Fantastic start for Wolves

Oaklands Wolves made a stunning start to the season as all four senior teams collected victories over the weekend.

Super League Basketball made its debut at Oaklands, and Wolves women took a giant step towards a place in the Trophy semi-final with a 76-69 victory in front of a big crowd on Sunday evening.

Lee Ryan's team were without two players as they await visas but led for virtually all of the game, and now need to win at Cardiff in the fortnight's time to seal a place in the last four.

Ryan was a happy man after the game: @It was great to start the season with a win and give ourselves a great opportunity to advance out the trophy group for the first time in programme history” he said.

“The game was always going to be difficult coming so early in our preparation, and having to play without two of our imports. Leicester are a tough outfit but we handled the moment and stayed together. It’s going to be an exciting team to follow this season, the crowd were great, we hope to pack the place out every week!”

Maria Albiero hit a three-pointer to open Wolves' account in the competition which replaced the now defunct WBBL, and the hosts were in control for most of the first period as they took a 23-14 lead into the opening break.

The second quarter was Riders' best of the game as they chipped away at the lead , and despite Beth Sarson's late pair of free-throws, the visitors cut the hosts lead to 37-35 going into the locker room at half-time.

Lavinia Da Silva opened the second half scoring and four straight Danielle McCray points saw Wolves open a seven-point gap before scores from Shanice Beckford-Norton and Albiero saw the hosts' advantage go into double figures. Da Silva split a pair at the foul line as Wolves' lead peaked at 15 with 69 third period minutes remaining, before Riders closed out the quarter on a 5-0 run to reduce the advantage to 59-49 at the final break.     

Four Beckford-Norton points helped the lead return to 15 points with 7:32 on the clock but Riders refused to lay down and Jessica Eadsforth-Yate's triple with 3:16 remaining made it a six point game.

The teams exchanged baskets until McCray hit was proved to be a crucial jump shot, and Wolves twice ran down the shot clock as they closed out the win.

McCray led Wolves with 22 point, seven rebounds and four assists while Beckford-Norton had 12 points and three boards Albiero had six assists to go with her ten points, and Sam Ashby added ten rebounds to her five points.

It was a lot more comfortable for the men's first team as they returned from Norwich with an 86-51 Division Three victory against University of East Anglia.

Liam Jefferson's team started well with a 19-14 first period and went into the locker room 37-28 ahead. A 28-12 third period effectively wrapped up the win before the outscored the hosts 21-11 in the final frame.

Gavin Mitchell led the visitors with 19 point, with La'Quarne Sayles adding 14 while both Sam Achogbuo and Dan  Kostadinov each finished with ten points.

Wolves academy women also recorded a big in Division Two as they hammered a short-handed London Thunder team 75-50 on Saturday afternoon.

Shanice Beckford-Norton's team did most of the damage in the first half as a pair of Caitlin Ryan triples helped them lead 23-10 at the first break and that advantage grew to 48-22 at half-time.

With Darcey Woodman leading the way with 16 points , Wolves won the third quarter 15-9 before Beckford-Norton ran the bench in the final period allowing the visitors to cut the deficit. Paris Mitchell-Tyson finished with 13 points while Ryan added nine.

Wolves men's second team - consisting entirely of under-18 players - wrapped up Saturday's action with a thrilling 101-95 victory against Eastbourne Neptunes on their debut in the new NBL Conference.

The visitors made a strong start to lead 27-20 at the first break before Wolves trimmed the lead back 50-47 at half-time. But Neptunes looked to have wrapped up an opening day win with a big third period to lead 74-64 at the final break, and were still comfortably ahead with five minutes remaining. But a big Can Okumus triple sparked a strong finish from the hosts as they held the visitors scoreless in the final three minutes and Oli Parkin sealed  the win with a late basket.

Oluwanifemi  Boyejo and Avishka Kurawalana had big nights with 28 and 27 points respectively while Dontel Rose added 15 points for Sayles' team,