Wolves win first trophy in SLB Cup women's final
Oaklands Wolves are celebrating after winning their first piece of silverware by beating Sheffield Hatters in the Super League Basketball Cup women's final.The St Albans-based team, who were formed in 2009 and first entered the British Basketball League - now SLB - seven years later, triumphed 65-51 in Sunday's final in Nottingham.Sam Ashby was named MVP after scoring 12 points as head coach Lee Ryan's side made up for the disappointment of losing to Caledonia Gladiators in the SLB Betty Codona Trophy final in January."I think we deserved that win but to really prove how we can play and be as a team, that felt amazing," Ashby told DAZN Sport."We knew Sheffield are a good team and we would have to have high intensity to stop them from scoring and that's what we did. Wolves led 21-11 after the first quarter, and after Hatters cut the deficit to just six points at the half-way stage, pulled away in the third.Although they were outscored 10-7 in the final quarter, they held on for victory "We are well rounded as a team and really showed that with multiple people getting on the scoreboard - even on the bench everyone was so locked in from the beginning," said guard Shanice Beckford-Norton."This week, we just had to revisit who we are. Lee pointed out everyone's strengths and that's all we had to bring. Instead of everyone trying to do everyone, they were just doing what they're best at, which is why we got the win."
The Hatters - who lost 79-72 to Wolves in an SLB Championship meeting in December - had been hoping to win their first trophy since winning the 2019 WBBL Cup final.But head coach Vanessa Ellis told BBC Radio Sheffield that her team had never really got into the game."I'm really disappointed in how we played. Credit to Oakland, they made it tough for us, but we've got to be able to adjust and adapt."She added: "We worked on a lot of things in training - I don't know if it was the occasion, for a lot of these it was the first time in a big final and it's different environment - and we've just got to learn from defeat and move on." The two sides will meet again in the Championship at Oaklands College on 30 March.
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