• Home
• News

24 February 2026  5 min read

NBL/WNBL Players of the Week - (21/22 Feb 2026)

Chosen in conjunction with Darren Paul and the FocusHoops team, who assess the best and brightest in D1W, and the BE team, you can have your say on this week's selections and give a shout-out to the players you think deserve one by using the hashtag #NBL2526. Don't forget to tag us!

InstagramFacebookX

How it works

Each week, a standout player plus four other worthy selections will be put forward to make the Player and Team Of The Week in both D1M and D1W, paying attention to the following criteria:

• Efficiency
• Stats
• Team and opposition strength
• Periods of influence in the game
• Being on a winning team (exceptional performances from players on losing teams will be considered for TOTW)

Players of the Week

In the tightly-contested summit of Pool A, there's no room for error, and Myerscough came through their match-up with Liverpool on Saturday as narrow 78-74 winners to keep themselves in the hunt.

A big reason for that success was the production of young standout Olivier Esingle, who led his side at both ends of the court to impressive effect.

Seventeen points led all but team-mate Junior Sanchez, and 11 assists meant that the rest of the Myerscough roster were able to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Four steals and three blocks added up to some vital production on defence, and Esingle's +/- of +10, a game-high, in a four-point win, just gave him the edge in what was a close-run POTW contest.

Worcester's Eri Bukoye came up just short of D1W POTW honours a week ago but couldn't be denied this time, putting together a match-winning performance as the Wolves downed top-four Ipswich 78-72.

After the visitors enjoyed the better of the first half, Bukoye helped her side really turn the screw after the main change, with a 24-11 third frame proving pivotal.

Bukoye chipped in nine points, three rebounds and two steals in that quarter alone, putting her side on the way to an important win as she went about polishing off an impressive stat line of her own.

D1M Team of the Week

Olivier Esingle - Myerscough Basketball Academy (17pts, 9reb, 11ast, 4stl, 3blk, 32eff)

Andre Arissol - Solent Kestrels (18pts, 12reb, 8ast, 7stl, 34eff)

Callum Vines - Richmond Knights (26pts, 24reb, 2ast, 2stl, 39eff)

Daniel Davies - Manchester Magic (12pts, 15reb, 9ast, 32eff)

Ronald Oberia - Birmingham City University (30pts, 7reb, 2ast, 4stl, 27eff)

Esingle's POTW nod makes him an automatic TOTW pick, and he's joined by some impressive performances from across the weekend.

Solent's Andre Arissol was at his very best as he helped the Kestrels past Cobham, nearing a quadruple-double as he dominated proceedings in the 76-59 win.

Richmond's Callum Vines 26-point, 24-rebound double-double was massive, speaking volumes about the standards on offer this weekend that he couldn't nab a POTW award despite that level of production. 

Vines played 36:10 of the narrow 61-58 win over London Lions II, avoiding a single turnover in the process.

Daniel Davies was just an assist away from a triple-double in Manchester's 82-70 win over Teesside, and BCU's Ronald Oberia kept his side on course in Pool A as he dropped 30 points on St Helens.

Honourable mentions

Vivaldo Ferreira - Birmingham City University (17pts, 10reb, 2ast, 4stl, 2blk, 26eff)
Connor Murtagh - St Helens Saints (32pts, 9reb, 3stl, 29eff)
Hamza Ibrahim - Sheffield Arrows (15pts, 19reb, 5ast, 2stl, 28eff)
Oscar Baldwin - Sheffield Sharks II (26pts, 11reb, 2ast, 3stl, 33eff)
Ashley Kalugin-Ugo - Leicester Warriors (26pts, 9reb, 4stl, 33eff)

D1W Team of the Week

Eri Bukoye - Worcester Wolves (16pts, 6reb, 2stl, 15eff vs BROM, 20pts, 16reb, 3ast, 3stl, 30eff vs IPS)

Ciani Montgomery - Worcester Wolves (6pts, 8reb, 5ast, 5stl, 8eff vs BROM, 26pts 6reb, 3ast, 6stl, 28eff vs IPS)

Tia Freeman - Anglia Ruskin University (32pts, 6reb, 5ast, 2stl, 32eff)

Caitlin Ryan - Loughborough Riders (22pts, 4ast, 25eff)

Harriet Welham - Endeavour Ipswich Basketball (32pts, 9reb, 3ast, 5stl, 31eff vs LAS, 26pts, 7reb, 2ast, 5stl, 23eff @WOR)

Bukoye, as was the case a week ago, is joined by team-mate Ciani Montgomery, as the pair continue to make light work of D1W opponents. Both were standouts in the win over Ipswich, with added production in Saturday's victory over Bromsgrove for good measure.

Tia Freeman was in red-hot form as ARU downed former D1W leaders Manchester, dropping 32 points to go with six rebounds and five assists, and Caitlin Ryan was the standout for Loughborough as they continued their march up the standings with an 86-63 W against Bristol.

Ipswich's Harriet Welham rounds out this week's five after putting up some big numbers in Saturday's 79-49 success against London All Stars, and posting a team-high 26 points in Sunday's loss in Worcester.

Honourable mentions

Matilda Goddard - London Cavaliers (19pts, 3ast, 3stl, 19eff @BRE, 3pts, 3reb, 5stl, 1eff vs CoLA)
Adaora Dioramma - CoLA Southwark Pride (17pts, 12reb, 23eff)
Chinwe Iwunze - London Cavaliers (9pts, 4reb, 2ast, 4stl, 7eff @BRE, 23pts, 9reb, 2ast, 3stl, 23eff vs CoLA)

Follow all the NBL and WNBL action on the HoopsHQ app:

For IOS

For Android

User guide

Main image credit - Myerscough Basketball Academy