It’s been a frustrating start to the season so far for Nottingham Wildcats who sit comfortably in mid table of the WBBL having won two and lost two of their Women’s British Basketball League games whilst the side last weekend crashed to defeat against Leicester Riders in the second round of the WBBL Cup.
This weekend the Wildcats are back in championship action at home to Essex Rebels before a fortnight off where after, on the opening Saturday of December they’ll head up to the North East to take on Durham Palatinates.
The Rebels sit seventh in the table and have two wins and three defeats from their five games, a place behind Nottingham in sixth, who have four points from their four games, a win for either will take them into the top five, and for Nottingham they’ll be looking to bounce back from two recent defeats.
Last time out, against a strong Leicester Riders outfit, the Wildcats were beaten 80-53 by the away side who progress to the last four in the cup. Prior to that, Nottingham were well beaten at home by Caledonia Gladiators 85-42 to end a run of three successive league and cup wins after losing their opening match of the season at Newcastle Eagles 69-65.
Those wins, a tight two score 71-67 victory against Manchester Met Mystics, before comprehensive league and cup wins over Oaklands Wolves (96-61 in the cup & 96-82 in the league) gave improved confidence throughout Kendrick Liburd’s young side, something they’ll be looking to find, lost slightly after their last two matches and two defeats.
Leading the way in the stats, Kayla Shaw tops the Wildcats average points scored per game with 16.7 ahead of Kennedy Nicolas shooting 15.5 per match.
Brahe Ashton with an average nine assists per match is joint best in the league with Lauren Saiki of Cardiff Met Archers whilst Kennedy Nicolas tops the divisions defensive rebounds with ten per match. Her total rebounds of 13 per game is the third best in the WBBL.
Nicholas also tops the field goal rankings for the division scoring 58.1% of her shots, the Americans two point percentage is over 59% and the third highest in the division, with 25 two points made so far this season.
Another star in the stats is Tia Freeman who these days with Essex Rebels will be looking to get one over her old club at the weekend. The match at the Wildcats Arena tipping off at 6pm on Saturday night.
*Main image @NottmWildcats Brahe Ashton in action has the most ave assists in the division.