Junior round-up Dec 2/3
Elise Beardsworth hit the game winner with just six seconds on the clock as Wolves U-16 girls came back from 17 points down to beat Reading Rockets 51-49 on Sunday afternoon.
It was a thrilling end to the weekend's action at Oaklands as Jorja Smith's team emulated the men's Division Two team by collecting their first win of the season in stunning fashion.
A Wolves side again fielding several under-14 players looked dead and buried as they trailed 26-9 at the first break, and they could only chop three points off that deficit to trail 36-22 at half-time.
But a 17-6 third period put them back in the game, and Jane Yu put them ahead by two in the final 90 seconds before Rockets levelled the score to set up the grandstand finish.
Eunace Wong topped the hosts' scoring with 20 points, with Beardswoth adding 16.
There was also success for the U-14 boys as an early start in East London on Sunday didn't stop them defeating Baltic Stars II 87-83 to keep up their play-off hopes in the NBL Premier.
Zac Butterworth lead the way for Ibrahim Gariba's side with 28 points as they survived a poor second period to stay in fifth place in the eastern section .
Wolves U-12 boys maintained their title push as they returned from Cambridge with a 64-45 victory. Michael Ball's team did most of the damage in the first half, leading 21-7 at the first break and going into half-time with a commanding 39-15 lead to have the game effectively wrapped up. Manuel Garcia-Peris (300 and Alex Cofone (12) led the visitors' scoring.
It was tougher going for the U-16 boys who suffered a 92-43 home loss against Brentwood Fire as they never recovered from a 31-9 first period deficit.
The U-15 boys also tasted defeat as they went down 66-45 at West Herts III despite Jacob Edrupt finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, as many steals and three assists. Miss 15 of their 18 free-throw attempts proved to be a problem for the visitors. Jeremy Akpan added ten points and eight rebounds in his final game before moving up to the U-16s.
The U-13 boys found high-flying Bedford Thunder U-14s simply too big and athletic as they went down 102-54, with veteran duo Rocky Starr and Alex Ryan each finishing with 12 points.
The younger girls weren't able to emulate the U-16s with a pair of heavy defeats. The U-12s travelled to Solent Kestrels with only six players and lost 65-21, with Rose Marsh scoring eight points and Ruby Meekings six. Northants Thunder brought their full U-14 NBL side for an East Development League game on Sunday, and a Wolves side made up of U-12 and U-14 players went down 78-41 having trailed 20-0 after five minutes. Evie Garvin led the hosts with 12 points, with Mash adding seven.
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