Basketball round-up: Oaklands Wolves reach semi-final

Wolves never got out of the group stage of the equivalent WBBL tournament during their eight seasons in the competition, but they will now host Essex Rebels on Saturday, December 7 as they look to seal a place in the title game at the NIA in Birmingham.

Sam Ashby opened the scoring for Lee Ryan's side, and the visitors never trailed as they chalked up a massive victory to ensure top spot in Group B.

Wolves led 29-11 at the first break and were effectively in the semi-final as they took a 52-16 lead into the locker room at half-time. That lead grew to 59-28 at the final break before they wrapped things up with a 27-7 fourth period.

GB international Ashby hit four three-pointers on her way to a game-high 26 points, adding seven rebounds and five assists, while Lavinia Da Silva also had seven boards to go with her 17 points.

Ella Fotu, Maria Albiero and Tayjanna Mcghee-Pleasant each finished with 11 points as all nine Wolves who saw court action scored at least six.

Ryan's team will look to make a winning start to their SLB regular season campaign when they host Durham Palatinates on Saturday evening, tip-off 7pm with tickets available through http://www.oaklandswolves.co.uk.

The north east side lost both of their Trophy games, at neighbours Newcastle and at home against big-spending Caledonia Gladiators.

Wolves men's home league opener ended in disappointment as they went down 88-79 in front of a big crowd at Oaklands.

Liam Jefferson's side were 11 down at the final break but got within four points in the closing stages before Blazers finished strongly to take the victory.

The early stages saw seven lead changes, but although Wolves only led for 75 seconds, they went into the first break trailing by just one at 23-22.

The second quarter proved decisive as Blazers opened a nine-point lead by the midway stage, and were 52-32 ahead going into half-time.

A 16-6 finish to the third period saw the hosts get back into the game and although Dan Kostadinov hit a pair of big threes down the stretch, Paramatharj wrapped the Derby's win from the foul line.

La'Quarne Sayles led Wolves with 26 points and five rebounds and as many steals while captain Lore Adekye had 14 points and six assists. Gavin Mitchell pulled down an impressive 13 rebounds to go with his eight points.

The majority of the squad returned to action on Sunday as they dumped high-flying MK Breakers out of the Under-18 National Cup with a 71-70 road victory.

Wolves led 20-11 at the first break but were pegged back to 31-28 at half-time and trailed 53-45 at the final break.

Wolves were down by three with 25 seconds on the clock but Aydan Moloney drained a triple to tie the score. The visitors forced a turnover and coach Jefferson called a timeout with 2.2 seconds on the clock.

Mitchell received the ball and was fouled in the act of shooting, and split the free-throws to send Wolves through and seal a trip to Canterbury Crusaders.

Mitchell led the scoring with 18 points, with Kostadinov finishing with 17, and bith Enzo da Cruz Fatuda and Moloney getting eight apiece.

It was a mixed weekend for the Under-18 women as they destroyed Bracknell Cobras 123-20 in a league game on Saturday before being edged out of the National Cup 84-78 by last season's runners-up Ipswich the following day.

It took 15 minutes for Cobras to get on the scoresheet in Saturday's league game as Wolves opened with a 41-0 run. The hosts ran their bench for most of the game as they dominated throughout.

Imogen Baker came off the bench to outscore the visitors with 22 points, with Darcey Woodman adding 21, Amye Swinney 16 and Elise Bearsworth 14.

The following day saw a much tougher test for Wolves and they came up just short against visitors Ipswich despite 27 points from Woodman and 19 from Caitlin Ryan.

The Suffolk side scored the first seven points of the game but with captain Ryan scoring three triples Wolves cut the deficit to 24-22 at half-time before going into the locker room with a 46-45 lead. 

There continued to be little between the sides in the third period as Ipswich took a 61-58 lead into the final break. Riana Redondo tied the score at 75 with 2.53 on the clock but it was the visitors who finished strongly despite Ryan going three-from-three at the foul line.

The Under-16 girls. (Image: Supplied)

Both the Under-16 girls and Under-16 boys prem team progressed to the next stage of their national cups with contrasting away victories. The girls survived a late comeback from Ipswich to win a thriller 59-58 while the boys hammered Abingdon Eagles 88-53.

In Ipswich, Wolves' 17-15 first period lead grew to 32-23 at half-time and they were 52-41 ahead at the final break.

As the foul count against them mounted in the fourth period, Alexandria Smith's triple put them 59-54 ahead going into the final two minutes.

They failed to trouble the scorers again, but although Ipswich had the ball with 16 seconds on the clock, some tough defence sent Wolves into the quarter-finals where they will host Greenhouse Sports.

Daisy Golan led Wolves with 17 points, with Meryen Kuscuoglu adding 12

The boys never looked back after a 32-10 first period in Oxfordshire, extending their lead to 55-25 at half-time.

The hosts outscored them 16-10 in the third quarter before Michael Ball's team wrapped things up with a 23-12 final frame. 

Otis Lau-Johnston led Wolves with 21 points, Liam Schertel 13, Seth Coetzee 12 and Noah Binun 11.

The Under-16 boys conference side will look to join their club-mates in the third round when they travel to Kings Lynn on Sunday but Saturday saw them pick up a second straight league win with a 105-28 demolition of Buck Hornets.

Ibrahim Gariba's team came flying out of the blocks with a 28-11 first period and had the win all but wrapped up by half-time with 60-17 lead.

It didn't get any better for the visitors as they were outscored 25-5 and 20-6 in the third and fourth period respectively as Wolves completed the victory.

Dylan Maisy led Wolves with 18 points and four steals , with Alex Keenan adding 16 points and Harrison Fletcher 12 points.  

The Under-12 girls team (Image: Supplied)

A massive 43 point, 17 rebound double-double by Jacob Edrupt wasn't quite enough to prevent the Under-14 boys premier team going down 91-86 at London Stars II.

George Walker's team extended their 26-20 first period lead to 48-36 at half-time.

Stars outscored Wolves 32-18 in the third period to take a two-point lead into the final frame and as both the refereeing and scoring became increasingly erratic, Edrupt fouled out leaving London close out the victory. 

There was also disappointment for the Under-14 boys conference team as they never recovered from  15-8 first period as they went down 82-38 at home against Bedford Thunder Black.

Oliver Forrester-Fellows led the scoring for the hosts with nine points.

The Under-12 boys A team made it two wins from two with an 84-28 victory at Abingdon Eagles.

Josh Butterworth led the scoring for the visitors with 20 points, Jake Kelly adding 14 and Joey Carter nine.

In contrast the Under-12 boys B team again found the going tough as they lost 66-26 at Maidstone Warriors.

The Under-12 girls certainly had an interesting experience as they opened their league campaign with a 56-42 loss at Solent. 

With one player unavailable due to international clearance issues - it's highly unlikely she had signed a contract with a foreign club - and another being unable to play due to having a (taped over) stud in her ear, Wolves started the game with only five players.

They trailed 8-6 at the first break but went into half-time with a 24-20 lead. They were still ahead with two minutes of the third period remaining when they were reduced to three players as two fouled out in quick succession. 

The remaining three players still caused the hosts' problems, scoring six points in the final period as Solent closed out the win.

Summer Pullen led Wolves with 18 points before fouling out with Sienna Piscitelli adding ten and Eleanor Kirk ten.