It was a tense Tuesday night as 4 teams battled it out for their spot in next weeks Winter Grand Final. With the Men’s winner looking to take on the Wildcats, and the Women taking on Pivot City, all 4 teams left their all out on the court. Check out how it all played out below!
Championship women
WILDCATS 68 – 63 SHARKS
WOW! That is all that can be said for this game, after going undefeated through the entire regular season, a depleted Sharks unit fell to Pivot City in a tough qualifying final and were looking to bounce back with a win over 4th place Wildcats to punch their Grand Final ticket.
However, the Wildcats were not backing down from the challenge as they took it right to the Sharks right from the beginning.
A slow start for both teams saw the scoreboard only begin to tick over halfway through the quarter as the two teams battled for early control. A quick start from outside the arc saw the Wildcats pull away slightly before the Sharks reeled it in to be down just 1 heading into the break.
The second quarter saw the Wildcats take complete control, outscoring the Sharks by 13 it seemed like the team couldn’t miss as they built a 14-point lead heading into halftime.
A chat at the half clearly wasn’t enough to get the Sharks riled up through the third quarter as the hot shooting continued for the Wildcats as they maintained their double-digit lead behind the consistent scoring from Sarah Elsworthy at all three levels, and Jaimee Crombie on the inside.
With 10 to play the Sharks were staring down the barrel of a straight sets knockout from the Finals for the first time in too many seasons to count.
Trying their best, Georgia Varley and Ebony Rolph went to work down the stretch closing the gap to just 4 with a minute to play.
Applying full-court pressure star guard Sarah Elsworthy stole the Shark’s inbound pass for an easy 2 to put the game out of reach with 33 left to play. Starting the foul game Sarah again calmly knocked down two free throws to put the Wildcats up 5 and into the Grand Final to face Pivot City.
Make sure to get down to AWA next Tuesday with tip-off set for 7:40!
TOP PERFORMERS
Sarah Elsworthy 26 points
Georgia Varley 26 points
Ebony Rolph 19 points
Jaimee Crombie 15 points
Championship Men
CC EAGLES 80 – 71 YMCA
Our second game for the night saw the CC Eagles looking to win over YMCA and set themselves up with a rematch against the Wildcats next Tuesday.
Starting out strong the Y was on fire as they went on a 14-0 run including back-to-back and 1s, as the Eagles struggled to get the lid off the basket through the first 5. Nathan Herbert was hot out of the gate hitting a pair of tough jumpers before driving for his 6th quick point in just the first 3 minutes.
The second half of the first quarter saw the Eagles open up their scoring with some free throws but not much else was going as they managed just 5 points through the first 10.
Not to be deterred by the 17-point deficit, the Eagles decided it was their turn to go on a run as they poured in bucket and bucket with their size inside and Nathan Freind finding the bottom of the net from beyond the arc.
Outscoring the Y 29-8, the Eagles evaporated the lead and were able to head into the half time break with a 4 point advantage in what was a low scoring half by both teams standards.
Opening up the third with more scoring the Eagles were firing on all cylinders as it was Marc Goodwin’s turn to give the Y buckets. Scoring 8 unanswered points all on his own in back-to-back possessions, the Big V guard was able to push the Eagle’s lead to double digits as the Y were unable to put a stop to his and the team scoring.
13 up with 10 to play the Y fought hard through the final quarter to try and close the deficit however the length and defensive prowess of the Eagles was too much for the young Y team to handle as they fell by 9 as the buzzer sounded.
The Eagles will look to rectify their tough OT loss as they look to lineup against the Wildcats again on Tuesday at 7:40, make sure to get down and support your team and the competition!
TOP PERFORMERS
Liam McInerney 20 points
Nathan Herbert 20 points
Nathan Freind 16 points
Jack Terrill 14 points
