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.

The weekend preview

Life doesn't get any easier for Wolves' WBBL team as they travel to Leicester Riders on Saturday evening.

Lee Ryan's team have faced top five opposition in their last two games, and this week sees them continue that trend with a visit to the sides currently occupying second spot in the table. Wolves are joint seventh in the table, tied with Durham on 3-8, as they continue the hunt for a play-off spot.

Riders - who are led by Taylor O'Brien's 17.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists - have won 11 of their 13 league games this season including a 92-78 victory at Oaklands in late October.

Ryan will be hoping the centre Amy West is back in action for his team and missing last week's home loss against Caledonia, as his side will look to keep Rayven Peeples off the boards as she averages a league-high 5.7 offensive rebounds per game and is second in the stats charts with a total of 11.5 boards per game.

Wolves men are also on the road as they look to repeat their 89-83 victory against Cobham Scorchers when they travel to the Surrey-based team on Sunday afternoon. La'Quarne Sayles (26 - pictured), Spencer Mathews (18) and Bill Irvine (15) combined for 59 points that day, and they'll to at least repeat that kind of form if they're to repeat that victory against a Scorchers side what are fifth in the table with 10 wins from 19 games. 

Wolves Women's NBL Division Two South also face a team from Cobham as league leaders Cobras visit on Sunday afternoon (2.30pm). Claire Abbott's young Wolves side head into the game needing a victory to maintain their play-off spot having slipped to fifth with a 10-8 record. Meanwhile Cobras have lost just once in 16 games but they were made to fight all the way by Wolves when they met in Surrey in November before running out 53-45 winners.

The men's second team are also in home action on Sunday as they host Cambridge Cats at 5pm. The Wolves will be aiming for revenge having lost 104-69 earlier in the campaign as they face a team sitting fourth in the table with an 8-7 record.

ADMISSION IS FREE FOR SUNDAY'S NBL ACTION

There's also four junior games at Oaklands over the weekend with the headline game seeing a U-16 boys premier clash between Wolves and county rivals West Herts Warriors at 3.15pm on Saturday.

George Walker's team badly need a victory as they look to move away from the relegation zone but they will face a tough test against a Warriors side who are sixth in the table with a 10-6 record and are looking for a play-off spot. Warriors won 98-45 when the teams met earlier in the campaign and are celebrating an England call-up for Adrian Mordi.

Before that, at 1pm, the U-14 boys will look to improve their play-off seeding when they host London Stars II.

Ibrahim Gariba's side sealed a place in the play-offs last weekend, but a complicated play-off seeding method means the more wins they gain the better chance they have of avoiding one of the top teams early in the post-season.

While Wolves are sitting fourth in Premier East, Stars are ninth with five wins from 17 games and could still drop into the bottom two where they would face a play-off to avoid relegation. Wolves were narrow 87-83 when they travelled to Goresbrook earlier in the season.

Saturday's action at Oaklands starts at 11am as Wolves U-16 girls face CoLA Southwark Pride where they will be looking to improve on a 98-37 loss when they travelled to the capital earlier in the season. Pride can still finish as league runners-up, and go into the game with a 13-3 record.

Sunday's action at Oaklands starts at midday as Wolves U-14s host Braintree Blue Devils U-14s. George Walker's team won 104-19 when the sides met in Essex earlier in the season, and such results haven't been uncommon for the Blue Devils who have just one win in 17 games. Wolves go into the game looking for their seventh win of the campaign having played 16 games, mainly against older opposition.  

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U-14s qualify for play-offs

Wolves U-14 boys reached the NBL Premier play-offs without bouncing a ball over the weekend. For the second time this season Barking RDF failed to raise a team to face Ibrahim Gariba's side, giving them a 20-0 victory, and with other results going their way the Wolves sealed their place in the post-season.

Things were a lot tougher for the  other junior Wolves in action in a weekend that saw just two home games.

The U-12 girls failed to repeat their home victory against Richmond Knights as the hosts broke open a tied game in the fourth period to win 61-57 on Sunday lunchtime.

Rose Marsh led the way with 21 points as Wolves overcame a 20-13 first period  deficit to outscored the hosts 10-9 in the second quarter and 20-14 in the third to set up a grandstand finish. Evie Garvin added ten points for the visitors.

Marsh was also in good scoring for a severely depleted U-14 team as she finished with 11 on her debut in a 96-25 loss at Sussex Storm on Saturday. Under acting coach Gariba - who, unlike his team, didn't get the day off - Wolves never recovered from a 26-7 first period. Dominique Somer added eight points 

The U-15 boys put a battling performance against high-flying Milton Keynes Breakers U-16 before going down 84-62 on Sunday afternoon.  Wolves trailed 23-13 at the first break and were 47-31 down at half-time. But they shared 38 third period points before being outscored 18-12 in the final frames.

Two of coach La'Quarne Sayers' younger players led the way as U-14 centre Sam McCree had a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double while Y8 player Jacob Edrupt had 15 points, seven assists and three boards. Seth Coetzee and Kean Berba both finished with nine points, with the former having the same number of rebounds and three assists.

It was a weekend to forget for the U-16 boys as a pair of contrasting defeats saw their relegation fears deepen. A poor shooting performance saw they lost 62-43 at Greenhouse Sports while they were outclassed 118-32 by London Thunder.

After trailing 17-12 at the first break on Saturday and 30-20 at half-time, Wolves fought their way back into the game with a 15-14 third period but that was as good as it got for the visitors. The following day it was all over a 36-2 first quarter from Thunder.