• Home
• News

14 October 2025  4 min read

Elite Academy Leagues preview - Week Two (15/10/25)

London rivals City of London Academy - Southwark and Barking Abbey go head-to-head in both the EABL and WEABL, with all four of those teams entering week two unbeaten after opening-day wins.

WEABL champs Copleston have their first game of the new campaign, away to Itchen College, and there's an exciting rivalry clash in the EABL North as Myerscough take on Manchester in the North West.

Wednesday 15 October 2025

EABL

North

BMET City of Birmingham Rockets (0-1) vs SGS College (0-1) - LIVE STATS

Myerscough College (1-0) vs Manchester Magic (1-0) - LIVE STATS

South

City of London Academy - Southwark (1-0) vs Barking Abbey (1-0) - LIVE STATS

HHS Reading Rockets (0-1) vs Oaklands Wolves (0-0) - LIVE STATS

Itchen College (0-1) vs Copleston High School (0-0) - LIVE STATS

WEABL

North

Charnwood College Riders (1-0) vs Milton Keynes 5 Dimensions - The Hazeley Academy (0-1) - LIVE STATS

South

City of London Academy - Southwark (1-0) vs Barking Abbey (1-0) - LIVE STATS

HHS Reading Rockets (0-1) vs Oaklands Wolves (0-0) - LIVE STATS

Itchen College (0-1) vs Copleston High School (0-0) - LIVE STATS

Kaiya Bateman should have an expanded role for Copleston this season (Richard Leach)

Copleston get WEABL title defence underway

With no game last Wednesday, Copleston's season opener comes in week two with a trip to the South Coast to face Itchen College.

Louisa Gibbins, Hannah Gray, Cerys Leach and DeAnna Carrington have all graduated from the programme in the off-season, leaving just Maisie Keyes as the Suffolk side's lone remaining starter from 2024/25.

That means expanded roles for some younger players, including the likes of guard Kaiya Bateman and forwards Kara Bassil and Holly Ensoll.

GB U16 guard Anna Koscienly-Lemaire is one to watch as a new addition to the roster, and her role in Coach Drane's rotation will become clearer once Copleston's season is up and running.

CoLA and Barking meet once again

There's always plenty to enjoy in Academy basketball, but the rivalry games between programmes is certainly up there.

Both of Barking's teams head to SE1 this week to take on rivals CoLA, with each game carrying an interesting narrative.

In the EABL, Barking are defending champs, but CoLA pushed BA hard throughout the 2024/25 regular season and will fancy their chances of doing the same this year.

Across 10 seasons of WEABL basketball, CoLA have won five of the titles, including back-to-back-to-back wins from 2022-2024. So to see Coach Gibbons side without a title to defend isn't something that happens all too often.

CoLA will want to start strong, but that won't be easy against reigning WEABL Player of the Week Sharliyah Sutherland, who went off against HHS Reading Rockets with an impressive 32 points. Sutherland's battle with Ayla Habbal is sure to be a good one, and both this week's match ups should provide plenty of fireworks.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Academy Basketball England (@academybballengland)

Rivalries renew

It's not just CoLA and Barking locking horns this week to stoke the rivalry fires across the leagues.

The EABL North has two classic encounters as Myerscough and Manchester go at it, both winners in week one, and both eager to make the move to 2-0.

Just an hour separates HHS Reading Rockets and Oaklands Wolves in St Albans, with both those programmes playing in the EABL and WEABL South in week two.

It is also interesting to see which foes will develop into much-anticipated games for some of the league's newer teams. BMET City of Birmingham Rockets are in their debut season in the WEABL, and MK5D are embarking on their second year, though both programmes are sure to start building their own histories before long.

Visit the EABL Hub

Visit the WEABL Hub

Main image credit - Kareem Lee