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30 January 2026  4 min read

W/EABL Players of the Week (28 Jan 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

Two players with big efficiency games get the nod for Player of the Week honours, with CoLA's Daniel Banjoko and Nottingham's Mateya Georgieva both putting up 36eff games.

Banjoko went off on Copleston to stuff the stat sheet, leading his side in points (21), rebounds (13), assists (5) and a joint-high for steals (4), shooting 80% (8/10 FGs) from the floor and doing it all in just 21 minutes of action.

Speaking about the award, Banjoko said: "I am grateful for this award but it was a great team performance overall and anyone could have received it."

CoLA head coach Jay Williams added: "Daniel has worked really hard and defensively he has really stepped up another gear."

Nottingham's Georgieva was another putting on a show, hurting Charnwood's playoff hopes as the Wildcats won 115-34.

Dropping 17 points that involved 3/4 from 3pt range, the young guard added seven rebounds, six assists and a game-high 12 steals across 26:22 of action.

"I’m thankful to have received Player of the Week, but I am mostly proud of the team performance in staying disciplined regardless of the big score difference," said Georgieva.

Nottingham head coach Siobhán Prior added: "Mateya really deserves this win this week. She brings a consistent level of energy and effort and her coachability has seen her improve rapidly over the last year and a half.

"I’m happy for her. This is well deserved."

EABL Team of the Week

Daniel Banjoko - City of London Academy - Southwark (21pts, 13reb, 5ast, 4stl, 36eff)

Joshua Mendes - Barking Abbey (15pts, 15reb, 18eff)

Alexander Nwabueze - Barking Abbey (18pts, 4stl, 18eff)

Toby Gass - City of London Academy - Southwark (20pts, 8rbe, 2ast, 4stl, 22eff)

Matt Daines - HHS Reading Rockets (33pts, 5reb, 3ast, 4stl, 27eff)

POTW Banjoko is joined by team mate Toby Gass after CoLA's big win against Copleston provided plenty of standout stat lines.

Barking are another to double up, with Joshua Mendes and Alexander Nwabueze also making the cut for their impact against Itchen.

That just leaves Matt Daines to complete the line up, pushing the Rockets to their second win of the season thanks to an EABL-high 33 point outing against Oaklands.

Honourable mentions

Raffy Connolly - Barking Abbey (10pts, 6reb, 2ast, 2stl, 16eff)
Ethan Round - Itchen College (22pts, 5reb, 3ast, 21eff, 6/11 3PT)
Andrew Nwokolo - City of London Academy - Southwark (19pts, 6reb, 3stl, 17eff)
Matt Liddamore - Copleston High School (25pts, 4reb, 16eff)
Luca Bakary - HHS Reading Rockets (12pts, 7reb, 3blk, 16eff)

WEABL Team of the Week

Mateya Georgieva - Nottingham Academy Wildcats (17pts, 7reb, 6ast, 12stl, 36eff)

Kamilah Yakubu - Barking Abbey (16pts, 15reb, 3ast, 4stl, 22eff @ HHS)

Sharliyah Sutherland - Barking Abbey (19pts, 13reb, 8stl, 22eff vs ITCH)

Izzy Aldcroft - Manchester Mystics (15pts, 20reb, 3ast, 27eff)

Ayla Habbal - City of London Academy - Southwark (17pts, 8reb, 3ast, 10stl, 21eff)

Georgieva automatically slots into the Team of the Week, and she's joined by a pair of Barking players that made the cut from different games.

Kamilah Yakubu produced a big double-double in Tuesday's clash against HHS to get the 75-63 win, with Sharliyah Sutherland also nabbing a double-double alongside eight steals in Wednesday's 66-35 victory against Itchen.

Izzy Aldcroft pulled down a WEABL-high 20 rebounds in Manchester's win over BMET, adding 15 points for the double-double in another impressive performance.

CoLA guard Ayla Habbal had the standout stat line in CoLA's big South Conference win over Copleston, dropping a game-high 17 points and contributing 10 steals, both of which were key in the low-scoring 47-26 contest.

Honourable mentions

Lucy Upton - Nottingham Academy Wildcats (15pts, 4reb, 3ast, 5stl, 24eff)
Ophelia Larder-Lee - Nottingham Academy Wildcats (23pts, 4reb, 3ast, 4stl, 21eff)
Cecilia Victorious - Barking Abbey (14pts, 12reb, 2ast, 21eff vs ITCH)
Bo Guttormsdottir-Frost - Oaklands Wolves (15pts, 3reb, 6stl, 2blk, 21eff)
Eva-Grace Yebila - City of London Academy - Southwark (8pts, 14reb, 15eff)