Oaklands Wolves' hopes of a play-off place in the WBBL took a knock when they were beaten by the main side chasing them.

Wolves lost 76-69 at home to Manchester Giants on Saturday and while they are still eighth and in the final qualifying position, the visitors are now ninth and level on points.

With four games in the regular season remaining, Wolves go to Newcastle Eagles on Saturday for a must-win match-up before returning to St Albans for a game against Europe Cup finalists London Lions.

That will take place at Oaklands on Wednesday, April 17, at 2pm, even though it is technically a Lions home game.

The match against Manchester featured a massive 32 point, 13 rebound double-double from Ri Thomson but even that wasn't enough for Lee Ryan's team as the away side produced a strong fourth period.

An even start saw Thompson's triple help Wolves tie the game at 10 midway through the first period.

A 15-4 run from the visitors saw them take control before Thompson scored a pair at the foul line to cut the deficit to 26-19 at the first break.

That lead grew as Emilie Black converted a three-point play to open the second period, but Amy West's lay-up launched an 8-2 run, before a Beth Sarson and Thompson tied the game at 38 going into the locker room at half-time.

Giants scored the first five points after the break but there was little to choose between the teams in the third quarter and Thompson hit the hosts final five points of the quarter as the sides were locked at 59-59 going into the final frame.

Thompson extended her personal run to 10 straight points as Wolves led 64-60 with 6:30 on the clock.

It changed to a 67-66 Giants lead with 2:31 remaining and Turk and Thomson exchanged triples to leave Giants still up by one heading into the final 90 seconds.

Shaw hit a shot to make it a three-point game but the key moment came with 58 seconds on the clock when Day attempted to get the ball after a Thompson turnover and was judged to have committed an intentional foul 

Mya Pace converted both foul shots and scored another pair at the line as Wolves were forced to foul to stop the clock, leaving Giants able to wrap up the win.

Allison Day finished with 13 points and six rebounds, while West had 10 points.