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29 January 2026  4 min read

Elite Academy Leagues recap (28 Jan 2026)

A busy week across the Academy Leagues has brought both competitions closer to the end of the regular season.

Further wins for both WEABL leaders, Nottingham and City of London Academy - Southwark put those two programmes just one result away from sealing conference titles.

EABL South leaders CoLA are in a similar position after progressing to 7-0, but there was no EABL North action this week to advance that race.

Week Eleven Results

Tuesday 27 January 2026

WEABL

South

HHS Reading Rockets (1-7) 63-75 Barking Abbey (4-2) - LIVE STATS

Wednesday 28 January 2026

EABL

South

Barking Abbey (4-2) 78-63 Itchen College (5-3) - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark (7-0) 96-58 Copleston High School (0-8) - LIVE STATS

HHS Reading Rockets (2-5) 64-60 Oaklands Wolves (4-4) - LIVE STATS

WEABL

North

BMet City of Birmingham Rockets (0-8) 41-82 Manchester Mystics (5-2) - LIVE STATS

Charnwood College Riders (3-3) 34-115 Nottingham Academy Wildcats (7-0) - LIVE STATS

South

Barking Abbey (4-3) 66-35 Itchen College (2-6) - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark (7-0) 47-26 Copleston High School (6-2) - LIVE STATS

HHS Reading Rockets (0-7) 44-79 Oaklands Wolves (4-4) - LIVE STATS

 
 
 
 
 
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Standout performances

Barking's WEABL side were the big winners of the week, picking up a pair of victories as part of their playoff push.

Beating HHS 75-63 on Tuesday was followed by a 66-35 W against Itchen 24 hours later, boosting their progress considerably.

All three Conference winners kept their title challenges on course. CoLA took their WEABL rivalry clash with Copleston 47-26, holding the Suffolk side to just two points in the third quarter and ten in the second half, moving another step closer to locking up the South top spot in the process.

That success was mirrored in the EABL South as CoLA beat Copleston 96-58, and Nottingham remained unbeaten in the WEABL North as they hammered Charnwood 115-34.

What does it mean for the standings? 

Nottingham and both CoLA sides are now close to all winning their respective WEABL and EABL divisions. Manchester can do the same in the EABL North with a few more results falling in their favour, but they were without a game this past Wednesday.

Barking's EABL South win over Itchen makes them the most likely contender to CoLA should they slip up, and BA's two wins in the WEABL South also vault them right into the playoff mix.

View the EABL Standings

View the WEABL Standings

W/EABL Playoff Structures

Player-of-the-week candidates 

In the EABL, Joshua Mendes (15pts, 15reb) had a big double/double in Barking's win over Itchen, with Alexander Nwabueze (18pts) starring off the bench to cancel out Ethan Round's 22 points.

Daniel Banjoko (21pts, 13reb, 5ast, 4stl) went off for CoLA against bottom side Copleston as Toby Gass (20pts, 8reb) and Andrew Nwokolo (19pts, 6reb) both played well in support.

Matt Liddamore (25pts, 4reb) was the main standout for Copleston as they slipped to another defeat, and Matt Daines was in top form for HHS as they knocked off Oaklands, netting 33 points to go with five rebounds and four steals.

In the WEABL, Kamilah Yakabu (16pts 15reb) and Sharliyah Sutherland (24pts) both starred in BA's Tuesday win over HHS, with Sutherland (19pts, 13reb) following that up with a big game in the win against Itchen alongside teammate Cecilia Victorious (14pts, 12reb).

Manchester's Izzy Aldcroft (15pts, 20reb) put together a big double-double in the Mystics' victory over BMet, Bo Guttormsdottir-Frost (15pts, 6stl) and Darcey Woodman (19pts, 6reb, 5stl) helped Oaklands down HHS, and Ayla Habbal (17pts, 8reb, 10stl) was the driving force in CoLA's low-scoring W against Copleston.

Watch out for the winner on our social channels, with the announcement going live on Friday at 12pm for the EABL, and 2pm for the WEABL.

Main image credit - Kareem Lee

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