.jpg)
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.