Category: News

Women Capture League Title

Women’s 1st team are Midlands Tier 2 Champions (10-0). They secured the league with 2 win’s in the same night. Wednesday 19th March saw UW Women play 2 games. At 6pm they faced University of Wolverhampton 1st team. Followed by Birmingham City University at 8pm.

This unprecedented event took place due to not having any availability for the fixtures to be played at any other point during the season. With it being the final week of BUCS fixtures, there was no alternative other than to play both games on the same night.

UW Women won both games by comfortable margin. Putting over 100 points on the board in both fixtures. Coach Alexis said “I’m really happy with the performances. I want to give a huge shout out to both BCU and University of Wolverhampton. They both only won one game all season. So to turn up and still compete in the way they did was great!

“Having being relegated to 2A at the end of last season. It’s the first time we have competed in 2A since the 2011-2012 season. So to win it and get back to 1A straight away is great for the team” added Coach Alexis.

In his first season as Coach of this team, Coach Alexis is looking forward to competing in Midlands 1A. “I’ve enjoyed my first season in BUCS and I look forward to competing in 1A next season. The team have worked hard this season, to win the cup and the league is amazing. I’m really happy for them, as they have worked so hard. They really deserve this!”

Midlands Conference Cup Champions

Our women are Midlands Conference Cup Champions. A convincing win secured the victory over finalists Cambridge University 80-59.

Worcester started the game strong. Closing the first quarter 22-12. We continued to dominate the second quarter. Defensive stops allowed us to control the flow and tempo of the game. Cambridge were unable to develop any rhythm. We closed the first half leading 43-22.

The half time break worked in Cambridge’s favour who were keen to show the contest was well from over. Cambridge came out with an energy and an urgency. Going toe to toe with us, Cambridge edged the quarter 21-20 (60-43). However they were unable to break the hold we had on the game to this point.

Cambridge continued to compete in the 4th, but they weren’t able to eat into the lead that we had created. We were able to do enough to keep them at bay with time defensive stops and converting baskets on offense

check out pictures from the victory here

Overtime loss for our Men’s 2nd team 79-90 Nottingham 2’s


Last game of the season for our Men’s 2nd team. Travelling across to the east midlands to take on University of Nottingham Men’s 2nd. To decide who gets second place in the league.
A slow start from our men allowed Nottingham to get an 8-0 start. Coach Radu called for an early time-out to settle our guys down. The timeout worked and our men rallied and finished the first quarter 21-18.

Second quarter belonged to the home team. Scoring 25pts and taking back the lead to go into half time 43-32.
The half time break is exactly what our guys needed! A strong performance in the 3rd quarter, a flurry of 3’s and some great defence, we regained the lead. Going into the 4th quarter 63-56.

The home team managed to reduce this deficit and to even get back in front 74-72 in the last 5 seconds of the game. Captain Malaki Pitterson Cunningham scored after a strong drive to the basket sending the game into overtime: 74-74.

Malaki said “it was great getting to over time after a hard fought game, but the foul trouble hurt us in the fourth.”
Having 3 players fouled out in the overtime, we scored 5 points to Nottingham’s 16(12 points from free throw line!!!!) – final score 90-79 for home team.
We may have lost the battle, but we won the war. Our men succeeded in maintaining their hold on 2nd place, by having the split over Nottingham.

Coach Alex said “What a great game to finish the season. Everyone came in the game and contributed. Just a shame we didn’t get the win, but we remain in second place so we can be at peace a little bit “

Finals Bound!

They’re headed to the FINALS! Our Women’s 1st team beat Derby University to book their place in this years Midlands Conference Cup Finals. Another solid team performance saw them secure the win in front of a supportive crowd. This week it was the turn of Steph Oliver to lead the team in scoring. Shooting her way to a game high, 19pts (6 of 9 from 3pt).

We caught up with Player of the game Steph Oliver, who lead the team in scoring with 19pts. “As a team we performed very well. Our defence created a lot of fast break lay-ups for us.” When asked about her own performance, she said “I think i performed well, I was shooting when open. Making 3s at the end of the plays or shot clock and also creating opportunities for my teammates.”

We asked Steph how the team was feeling after Wednesdays win. “As a team we are so excited to make it to the Finals, it is such a great feeling and we have been working hard and stayed consistent in games to be able to reach this moment.”

Our team take on Cambridge Women’s 1st team in the Midlands Conference Cup Final on Wednesday 5th March at University of Birmingham at 11am tip. Cambridge are currently 2nd in Midlands 2B. 3pts behind league leaders Nottingham Women’s 2. We managed to speak with Coach Alexis to hear this thoughts on reaching the finals in his first season

Megan leads they way

The University of Worcester Women’s Basketball team continued their undefeated streak in Midlands 2A. Winning their latest league game against Derby Women’s 1st team 99-42.

Megan Lovatt could not be stopped beyond the arc. Hitting five 3 pointers and top scoring with 21 points!

A great team performance, saw 7 player score in double figures. Plenty of steals and assists being dished out by Nina Wallace and Danie Wallis. Strong finishes around the rim by Preccila Ocrah, Lottie Cretegny and Emma Wickham. Kacey Cox and Steph Oliver further contributed to this success by hitting 3s and completing fast breaks attacks. Caitlin Hughes confidently returned to the court injury for the last 10 weeks. Now healthy, Caitlin contributed 11 points on her return!

The win, sets the team up nicely for next week’s Conference Cup Semi-Finals. The semi-final fixture will see them play Derby for the 3rd time this season. Captain Emma Wickham said “I’m very proud of the whole team’s performance today. Getting the win shows all the hard work we’ve been putting in is paying off. We’re very excited for next weeks cup game. We’ll be working hard to prepare as we want to get to the finals!!”

Top scorers:
Megan Lovatt – 21 points
Nina Wallace – 13 points
Kacey Cox/Preccilla Ocrah/Steph Oliver – 12 points

Can the streak continue?

Our Women will look to strengthen their hold on BUCS Midlands 2A.  A confident University of Worcester team will be going into todays game looking for their 7th win.  Missing key players our women will be looking to get the job done. Coach Alexis said “we’re extremely fortunate to have a deep squad. the players know that with a couple players missing, others will have to step up.”

When asked about preparation for the game, Coach said “Derby are not to be taken lightly, so I’ve demanded a lot of from our team in practice and to be fair to them, they’ve practiced really well this week. So let’s hope that carries over to the game.” He added “their in 2nd place, so this is an important game against a tough team. We’ve got to focus on our defence, our intensity, ball movement and playing as a team.

The second place team are hot on the heels of our women.  3pts currently seperates both teams in the table. Our women will be working to ensure they extend that lead to 6pts by the end of tonight.

Can we be the 1?

Our Men’s 2nd team will be looking to 3 wins in a row this week. As they take on Midlands 2A league winners Loughborough 4’s. Coach Alex Radu and the team know that it won’t be an easy task. The table toppers are yet to lose a game. Storming to eight wins and zero losses to date. Is our team ready to hand Loughborough their first loss of the season?

Coach Alex, had this to say when we caught up with him this morning. “Practice last week and this week has been good. All players responded well in training to my requirements as a coach and despite the fact that we had a few players who were ill or had some minor injuries, overall I believe we are ready for this game against top of the league team (Loughborough) so that we can consolidate our second place by the end of the season!”

Be sure to support our teams this week at University of Worcester Arena.

Men’s 2 tip is 6pm and our Men’s 3’s play Leicester 2’s at 8pm

UW Basketball x Ball Hog

UW Basketball are proud to announce a new partnership with upcoming compression wear brand Ball Hog. The company is founded by current University of Worcester student Elliot Langfield Elliot is a third year student here at UW and is studying Bio Medical Science. He also finds time to play Basketball for our Men’s 2nd team.

Elliot, had this to say when we caught up with him “I always wanted to see our products being worn by friends and teammates here at University of Worcester, but I wanted it to be the right time. I think now is the right time for us as a company and I cant wait to see the guys wearing Ball Hog gear.

Basketball Development Officer Dean Blake said “As soon as I found out that Ball Hog was founded by Elliot, we had to make this happen. Compression gear is important in todays game, all players wear something to protect themselves. So to have this opportunity to work with Ball Hog, and support one of our own at the same time is a no brainer.

The partnership will see UW Basketball players wearing BallHog protection wear, for games and practices. UW Basketball players will in turn provide feedback on the products to allow BallHog to ensure they are continuing to develop top quality products for athletes as they strive to be trusted name in Basketball protection

Week 2 Game Reports – Oct 18th

University of Worcester 74 – Northumbria 78

Eben Effah started things off for UW Men with a put back from Emanuel Yeboah missed 3. Emanuel hit 2 consecutive threes. Giving the home team an early lead (8-7). That lead would be short lived. With Northumbria coming back with some inside play from number 15 Kanwei. #5 Riley came next with a thunderous dunk. Poor defensive transition from our Men, saw Northumbria capitalise and close out the 1st quarter 18-15.

The second quarter began in the same way the first quarter ended. Worcester, struggling to find cohesion on the defensive end. #9 Kande (9pts) and #15 Kanwei (8pts) combining for 17pts in the second period, for the away team.

Eben again got things going in the 3rd, scoring on a Humberto Ferriera assist, from close range. Jacob Dearman was then fouled going drive to the basket and sank 1 of 2 from the line. #9 Sande and #15 Kanwei carried the load for the visitors scoring the teams first 16pts. Worcester found their own dynamic duo in Dearman and Yeboah. Who poured in a combined 18pts, to reduce the deficit to 11 going into the fourth.

Top Performers Jacob and Emanuel

Worcester continued to build momentum with Dearman and Yeboah carrying in the scoring load. Some good defense allowed us to take the lead. However we were unable to find the basket in the last 2 minutes and Nortumbria we able to take the lead and secure the victory.

Week 6: Game Reports

University of Worcester 47 – 85 Coventry Men’s 1

At a raucous University of Worcester Arena, our men’s 2nd team came out ‘hot’, playing some spell binding basketball in a 1st quarter that was fantastic to watch. UW were spearheaded by Bedgood & Garcia scoring from the perimeter, then Dunphy ignited the crowd with scores in transition. UW led 30-17. However in the 2nd quarter, injuries hampered the UW team, ruling out Garcia, Bastos and Langfield.

The team continued to fight hard, playing with a passion & energy, however the strength and size of the league leaders, Coventry University, proved a insurmountable challenge.

The final score at times doesn’t reflect the intensity of the game through the first 30 mins, said Coach Simon Fisher.

MVP: Keon Dunphy, 12pts & 11 rebs

In the second round of games in the Midlands Tier 1 of the Wheechair Basketball conference, our team secured two emphatic victories over Loughborough and Nottingham University. The win’s mean that our team have guaranteed themselves top spot in the conference before the 3rd round of games in the new year.

University of Worcester 97 – 42 Loughborough

University of Worcester 53 – 17 Nottingham University

Week 5: Game Reports

University of Worcester Men’s 1st 88-76 Anglia Ruskin University Men’s 1st

Worcester started the game in style with a drive from Wifrid Santhe who dished it off to the cutting Thomas Grayling for the two handed flush. From that point on the team didn’t look back.

A strong effort from Anglia’s Ruskin’s guard Sam Horvath (35pts), wasn’t enough to stop an undermanned Worcester team. Another good performance from Evan Longman off the bench earned him Game Night MVP honours for his double double.

Coach Dean was happy with the win. “it’s always good to get a win, when you’re not at full strength. It show’s the depth in our squad. Which is important when we’re competing in two leagues.”

Matei Balteanu 21pts

Evan Longman 16pts

Wilfrid Santhe 14pts, Thomas Grayling 14pts

University of Worcester Women 68-41 Oxford Women’s 1st

After a long anticipated return, University of Worcester Womens basketball is back!

The Womens 1st team began there campaign with a strong performance over a valiant Oxford side. Strong scoring performance from , and allowed Worcester to to see out the entire game never trailing behind.

A BUCS debut for June Bolinaga however would steal the show, as she announced herself onto the main stage contributing 11pts and working tirelessly on defence.

Coach Kieran added

“I’m extremely happy with the girls today! Being low on numbers the ladies proved that it’s not about the size of the dog, but the fight in the dog that counts. We will take this win and look forward to next week to do it all over again.”

Carolina Marquez 16pts

Kacey Cox 14 pts

Charlotte Finn 12pts

University Worcester Men’s 2 76 vs 73 Nottingham Trent Men’s 2

Worcester Men’s 2nd team progressed in the Midlands Conference Cup after a pulsating game at the University of Worcester Arena.

Ben Bedgood ignited the game with back to back 3s that provided the fast start Coach Fisher had focused on after the initial series of games. This start meant Worcester had a 10+ pt lead for most of the game, with Thiago Bastos scoring inside showing we’ll on his season debut,  Bruno Garcia and Keon Dunphy produced energetic displays that allowed Worcester to stretch the lead to 16 as the game entered the final quarter.

Nottingham Trent continued to fight and there desire rattled the 2nds as they searched for their opening win of the season, however Ben Curran marshalled the team home in a frenetic final few minutes to leave the home crowd jubilant as the clock expired to welcome a home win.

Coach Fisher says “the game flow showed the strengths and development areas for the team. The control and team basketball we showed for large periods was excellent. We made good decisions, extra passes which enabled us to compete. The final quarter will provide learning, but also confidence that we learn how to win. The team spirit was excellent, the bench tremendous, but overall the desire to compete provided the winning effort.

Thiago Bastos – 20pts

Keen Dunphy – 16pts

Ben Bedgood – 15pts

Bruno Garcia – 10pts

University of Worcester Men’s 3 53-86 University of Wolverhampton Men’s 1

Going into the game the 3rds got of to a slow start leaving it to be 15-25 at the end of the 1st. Wolverhampton were a very tough team, and throughout the whole game continued to run and dominate in the paint.

Coach Shanice adjusted her defence but sadly Wolverhampton came back with 3 back to back 3s. As the game went on the lead got greater. The guys fought and continued to compete, holding Wolverhampton to 12 in the 4th. Unfortunately it was too little too late. Coach Shanice said ” Wolverhampton are a strong team and so they should be. I’m happy that we competed for all four quarters and didn’t give up. If we have that attitude, competitiveness and fight in the league then we will do well.”

Karvanni Spooner 12pts

Harvey Young 7pts

Men’s 1st lose on the road to Oxford

Oxford University 77 vs 66 University of Worcester

After a lack luster 1st quarter (11-25) from our men’s 1st team, the team struggled to find any rhythm on offense or defense to mount a comeback. Our guys played much better in the 2nd quarter, but it wasn’t enough to make a dent into Oxford’s lead of 13pts at the end of 20 minutes of play.

After the half time break, Oxford came out fighting with a flurry of baskets to cause an early time out by Coach Dean. We started to see more urgency from the team, as Coach Dean started to utilise the bench more to see if someone could ignite a spark.

The fourth quarter saw a team on a mission. Our Men’s 1st team started to play more like the team. Creating havoc on the defensive end, causing turnovers and creating fast break opportunities. However time wasn’t on our side and Oxford were strategic in slowing the game down to limit our chances of mounting a successful comback.

Top Scorers: Isaiah Walker 27, Humberto Ferreira 11, Jacob Dearman 10.

Coach Dean said, “due to the way we started the game, we gave ourselves too much work to do. The guys are naturally disappointed, however there’s no time to sulk and feel sorry for ourselves. So we have to prepare for our next game, taking the learnings from this evening.”

University of Worcester Men 2 80 vs 89 University of Wolverhampton

Wolves endured a slow start, as Wolverhampton found their shooting touch in the 1st quarter, ultimately the 16-32 score at the end of the 1st was to big a hill to climb.

However the 2nds showed immense heart and tenacity to battle and win the other quarters to end on the wrong end of a 80-89 score.

Wolves managed to close the game to 13 at the half, and made a real run in the 2nd half to provide the watching crowd belief the comeback was possible, closing the game to 4, with 5 mins to play.

Scorers: Bedgood-17, Garcia-14, Brine-13, Langfield-10, Curran-9

Coach Simon Fisher said “I am extremely proud of the effort, the desire to compete, especially facing a slow start, however the team collectively responded, playing some lovely team basketball. We need to find a way to avoid playing catch up in games, that is my responsibility, we will continue to learn and grow as a unit.”

Wolves douse the flames

Our Worcester Wolves, claimed their second victory in NBL Division 3, beating Coventry Flames, 58-64. Leading from the start of the game, our Wolves men, would at times extend the lead into double digits. However, like a blazing fire, Coventry wouldn’t go away. Their relentlessness kept them in the game. Whether it was offensive rebounds, or a flurry of 3 pointers, the flames kept threatening to singe the tails of our Wolves.

Austin Payne again lead our scoring with 22pts, McGregor followed up with 11 and guard Santhe had 9pts.

For a full game report click here

Or if you’d like to watch the game again you can always click the link below as the game was live streamed on Coventry Flames YouTube Channel.

BUCS BASKETBALL IS BACK

Wow!! What an 18 months we’ve all endured!!! But we’re here and so is BUCS Basketball. As I sit here writing this, we’re are 4 days away from tip off! Our four teams all tip off on Wednesday 13th October. I’m excited and so are all our staff and players!

Our Women have the first game of the day with a 5pm tip-off at Nottingham University. Coach Ryan and the women can’t wait to get on the court donning the University Blue and white, it’s been a while!

Our Men’s 3rd team were due to play their first home game this week but that game has now been rescheduled. Their first home game is now Wednesday 20th October when they take on Aston University. Our new Men’s 3rd team Coach Kieran Howell, is as excited as everyone to get back to competitive play.

Our Men’s 1st team are now the only home game of the evening, when they face Loughborough University! Big man Shaun Parren-Rackley said “We’ve been practicing and preparing. Loughborough lost their first game of the season, so I’m certain they will want to bounce back straight away and get back to winning ways. So we have to be ready!!”

The final game of the evening see our Men’s 2nd team travel up the M5 to take on University of Wolverhampton.

Our Wolves open season with strong victories in their respective leagues.

Our Worcester Wolves Men and Women both had their season openers on Saturday 2nd October, in front of 300+ fans at University of Worcester Arena.

Our Worcester Wolves women tipped off first, at 5pm. In their first game of the WNBL Division 1 season vs Bristol Flyers. Our Women lead for most of the evening, as the Flyers just wouldn’t go away. A strong first half saw Wolves going in to the break leading 36-26. Going toe to toe in the 3rd, our women still lead by 10pts going into the 4th, 51-41. Flyers looked to soar in the fourth pouring in 15pts in the final 10 minutes, to Worcester’s 12. However it wasn’t enough to close the gap and claim the victory.

Coach Ryan said “Overall happy with the performance, but I think we can be a better team.” On individuals that stood out for him from the victory, he said “Charlotte and Shona contributed very well, both finished double digits in scoring. I feel like Charlotte really set the tone on the defensive end.”

Saturdays game saw the debut of Chandre Nunez. Chandre lead the team in scoring with 18pts, in her first time in the blue and orange of the Worcester Wolves. Ryan is really excited to have Chandre in the squad and thinks she compliments the other girls well.

Read the full game report here

Our girls striking a pose after their first regular season victory. Flanked by Assistant Coach Olly Miall and Head Coach Ryan Emery

Our Men got off to a strong start versus fellow league newcomers Warwickshire Warriors, who boasted University of Worcester Alumni Simon Payne as one of their starters. After a slow start our Men got on the scoreboard with a lay-up from Matei Balteanu and didn’t look back. Finishing the game with a strong 98-34 victory.

Saturday also saw the debut for Austin Payne, who like Chandre for the women’s team, also lead the team in scoring on his debut with 17pts.

Read the full game report here

Our guys gather for a photo at the end of their first season win, with a new team mascot!