Oaklands Wolves suffer second-half slump as Leicester Riders storm to victory

A strong first-half proved all for naught as Oaklands Wolves fell to a 71-48 loss away to Leicester Riders in the WBBL.

The visitors to Loughborough University had turned around just one point adrift, trailing 29-28 to the hosts, but from there Leicester upped the tempo and although Wolves were still within eight points going into the final 10 minutes, their lack of competitive basketball caught up with them.

New signing and Estonian international Greeta Uprus led the Wolves' scoring for the second successive week, adding five rebounds to her 11 points, with Louise Rouse missing a double-double by a rebound, finishing with 10 points.

Amari Carter also had 10 points while Dorka Boros added five boards to her nine.

The final outcome seemed a million miles away when Uprus put Oaklands 10-5 up with almost six minutes of the game played. The home side recovered to lead 17-14 after the first quarter but Oaklands enjoyed their best 10 minutes after that, with Carter, Lauren Milligan and Boros putting them ahead with a minute left on the clock.

Hannah Robb gave Riders the half-time lead and she hit a triple to open the second half as Leicester started strongly.

Beth Sarson and Carter kept Wolves in it with three-point efforts and the latter had the visitors back to within seven with five minutes remaining before the Riders pulled clear.

Wolves' men saw their home game against Loughborough postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.