Oaklands Wolves beat Caledonia in Super League Basketball

Dani McCray led Lee Ryan's team with 17 points and five rebounds as Wolves broke open a close game down the stretch.

GB international Shanice Beckford-Norton also had five boards to go with her 15 points while Lavinia Da Silva and Tay McGhee-Pleasant each chipped in with 10 points.

Ryan was understandably delighted with the "huge win".

He said: "We have aspirations to compete right at the top of this year's SLB and getting a result against a really strong Caledonia team shows we are on the right path.

"The game was in the balance throughout but the team's defence was exceptional at times and gave us the base we needed to pull away at the end to get the win.

"The crowd were unbelievable too, their energy played a huge part in the result."

Maria Albiero's three-pointer opened the scoring for Wolves but it was the visitors, pre-season favourites for the SLB title, started strongly and took a 22-15 lead into the first break.

Beckford-Norton began a good second period for the hosts and they gradually chipped away at the deficit.

Terri Battle made it a one-point game at the five-minute mark before she iced a pair of free-throws to give Oaklands their first lead since the opening minutes.

There was little to choose between the two teams for the rest of the quarter, and McGhee-Pleasant's lay-up sent Wolves into the half-time break tied at 47.

An Albiero triple opened the second half scoring and with Da Silva also scoring from downtown the hosts led throughout the period before Ella Fotu hit another three to send Wolves into the final break with a 70-63 advantage.

Beckford-Norton make it a nine-point game with the opening score of the fourth period but Gladiators hung around and it was 78-73 with 3:15 remaining.

But Beth Sarson stole the ball after the Gladiators' time-out, Fotu converted a lay-up and McCray sunk Wolves' seventh triple of the evening to seal the victory. 

Caitlin Ryan of Oaklands Wolves. Picture: LELLO AMETRANO (Image: Lello Ametrano) In contrast it was a day to forget for Wolves' academy side as they suffered their first WNBL Division Two South defeat of the season with a 74-37 loss at London All-Stars.

The hosts edged a tight first period 19-13 but Wolves offence, led by nine from Caitlin Ryan and six from Darcey Woodman, dried up after that as the home team closed out the win.

Two of the three Wolves teams in National Cup action progressed to the next stage, with the U16 boys beating Essex Charge 84-57 and the U18 men winning 87-75 at Canterbury Crusaders.

Dan Kostadinov led the way with 17 points in the victory in Kent, Gavin Mitchell adding 16 and Enzo Da Cruz 15 for Liam Jefferson's team.

Wolves did the damage in the first half, racing into a 22-12 lead after the opening frame and 50-29 going into the locker room at half-time.

Crusaders narrowed the gap to 66-53 at the final break and could only chip a single point off the lead in the fourth quarter.

Wolves will travel to Ipswich in the last 16.

In contrast Michael Ball's U16s blew open a tight game with a 28-13 third period to end Charge's challenge and set up a home last 16 tie against county rivals West Herts Warriors.

The hosts led 23-17 at the first break and went into the locker room with a 40-32 advantage.

And there was no way back for a Charge side who had started the season with five straight wins, as Wolves wrapped things up with a 16-12 final stanza.

Liam Schertel led a depleted Wolves side for the first time this season with 18 points, with Noah Binun adding 15, Sam McCree 13 and Otis Lau-Johnston 12. 

Wolves' U16 girls saw their dreams end as they went down 69-44 at home against a strong London Greenhouse team as they never recovered from a 18-8 first period deficit.

There were mixed results for the four Wolves' teams in league action over the weekend. with two wins and as many loses.

The U16 boys' premier teams went agonisingly close to an upset victory against league leaders London Stars, before going down 91-85 at home.

Four late Lau-Johnston points and a Tituoan Vimeux basket saw Wolves make it a three point game with 30 seconds remaining but that was as close as they came as the London side wrapped things up at the foul line.

Stars shaded a high-scoring first period 28-27 and led 44-42 at half-time before the teams shared 38 third period points to set up the grandstand finish.

Binun led the way for the hosts with Lau-Johnston scoring 16, McCree 14 and Vimeux 12.

Wolves' U16 conference side let a big first period lead slip as they lost 80-66 at home against North Herts Knights.

Ibrahim Gariba's team led 28-19 at the first break but were outscored 27-12 in the second period and 20-10 in the third as their three-game winning streak came to an end.

Wolves U14 conference side recorded their biggest win of the season as North Herts Knight were beaten 83-30 at Oaklands.

Graham Roberts' team edged the first period 17-10 but then blew the game open with an 18-4 second, before out-scoring the visitors 48-16 in the second half.

Oliver Forrester-Fellows led Wolves with 15 points, with Danny Tsoutsas and Thomas Roberts adding ten apiece.

Finally, there was a first victory of the season for the U12 boys B team as they beat Southend Scorpions II 86-35.

Under stand-in coach George Walker, Wolves blew into a 21-6 first period lead and effectively had the game sewn up at 46-14 going into the half-time break.