Threesy-peasy for Wolves

Wolves juniors had plenty of success at the Stortfor'd Vikings 3x3 tournament on Friday winning both the U-12 and U-15 titles.

The U-12 team of Rocky Starr, Alex Ryan, Cormack Kearney and Isaac Parrot were in dominant form throughout as they won all five games by an impressive aggregate score of 71-5.

They recorded two clean sheets - something of a rarity in basketball - during the group stage, while another game was ended 30 seconds early as Wolves reached the target score of 21, conceding just one basketl.

Their closest game came against Stortford Dragons which finished 13-3, and the sides met again in the final where the St Albans youngsters produced their best display of the tournament to win 18-1. Starr collected the tournament MVP.

Two Wolves sides took part in the U-15 competition, with seven of the players under-13s while U-14 forward Ethan Chung was the veteran of the "Beaumont Battalion" who were captained by Nathanial Parsons., with Sam Rathbone and Parthu Alle.

Facing older (and bigger) opposition, neither side was quite as dominant as their younger clubmates, but both teams won all three group games to set up an all Oaklands showdown in the final. The Wolves team consisting of Liam Schertel, Titouan Vimeux, Zac Butterworth and Dylan Maisey shaded a thrilling final 9-8, with Schertel taking the MVP honours.

Play-off woe for girls

Wolves' U-16 girls saw their play-off dreams come to an end as they went down 74-49 at Manchester Mystics.

Tor Freeman's side matched the JNBL Northern champions in the early stages of the game but a 10-0 run put Mystics in control and the visitors were unable to make up the deficit as their season ended in disappointment.

Lily Harkness opened the scoring for Wolves but the hosts took a 9-2 lead before four Tiff Tyson points and a triple from her sister Paris kept the visitors in the game,

Amye Swinney drove to the basket to tie the game at 11 going into the first break before a Dalma Szigeti basket opened the second period scoring for Wolves as they became only the second team to lead against Mystics in Manchester this season.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got for Freeman's team as Mystics reeled off ten unanswered points to take a lead they would never lose. Swinney kept the visitors in the game with eight points in the quarter, but Wolves went into the half-time break trailing 38-23.

To their credit Wolves never folded against a Mystics team who had won their 16 league games by an average of almost 35 points and hammered Southern Premier champions Ipswich 93-66 in the National Cup final, and Harkness hit their first seven points of the third period before Caitlin Ryan hit four straight as Manchester led 60-36 at the final break.

Ryan scored back-to-back baskets to open the fourth period, and Freeman gave all nine players a decent amount of court time in the quarter as Mystics closed out the victory.

Swinney led Wolves with 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and as many assists. Ryan also had three steals and as many assists to go with her 10-point, 12-rebound double-double, with Harkness finishing with ten points, six boards and three steals.

Wolves look to add coaches

Oaklands Wolves are looking for additional coaches as they expand their junior programme by doubling the number of teams they field in Basketball England competition. The St Albans-based club will be fielding boys teams at all single-year age groups from U-12 to U-16 next season as well as adding a U-12 team to their girls' programme which already sees sides in the U-14 and U-16 Premier level. The U-13 and U-15 boys' teams will play at JNBL Conference level while the U-14s and U-16s will continue at Premier level.

A Basketball England Level 2 coaching certificate in needed in the JNBL, although there are also assistant coach positions available for L1 applicants. Team coach positions are paid, while assistant coach positions are voluntary, but a good way to gain experience. Teams practice twice midweek at the two-court Oaklands College SportsZone, with games played at the weekends. DBS and Safeguarding certificates are required for all positions are can be arranged by Wolves. For further information please contact michael.ball@oaklands.ac.uk