True to form, the Nottingham Wildcats opened up their home WBBL Cup game against the Oakland Wolves with as Mari Stewart and Kennedy Nicolas got out of the gates early to open up a lead.

The player movement and passing showed the home side to be a much more organised team than the visitors in black, as Oakland relied on a lot of one-pass pull-up shots without much movement. Meanwhile, the Wildcats saw the ball flow through several hands with cuts and motion to rival the Golden State Warriors at times while building a 27-7 lead with less than two minutes to go in the quarter.

The physicality of Jahnae Gyles proved difficult for the Wolves to handle. She was muscling defenders out of the way while being aggressive driving to the hoop time after time.

Grace Oliver did everything she could for the Wolves, as the big looked shattered after grabbing five rebounds and adding six points in the first quarter, but her team was still down 19-12 to close the opening 10 minutes.

Oliver finished with 22 points, and got support from Wolves captain Cassidy Gould who had 27, but it was clear that Oakland had no depth compared to Nottingham.

They never closed the gap to less than around 20 points, which made the game a frustrating experience for the visiting team, but it goes to show the importance of getting out to a good start in a competition like the WBBL Cup.

Perhaps more important, however, is home court advantage. The top three seeds based on last year’s Championship standings went straight through to the next round of the WBBL Cup, but the Nottingham Wildcats, Caledonia Pride and Durham Palatinates each showed how the home crowd, and the lack of travel, can impact your chances of winning.

Report/Image Source: WBBL