boys also had a tough day offensively, failing to score in the first period and managing just two in the second as they lost 77-36 against county rivals West Herts Warriors.

It took nearly five minutes for Warriors to get on the scoresheet, but they led 12-0 at the first break before Otis Lau-Johnston finally got Wolves off the mark with 8:33 on the clock in the second period. That sparked a better spell for George Walker's team as they cut the deficit to 31-22 at half-time but a 22-12 third period ended hopes of a comeback and Warriors wrapped things up with a 22-2 final frame.

Lau-Johnston led Wolves with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, Jayen Pisharody added eight points to his massive 13 rebounds while Jeremy Akpan had five points and three boards.

Close losses for women's teams

Both of Wolves' women's teams went close to producing upset victories over the weekend with the British Basketball League team losing 79-73 at second place Leicester Riders and the young WNBL Division Two team being edged out 67-60 at home by leaders Cobham Cobras.

Coach Lee Ryan was again without bigs Amy West and Julia Koppl, but Miriam Carrasco-Menendez  returned and he gave academy guard Amy Swinney a WBBL debut.  

Caterrion Thompson opened the scoring , but Riders controlled much of the first period to lead 21-15 before Wolves burst into life in the second period.  Thompson scored a basket either side of three-from-three foul shooting by Carrasco-Menendez, before triples from Thompson and Carrasco-Menendez gave Wolves their first lead since the opening minutes.

Thompson continued to terrorise the hosts, with Amu Day also getting in on the act with five points before back-to-back Shaq Wade baskets gave the visitors a 43-36 lead heading into the half-time.

Allison Day opened the second half scoring to keep Wolves ahead by eight but the hosts gradually worked their way back into the game and Oaklands only led briefly during the final five minutes of the third period  following a Jorjah Smith triple.

Smith collected her fourth foul of the game when she was called for an intentional, but some tough defence and a Thompson basket cut Riders' lead to 56-54 going into the final break,

Claire Abbott hit a triple to put Wolves up with the first play of the fourth period, but was the final time they were to lead. Smith's triple made it a two-point game again heading into teh final four minutes but the hosts held on to wrap up the win.

Thompson led all scorers with 25 points, adding four steals and three rebounds, with Day adding 16 points and five boards. Wade had five assists to go with her 11 points and four rebounds.

The following day the Wolves academy team came up just short against Cobras before suffering a loss that effectively ends their post-season play-off hopes. Abbott's team trailed by 14 points heading into the final five minutes of the game but got within five points before the promotion hopefuls wrapped things up at the foul line.

A pair of Swinney baskets helped Wolves take a 9-7 advantage after five minutes but the visitors took control 15-2 run to lead 22-12 at the first break and extended that advantage to 38-25 going into the locker room at half-time.

Wolves trimmed the deficit to 51-42 but in a fourth period where Ryan (10) and Swinney (8) did all scoring, the visitors managed to take enough time off the clock to force the hosts to stop the clock by fouling down the stretch, and Cobham chalked up their 16th league victory in 17 games.

Ryan finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists while Swinney had 14 points and three boards. Rosie Porter added eight points, with Lily Harkness and Ella Brown getting six apiece.

With only 14 players available for two games, Wolves' two senior men's teams both produced good first half performances before predictably fading in the second half.

The Division Two side's hopes of repeating their early season victory against Cobham Scorchers were still alive at half-time as they only tailed by ten points, but the hosts piled on the points to win 109-83.

Wolves only trailed by two going into the first break and were still in touch at half-time as the hosts led 55-42. But a 35-18 third period effectively sewed up the victory for the hosts before the short-handed Wolves reduced the final arrears with a 23-19 final frame.

In the absence of leading scorer La'Quarne Sayers, Jack Davies and Oliver Rudinski each scored 20 points, with Siman Patisin adding 18.

Four first period three-pointers from captain Dan Kostsdinov helped keep Wolves in touch in the Division Three game against Cambridge Cats, but the visitors extended the lead to 54-38 at half-time before wrapping up a 105-75 victory with a strong second half.

Kostsdinov finished with seven treys in his game-high 24 point, ten rebound double-double. All of the top three scorers came through the Wolves’ junior section, with Dontel Rose adding 18 points and five rebounds while Larry Clark finished with 12 points.