Oaklands Wolves coach Lee Ryan was delighted as his team maintained their perfect start to the season with a 108-41 crushing of Cardiff Met Archers on Saturday.
Wolves led 27-10 at the first break and had the game sewn up by half-time as they took a 40-point lead into the locker room.
"It was a comprehensive win against a short-handed Cardiff team" said Ryan. "The players stuck to task and continued to entertain the crowd throughout. We are in a really good rhythm right now which we need to continue with right up to this weekend's game against Sheffield. It’s set up to be a great contest just before the Christmas break!"
Ryan's side were led by Sam Ashby as the GB guard hit five threes on the way to a 25-point, eight rebound and four assist night. Abigail Rafferty finished with 17 points, with the Irish international adding six rebounds and five assists. Captain Shanice Beckford-Norton went agonisingly close to a triple double with 11 point, ten assists and eight boards while Terri Battle was a rebound short of the double-double, scoring 12 points.
Wolves scored the game's first seven points and Archers had no answer to the hosts' inside game before Ella Fotu's triple followed by a Beckford-Norton score gave Oaklands a 17-point first period advantage.
Ashby nailed a pair of triples to open the second period before Beth Sarson poured in three efforts from the Land of Plenty to as Wolves took a 57-17 lead into the locker room and there was no way back for the Welsh team.
Saturday's trip to Sheffield Hatters could prove to a pivotal game in the race to win the inaugural Super League Women's title as both teams go into the game with perfect 5-0 records, and only Newcastle in the chasing pack have less than three losses as the league heads into a one-week Christmas break. All of Hatters' league wins have been by double-digit margins but they missed out on a place in the Trophy final when they went down 68-62 at Caledonia Gladiators, and it is the Scottish side who will meet Wolves in the showpiece game at Birmingham's NIA next month.
Hatters are led by GB international Georgia Gayle's 16.4 points per game while Laura Zolper adds 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.6 steals.
There was also a big win for Wolves men as they hammered University of East Anglia 111-55 on Saturday afternoon.
Deji Adakunie led the way with a massive 26 point, 22 rebound double-double while La'Quarne Sayles had 24 points and six boards. Captain Lore Adekkeye missed out on the holy grail of a triple-double by a single point, with with ten rebounds and 11 assists but did have a consolation of a massive block, while Kajus Gasperas finished with 15 points.
Liam Jefferson's team started strongly, building on a 15-3 lead after five minutes to take a 28-5 advantage into the first break. UEA edged the first five minutes of the second period by a single point but after that it was one-way traffic with Wolves taking a 52-24 lead into the clocker room and then outscoring the visitors 26-12 and 33-19 in the final two quarters to give Wolves their biggest win in the five seasons since taking over the Leopards franchise..
Wolves U-18 women will go into the Christmas break with a perfect 7-0 record after an 86-38 road win at Greenwich Phoenix, on Saturday.
Lavinia Da Silva's team edged a tight first period 12-11 before blowing the hosts away with a 26-13 second quarter and a 19-8 third period to take a 57-32 lead into the final break. They then wrapped things up with a 29-6 fourth quarter to stay top of the Southern Conference.
Imogen Baker and Eunice Wong led Wolves with 18 points apiece with Paris Mitchell-Tyson adding 12
Injury-hit Wolves U-18 boys saw their National Cup dreams end at the quarter-final stage as they were edged out 80-74 by Charnwood Riders on Sunday evening. The visitors led for virtually all of the game but Wolves stayed in touch and were two down heading into the final five minutes before the midlands team closed out the win and a trip to Solent in the semi-final.
Lewis Street shocked everyone by opening the scoring with a tripl, but Wolves trailed 24-19 at the first break and Riders took a 43-37 lead into the locker room at half time. The visitors had a game-high 13 points lead at 63-50 going into the final period but Wolves fought back and Lanre Pratt made it a two-point game heading into the last five minutes but that was as close as the hosts could get.
Aydan Moloney led Wolves with 17 points and seven boards while Emmanuel Orisunmibola added 15 points. Lanre Pratt had an 11 point, 12 rebound double-double but 15-from-28 at the foul line hurt the home side.
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