Both Wolves’ under-16 teams wrapped up their league season in style with victories over the weekend.
The boys chalked up their fifth straight win to clinch sixth place in NBL South-East Premier with a 68-62 victory against Brentwood Fire, while the girls cemented a fourth place finish in South Premier with a 60-42 win at Luton.
For the boys it completed a successful second half of the season which saw them win eight games after Christmas to finish with an 11-11 record, sadly not enough to take the 16th spot in the play-offs as the best sixth placed team.
Adam Pearce’s side did most of the damage in the third period as they came from behind to finish on a high.
The hosts trailed 20-18 at the first break and were 40-32 down going into the locker room at half-time. But a dominant third frame saw them outscore Fire 18-9 before they wrapped up the win with an 18-13 final period.
Daniel Kostadinov finished a fine season with 25 points while Lanre Pratt added 13 points and seven rebounds. Josh Brooks completed the top scorers with 10 points and five boards.
Meanwhile the girls started their preparations for a play-off trip to Manchester Mystics with a hard-fought victory at Luton.
In a game which saw them called for 24 fouls in comparison to the hosts’ eight, two Amye Swinney buckets helped them open with eight unanswered points but as foul trouble started to cause problems the hosts closed out the quarter strongly with a buzzer-bearing three to tie the game at 15.
A low scoring second period saw Wolves edge ahead 29-21 going into the half-time break but the third quarter was where they took control as three-point plays from Swinney and Caitlin Ryan helped them into a 49-31 lead at the final break.
The hosts refused to lie down, taking the lead down to nine early in the fourth period, but the return of the starters saw Wolves close out the victory.
Swinney led the scoring for Tor Freeman’s side with 15 points, five steals, four blocks and three assists, while Ryan had a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double, adding three steals and as many blocks. Stella Ekblad-Piscatelli added eight points and four boards while Llli-Anna Harkness had nine rebounds to go with her four points.
Freeman’s side host MK Breakers in a pre-play-off warm-up on Saturday morning.
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