Archers shot down in second half

A strong second half saw Wolves collect their fifth win of the campaign on Saturday as Cardiff Archers were beaten 87-59.

The Welsh side were outscored 50-26 after half-time as Ryan's team collected their first league double of the campaign.

Catterrion Thompson again led the hosts with 19 points, adding four assists and as many rebounds in 28 minutes while Shaq Wade missed a double-double by a single board, finishing with 12 points. Beth Sarson added 11 points, Allison Day had ten, while Claire Abbott, Amy West Julia Koppl all finished with nine.

There was little to choose between the sides in the first period, with Thompson's lay-up sending the teams into the first break tied on 17.

Wade's pair of baskets opened the second period and gave Wolves a lead they would never lose, and triples from Abbott and Wade sent the hosts into the locker room with a 37-33 half-time lead.

Abbott drained a trey to open the second half and a pair of Day free-throws saw the lead reach double digits and Thompson also scored from downtown as Wolves outscored the Welsh side 25-8 to lead 62-41 at the final break.

Miriam Carrasco-Menendez [pictured] opened the fourth period scoring, and the lead only briefly dropped below 20 as Wolves wrapped up a win to put them firmly in the play-off race.

Wolves look to shoot down Archers

Wolves will look to continue their push for the WBBL play-offs when they host Cardiff Met Archers on Saturday, tip-off 6pm. Tickets are available here 

It's a must-win game for Lee Ryan's team as they look to follow up last week's 13-point victory against play-off rivals Durham. It's a tight battle for the three final places in the post-season with the team from sixth down fighting for a spot in the season's climax, but Archers look highly unlikely to join the party as they are currently bottom of the table and winless after 14 games.

Wolves visited the Welsh capital on the opening day of the season and returned home with a 79-55 victory. Ri Thompson led the way that day with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double, adding six assists for good measure. Claire Abbott added 13 points, including three triples, before then coaching Wolves Academy to a 74-65 victory against Archers II. 

Haylee Saur leads Archers with 17.2 points and 8.7 rebounds, total that includes 15 points in their 95-19 home loss against champions-elect London Lion, and she was the Welsh side's sole representative in the All-Star game. 

Doors open at 5.30pm on Saturday, make sure you're there to cheer on the Wolves!

The weekend review

Wolves U-12 boys wrapped up a successful season with a 94-51 victory against Kings Lynn on Saturday morning.

Michael Ball's side finished second in their section of the Junior National League, with their only two losses coming against champions Milton Keynes Breakers.

they started slowly against Lynn, going into the first break leading 19-14 before blowing the visitors away with a 30-7 second period and a 26-5 third to collect their 16th victory of the season.

The U-15s also finished with a bang as they won 62-53 at North Herts Knights U-16s. La'Quarne Sayles' team had to come from behind to record their fourth  league win of the campaign as they trailed 17-14 at the first break and 31-26 at half-time. But whatever Sayles said at half-time obviously worked as a 23-12 third period gave them a fur point lead and they wrapped things up with a 13-10 final period. 

Jacob Edrupt ended an excellent season with 13 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and six steals while Seth Coetzee added three steals to his11-point. 14-rebound double-double. Nestor Sharma had 11 points while Ollie Thomas had nine, with both players dishing out two assists, and U-14 player Eriko Barkolari had a great defensive game to add six steals to his four boards and three points. 

It was a tough week for Wolves' other sides as the regular season came to an end with a series of games that had been previously postponed.

A good second quarter saw the U-16 girls only trail 32-30 against Kingston Lions on Saturday, but the visitors stepped up a gear in the second half to run out 86-50 winners. The following day saw stand-in coach Claire Abbott have only five players for the first half at London Thunder, with her side trailing 31-17 at the break. The arrival of two U-14 players at half-time took the pressure off, and Wolves outscored the hosts 14-8 in the fourth period but it was too late to prevent a 65-45 defeat.

The U-14 girls also ended with a defeat as they lost 65-47 at home against Reading Rockets on Sunday morning. 

The visitors took control midway through the opening quarter to lead 16-7 at the first break and extended that advantage to 47-14 at half-time. A 15-11 third period from the Rockets extended the lead before Wolves stepped up in the final period of their season to outscore Reading 22-13.Gauri Kohil led Wolves with 15 points, with Olivia Akers adding nine and Daisy Golan seven

A poor second quarter cost the U-16 boys as they went down 96-2 against True Vision Gold, but the team's younger players put on a good display before the visitors wrapped up the victory.

George Walker's team led for most of the first period but TVG finished strongly to lead 25-23, and they continued the run to take a 53-34 advantage into the locker room. Wolves chipped a point off that to trail 72-54 at the final break before the visitors finished strongly.

Otis Lau-Johnston again led Wolves with 23 points, nine rebounds, six steals and three assists while Max Plagemann had 19 points and eight boards. Jayen Pishardy added eight boards to his seven points, while Lucas Nuckey chipped in with eight points.

Finally, Wolves U-13 boys had an afternoon to forget as they ended a relatively successful season in the U-14 Conference with a 124-17 loss at unbeaten champions MK Breakers.