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13 March 2026  5 min read

W/EABL Players of the Week (11 Mar 2026)

You can have your say on this week’s selections and give a shout-out to the players you think deserve one on the Academy League channels.

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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 the EABL and WEABL, 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

Manchester's Jack Walton and familiar running mate Demi Babalola were both in fine form as Magic booked their spot in the EABL Final with an 88-69 win over Itchen, but it was guard Walton who just pipped his team-mate to the final EABL award of 2025/26.

Walton's 26 points came on 10/16 FGs (62%), hitting 5/8 3pts as part of that impressive total. Seven assists were a team-high, with his nine rebounds only being beaten by Babalola.

Walton provided nine points and an assist in a pivotal 35-14 fourth quarter, including back-to-back triples, to get his side off and running when the game was still in the balance.

"The game on Wednesday was a tough one, like we anticipated," confessed Walton.

"Our grit and commitment to the gameplan got us the win and I am happy to contribute in the way I did. We look forward to the final in a few weeks time and hope to show our talent."

Magic head coach Tom Paraskeva added: "Jack showed maturity and quality in a tough game to organise our team and get us over the line.

"We are all looking forward to testing ourselves again in the final."

There's a familiar face collecting the WEABL honour for this week, with repeat winner Holly Ensoll once again producing a top-tier performance.

Ipswich had to erase a few deficits in a tight game against Nottingham, eventually coming through 61-59 thanks in part to a dominant performance from their young forward.

Ensoll's 18 points were a team-high, and her 23 boards were nine higher than the next closest challenger on either side.

A team-high +/- of +8 also showed her impact in the slender win, keeping Copleston's WEABL title defence alive in the process.

"It’s a huge honour to win this award," said Ensoll.

"I'm really proud of our team for grinding out a huge win against a tough opposition. We are really looking forward to the final."

Copleston head coach Nick Drane added: "Holly was exceptional, especially in the second half of this game – leaning on her experiences of playing in big games over the last couple of years.

"We know we have a huge task ahead of us against such a strong CoLA team."

EABL Team of the Week

Jack Walton - Manchester Magic (26pts, 9reb, 7ast, 32eff)

Demi Babalola - Manchester Magic (28pts, 13reb, 4ast, 3blk, 34eff)

Sayomi Latidan - Myerscough College (18pts, 9reb, 19eff)

Toby Gass - City of London Academy - Southwark (25pts, 8reb, 2ast, 2stl, )

Tristan Curran - Charnwood College Riders (23pts, 10reb, 7ast, 5stl, 26eff)

Demi Babalola may have just missed out on POTW honours, but the Manchester forward was an easy pick for one of this week's TOTW spots after his all-round stat line against Itchen.

POTW Walton is an automatic lock, and he's joined by Myerscough's Sayomi Latidan after his near double-double helped 'Sco past CoLA.

CoLA forward Toby Gass was unfortunate to be on the losing side in their semi-final after a standout individual performance, whilst Tristan Curran stuffed the stat sheet in Charnwood's classification game win again Oaklands.

Honourable mentions

Zavier Gleadell-Smith - Charnwood College Riders (24pts, 10reb, 2ast, 3blk, 29eff)
Gavin Mitchell - Oaklands Wolves (31pts, 12reb, 2ast, 29eff)
Dawid Cimochowski - Itchen College (16pts, 14reb, 27eff)

WEABL Team of the Week

Holly Ensoll - Copleston High School (18pts, 23reb, 2ast, 2blk, 30eff)

Chloe Vella - City of London Academy - Southwark (16pts, 14reb, 24eff)

Adaora Dioramma - City of London Academy - Southwark (20pts, 8reb, 21eff)

Grace Nzeakor - Charnwood College Riders (35pts, 15reb, 2ast, 6stl, 45eff)

Tiarna Chambers-Desmond - Nottingham Academy Wildcats (16pts, 14reb, 4ast, 20eff)

Ensoll's big double-double and POTW nod is a good starting point for this week's five, with CoLA duo Chloe Vella and Adaora Dioramma both providing worthy performance in their side's victory against Barking to earn a spot each.

Grace Nzeakor provided some of the biggest numbers around on Wednesday afternoon, causing BMet problems at both ends of the court in Charnwood's classification game win.

The five is rounded out by Nottingham's Tiarna Chambers-Desmond after the Wildcats single-basket loss to Copleston. Chambers-Desmond provided a useful 16 points that included a pair of triples, plus a team-high 14 rebounds as the hosts tried to slow down Ensoll.

Honourable mentions

Aida Badiane - BMet City of Birmingham Rockets (24pts, 9reb, 4ast, 2stl, 26eff)
Aja Paget - Charnwood College Riders (14pts, 10reb, 7ast, 5stl, 21eff)
Maisie Keyes - Endeavour Ipswich Basketball (17pts, 8reb, 3ast, 2stl, 16eff)

Main image credit - Richard Leach