Wolves' U-16 girls saw their play-off dreams come to an end as they went down 74-49 at Manchester Mystics.
Tor Freeman's side matched the JNBL Northern champions in the early stages of the game but a 10-0 run put Mystics in control and the visitors were unable to make up the deficit as their season ended in disappointment.
Lily Harkness opened the scoring for Wolves but the hosts took a 9-2 lead before four Tiff Tyson points and a triple from her sister Paris kept the visitors in the game,
Amye Swinney drove to the basket to tie the game at 11 going into the first break before a Dalma Szigeti basket opened the second period scoring for Wolves as they became only the second team to lead against Mystics in Manchester this season.
Unfortunately that was as good as it got for Freeman's team as Mystics reeled off ten unanswered points to take a lead they would never lose. Swinney kept the visitors in the game with eight points in the quarter, but Wolves went into the half-time break trailing 38-23.
To their credit Wolves never folded against a Mystics team who had won their 16 league games by an average of almost 35 points and hammered Southern Premier champions Ipswich 93-66 in the National Cup final, and Harkness hit their first seven points of the third period before Caitlin Ryan hit four straight as Manchester led 60-36 at the final break.
Ryan scored back-to-back baskets to open the fourth period, and Freeman gave all nine players a decent amount of court time in the quarter as Mystics closed out the victory.
Swinney led Wolves with 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and as many assists. Ryan also had three steals and as many assists to go with her 10-point, 12-rebound double-double, with Harkness finishing with ten points, six boards and three steals.
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