Thompson leads Wolves to victory

Wolves took a giant step towards the WBBL play-offs with an 84-71 home victory against Durham Palatinates on Saturday.

The result lifts Lee Ryan's side up to eighth in the table, and they will look to follow up the victory with another win when they host winless Cardiff Met Archers on Saturday (6pm) 

Caterrion Thompson was on fire for the hosts as they finished with an impressive 28 points, five rebounds, and four assists as Wolves beat a Durham side who had gone into the game tied in ninth place with them. Allison Day also had a big game with a 16 point, ten rebound double-double while Shaq Wade had 14 point, five boards and as as many steals.

Day opened the scoring with a triple and Claire Abbott capped a great first five minutes for the hosts with a basket from downtown to give them a 17-4 lead. But any thoughts of a comfortably victory for the hosts were quickly dispelled as Wolves offence dried up and Harriett Ottewill-Soulsby hit a trey to send Durham into the first break leading 20-19. 

The visitors' run was extended to 22-2 as they started the second period well but a pair of Wade baskets saw Wolves get back into the game and threes from Beth Sarson and Abbott kept them in touch before a pair of Julia Kopl free-throws tied the score at 40 going into the locker room at half-time.

Sarson and Day opened the second half scoring, and the third period proved to be key as Wolves outscored the visitors by 13, with Thompson and Wade wrapping up the scoring to send the hosts into the final break leading 84-71.

Thompson opened the fourth period with a triple and a lay-up, and Wolves' lead never dipped below 12 as they wrapped up the win.

Wolves II saw their outside hopes of a place in the Division Two play-offs end as an injury-hit side went down 68-55 against Thames Valley Cavaliers II on Saturday evening.

With Cleo-Lewis Gayle, Stella Piscitelli-Ekblad and Joanna Akpan already missing through injury, Wolves lost captain Caitlin Ryan late in the first period when she damaged her shoulder after colliding with a team-mate, and although the hosts had a good third period, Cavs held on to seal place in the post-season.

Lily Harkness (above) had her best game of the season, draining 22 points to lead the hosts, while Rosie Porter marked her final game with the academy with 15 points and Sarah Adepoju added nine.

Wolves never got going in the opening period as they trailed 17-6 at the first break, and Cavs took a 40-21 lead into the locker room. A good third period saw the deficit cut to 51-38 at the final break and Wolves twice got the margin down to ten before the visitors closed out the victory. 

The weekend preview

It's the final weekend of the season for most of Wolves teams as the NBL regular season comes to a close, while the play-off chase continues for the WBBL team as they host Durham Wildcats at 3pm.

The visit of the Wildcats for a rare afternoon game is a key fixture for Lee Ryan's team as they look to secure a place in the post-season play-offs. With seven league games remaining both teams are tied in ninth spot with 3-10 record, and they are yet to meet in the regular season. Wolves did make the long trip to the north east at the start of 2024, and will be aiming to avenge their 74-58 defeat in the Betty Codona Trophy. Ri Thompson and Amy West joint top scored with 12 points that day, and coach Ryan will be hoping the latter is fit to play after missing the last three games with concussion. 

Lee Davie's Wildcats team will arrive at Oaklands on a high having lifted the British Universities title with a victory against a Loughborough side packed with players from the high-flying Leicester Riders - a win that denied Loughborough a clean sweep in the top two levels of the male and female game. They are led by Harriett Ottewell-Soulsby's 13.9 points per game, and she also adds 6.3 rebounds, while Elle Hendershot is close to averaging a double-double with 9.7 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds.

Tickets are available to book https://tickets.lokkaroom.com/events/55834/oaklands-college-wolves-vs-durham-palatinates with cash admission available on the day.

There's also a key play-off match-up at 5.30pm when Wolves II face Thames Valley Cavaliers II in a battle for the remaining spot in the Women's Division Two post-season. A depleted Wolves team lost 76-71 when the sides met just before Christmas, and Wolves will need to win by six points hope that Cavaliers lose their outstanding league game against Cardiff City to set up a trip to Sheffield Hatters II in the play-offs.

Claire Abbott's team won a thriller 64-62 on the road when the sides met in a National Cup tie at the start of the season, and they will be looking to wrap up a successful season for a side which comprises entirely of academy players and are guaranteed a top half finish in a senior competition. Admission is FREE for this game.

But the action starts early at Oaklands on Saturday as the U-12 boys wrap up a highly successful debut season with a 10am tip-off against Kings Lynn. Michael Ball's team have finished runners-up in Region IV, with their only losses coming against champions MK Breakers, and they will aim to repeat their 79-44 road victory against the Norfolk side.

The U-16 girls are in action against Kingston Wildcats at midday in the first of a weekend double header which also sees a trip to London Thunder. It's been a tough season for the Wolves, with several U-14s "playing up" throughout the campaign. They were unable to raise a team for the trip to Kingston, so this will be the only meeting between the teams, while on Sunday they will look to avenge last week's overtime heartbreaker against Thunder.

There's no lay-in on Sunday morning as both the U-14 girls and U-16 boys are in action at 11.30am before the court is handed over to the Herts Basketball League for the Mick Kirk Cup and Plate finals. 

Allison Day's U-14s wrap up their season with a game against a Reading Rockets side who beat them 70-41 when they met earlier in the season while the U-16 boys will also look for revenge against a True Vision Elite side who won 79-50 when the sides met in January.  Any worries the boys had about playing in the relegation/promotion play-offs were ended midweek when Basketball England awarded them a 20-0 victory against Barking RDF, and they look set to finish the season sitting ninth in East Premier. 

Wolves' two boys conference development sides face contrasting away games to wrap up the season on Sunday, with the U-15s travelling to North Herts Knights U-16 and the U-13a visiting MK Breakers II. Knights were beaten 70-53 when they played at Oaklands earlier in the season, and La'Quarne Sayles' team will look for a double against a side who are destined to finish bottom of the table having won only one of their 15 games. Meanwhile George Walker's U-13s face a Breakers side who have won all 17 games, including a 103-28 victory at Oaklands.

As if that wasn't enough, when the Herts League finals are over, Wolves Academy and Wolves Vets meet in a league game, tipping off 7pm at Oaklands. The youngsters are likely to field mainly first year (U-17s) as they look to repeat their 76-58 victory earlier in the season.         

U-13s sign off in style

Wolves U-13 boys wrapped up their home league campaign in style with an 81-55 victory against Cambourne Falcons U-14s, on Sunday.

George Walker's side made a slow start and trailed 17-15 after the first period but took control during the second quarter to go into the locker room at half-time leading 49-30. A low-scoring third period saw the visitors chip a couple of points off the lead before Wolves wrapped things up with a 25-16 final frame.

Rocky Starr led the hosts with 24 point and 12 rebounds, while Frank Fojt also had a double-double, finishing with 20 points and ten boards. It was clearly a day for double-doubles, with Alex Ryan adding ten assists to his 20 points and six rebounds while Danny Tsoutas was perfect from the field as he scored ten points, adding seven rebounds.

The U-12 boys also had a successful home game as they defeated Cambridge Cats 75-50 on Saturday morning. Michael Ball's team shaded the first period 16-12 before a strong second period saw them lead 44-23 going into the half-time break. A 19-17 third quarter saw that lead grow before the home side completed the win with a 12-10 fourth period.

The U-16 girls missed the chance to make it three straight wins a they lost an overtime thriller 78-72 at home against London Thunder, on Saturday. Having already scored a buzzer-beater to win their first game of the season, Elise Beardsworth scored a late basket to send this game into overtime, but with four players fouling out the visitors wrapped up the win from the free-throw line.

Thunder controlled the early stages to lead 23-16 at the first break but Wolves fought back to only trail 31-30 at half-time. A strong third period saw them lead 49-46 at the end of the quarter before a grandstand finish to the fourth saw Beardsworth send the game into overtime.

Eunice Wong led the Wolves' scoring with 26 points, with Jane Yu adding 16 and Beardsworth 13.

Jorjah Smith's team had received a boost in midweek as Basketball England awarded them a 20-0 after Barking RDF failed to rearrange a game they postponed without agreement.

The U-16 boys had a disappointing weekend as they lost 111-45 at home against London Stars I and then went down 66-54 at Brentwood Fire the following day.

Otis Lau-Johnston poured in 25 points against Stars and pulled down six boards, while Max Plaggerman finished with eight points. Wolves never recovered from an early 12-0 deficit and were 30-10 down at the first break, and despite a 13-12 final period were comfortably beaten by play-off bound Stars

In Brentwood, Wolves trailed 22-17 at the first break and were 49-34, and a good fourth period came too late for the visitors.

But here was good news for the Wolves on Tuesday afternoon as RDF's continued inability to do a core function of a basketball club - actually play games at home - resulted in a 20-0 victory being awarded by Basketball England, and Oaklands will survive to compete in East Premier next season.

It was another tough game for the U-14 girls as they lost 80-38 at home against Sussex Storm. Allison Day's side made a good start and were only 14-11 down at the first break, but a 25-2 second period from the visitors paved the way for another heavy defeat.

Jane Yu led the hosts scoring with 20 points, Ghuarie Kohil 13 and U-12 player Rose Marsh five.

The U-14 boys saw their hopes of home court advantage in the play-offs end with an 81-66 loss at Barking & Dagenham Thunder. Wolves won the first period 24-17, but that was as good as it got for the visitors .Ibrahim Gariba's team have now completed their league programme and will wait to see where they travel in the post season after Easter.

Liam Schertel led the way with 18 points, with Tituoan Vimeux adding 11 points and four steals. Sam McCree had nine points to go with his 13 rebounds.