Second spot for Wolves boys

There were mixed results for Wolves U-14a as the club staged a second day of pre-season tournaments on Sunday with the boys falling to a strong Richmond Knights team in the final and the girls losing a thrilling third place game against Norfolk Iceni.

The boys semi-final saw them finish strongly, scoring the final nine points to seal a 52-40 victory.

Kent edged the first period 16-14 but Wolves stepped up in the second period as five different players got on the scoresheet to help them go into the half-time break 29-24 ahead. A low scoring third period saw the teams share 16 points but Jeremy Akpan's three-point play launched the game-clinching run and back-to-back Jacub Edrupt scores sealed the win and a place in the final.

Edkrupt led the Wolves' scoring with 16 points, with Otis Lau-Johnstone adding 14 for the home side

Having reached last season's Junior NBL Final Four, Richmond proved far too strong in the final mas a 19-2 final period helped them to a 69-29 victory.

With Pau Biecas-Cervantes and Lau-Johnstone scoring four points apiece, Wolves stayed in touch in the first period, trailing 16-10 but Knights pulled away to lead 36-20 at half-time beefore outscoring the hosts 14-7 in the third period.

Lau-Johnston led the Wolves' scoring with 11 points with Biecas-Cervantes adding six. Ricky Armrania and Billy Harmer each finished with nine rebounds. Richmond Knights girls also reached the Final Four last year, and with the majority of their team returning, Wolves found the competition

's eventual winners far too strong as they ran out 71-19 winners. A dominant performance from the visitors in the first half saw only Erin Cavanagh on the Wolves' side of the scoresheet at Richmond a 41-2 lead into the half-time break. The Knight's scoring slowed in the third period and with Yasmin Murphy hitting a three-pointer, Wolves trailed 57-11 at the final break and six Murphy points in the fourth quarter helped her to a team-high nine as Knights closed out the win. The second game proved far more beneficial for coach Ibrahim Gariba despite the disappointment of Norfolk hitting a game-winning lay-up with just 1.5 seconds of overtime remaining, Wolves started slowly, trailing 10-4 at the first break, and despite Olivia Akers' late basket they were 16-10 down at half-time. The third period proved to be much better for Wolves, and six Jordin Owowabi points helped them outscore the visitors 16-6 to lead 26-22 going into the fourth period. Iceni scored the first six points of the quarter to regain the lead, only to see Murphy and Owowabi put Wolves 30-28 ahead going into the final two minutes of regulation time. Norfolk levelled the score with 94 seconds on the clock and after both sides missed chances to grab a winner, the game went into a two-minute overtime period. That pattern continued in ivertime and a draw looked likely until Norfolk grabbed win in the dying seconds.

Dan's the man for Wolves

Daniel Kostadinov was in sparkling form as his 39 points helped Wolves U-16 boys to a 72-63 home victory against Brentwood Fire in the National Cup first round, on Saturday.

The sharp-shooting guard hit five triples and only missed out on a double-double by a single rebound to continue the form he'd shown in the previous week's victory against Richmond Knights.

Lanre Pratt continued his good early season form in his first season with the Wolves, finishing with a 10 point, 12 rebound double-double while Josh Brooks also finished in double digits with ten points, adding five rebounds.

Wolves started well, outscorng the visitors 9-5 in each of the first two five minute segments to take an eight-point lead into the first break. But a disastrous second period saw them limited to just seven points as the visitors closed out the half on a 10-2 run to lead 29-25 going into the locker room at half-time.

Kostadinov got going in the third period as his shot started to drop, and Wolves never trailed after taking a 39-37 lead five minutes into the half, and went into the final period with a 56-46 lead. Fire got the lead down to six midway through the fourth period but never came any closer as Adam Pearce's side started their competitive season with a win.

Meanwhile the U-16 girls completed a perfect pre-season campaign that has seen five victories with a crushing 84-25 victory against Cambridge Cats.

Even with coach Tor Freeman resting four projected starters, Wolves were far too good for the NBL Conference side, with Paris Tyson leading their scoring with 18 points.

Four other players finished in double-digits, Tamia Windless scoring 13, Dalmas Szigeti 12, Norma F 11 and Tiffany Tyson 10

Wolves closed out the first period on a 12-2 run to lead 17-8, and 12 unanswered points near the end of the second quarter saw them take a 44-15 lead into the half-time break,

Despite Freeman using his full roster, things didn't get any better for Cats in the third quarter as they were outscored 23-6 before the hosts wrapped things up with a 17-4 final stanza.

Obanor Makes Step up to WBBL

Oaklands Wolves have signed forward Vanessa Obanor for the 2022/23 season.

The German born player is a product of the British Basketball system having moved to the UK at the age of 3 and joins the Wolves as they continue to invest in homegrown talent. Obanor started out as a junior at Bracknell Cobras before moving to Derby Trailblazers where she was a leading player for the NBL women’s side and featured for Derby College’s WEABL where she averaged 11.8 points and 13.9 rebounds last campaign.

Known for her defensive toughness Obanor was named the WEABL Northern Conference defensive player of the year, which earned her a spot in the 2022 Hoopsfix Allstar Classic game. Obanor now joins the Wolves with a desire to continue her development and see how far she can take the sport. She had this to say on the signing “I really look forward to the challenge of stepping up to the WBBL. Its going to be a completely new experience and I’m thankful to the Wolves for giving me the opportunity to play in such a strong league, fully of really strong players! I can already see a rapid development in my game and I’m excited to see how much more I can improve through the season.”

Oaklands have signed Vanessa on a multi year commitment whilst she completes her apprenticeship degree in Chartered Business Management via Coventry University.

Head of performance Lee Ryan said “We jumped at the chance to include Vanessa in this years squad. She has great tenacity and a huge potential that she will get the opportunity to realise with us at Oaklands. She will help us in the forward line immediately, but we are excited to see her extend her game to the perimeter over time. We are always ready to help British based players with ambition and Vanessa becomes the latest in that mould.”

Picture courtesy of Hoopsfix.com