Worcester Wolves 43-39 Cardiff Met Archers

Saturday 25^th March 2023

By Ria Kaur

Worcester Wolves celebrated their first victory of the season against Cardiff Met Archers in a nail-biting game that ended 43-39. Despite trailing for the majority of the match the Wolves did just enough to secure a win.

Tip off was won by Archers Jade Atkin, who went on to score the first points of the match.

Archers were able to pick up early points from offensive rebounds, whilst the Wolves got off to a slower start with some shots being missed (2-8).  Ellan Fraser picked up four points for Worcester, closing the trail to four. Wolves got into a better defensive position towards the end of the quarter which limited Archers to a two-point lead (8-10)

The second quarter started well for Worcester with Niamh Horan bringing the score to a tie and captain Sarah Hope picking up two points to bring the Wolves in the lead. This did not last long as Jade Atkin brough the lead back to the Archers side 12-14. Mid-way through the quarter the score was tied 14-14. Archers was more consistent with their shooting allowing them to surpass the Wolves, who missed out on opportunities to score due to turnovers.

The Wolves didn’t give up and continued to fight applying pressure with their defence and the quarter remained close ending 18-22.

The back-and-forth play continued into the third quarter and the lead continued to alternate between the two teams. Worcester was looking to put out a stronger offence and clean up their passes to bring the game on their side. The Wolves ball handling set them back giving Cardiff a chance to maintain a close score. Both teams were eager to break the tie, Horan made contributions to both Worcester’s offence and defence picking up four points and three rebounds and Sarah Hope also gained four points for the Wolves. However, the score remained a tie until the end of the quarter 30-30.

The last quarter was full of suspense with both sides looking at having an equal chance of winning. The wolves maintained a small lead during the first part of the quarter, but Archers brought the tie back to 39-39 making last few minutes of the game a nerve-racking watch with both sides scrambling to get a basket. Sarah Hope brought the Wolves in the lead by two points in the last minute of the game and Kayla Bell scored the winning points that allowed Worcester to win their first match of this season.

Despite the loss Jade Atkin was the top scorer of the game with 20 points and Sarah Hope and Niamh Horan were the highest scorers for Worcester picking up 12 points each. Sarah Hope also had the highest rebounds gaining 15 all together and Jade Atkin with 9.

The Wolves will be away for their next game as they face East London Phoenix on Sunday 2^nd of April with tip off at 3pm.