The NBL finals series will return to Perth for a winner take all game on Friday night after the Wollongong Hawks smacked the Wildcats 75-64 on Tuesday night to even up the ledger at one win each.
Post player Cameron Tragardh returned to form with a 28 point, ten rebound showcase to lead the Hawks who pulled away to win comfortably with a huge fourth quarter. Luke Martin was perfect on three attempts from the land of three on his way to 11 points with Rhys Martin (10 points) and Larry Davidson (8 points/10rebounds) providing additional support.
Kevin Lisch (11 points) and Steven Weigh (10) points led a shaky Perth attack.
The Wildcats will hope for better outings from Shawn Redhage and Martin Cattalini in the decider on Friday night. The action kicks off at 1900 on Fox so tune in.
The Perth Wildcats will be looking to grab an unprecedented fifth NBL crown tonight in Wollongong. Fresh from a 75-64 match one victory, the ‘Cats will hope for a similar effort in tonight’s stoush at The Sandpit where the welcome will be none too cordial.
The action will be live on Fox Sports 1 from 1930 AEDT so tune in for some riveting action.
In an epic championship battle, the Canberra Capitals grabbed their seventh WNBL crown with a 75-70 win over the Bulleen Boomers on Saturday before a packed house at The Cage in Melbourne.
The atmosphere was electric and took place in front of Australian Basketball royalty with legends Andrew and Lindsay Gaze in attendance. The basketball talent was not restricted to the court as each team had legends or future legends on the sideline in the form of Tom Maher, Gary Fox, and Michelle Timms on the Boomers bench in opposition of Carrie Graf patrolling the sidelines for the Capitals.
Initially the action was furious and defensive and after one quarter Bulleen held a narrow 14-12 lead. Canberra opened the second quarter with seven unanswered points with Lauren Jackson leading the charge after a slow start. The momentum was stalled though as Jackson ran into foul trouble picking up her third before half time. Bulleen steadied their ship to hold a tenuous 33-30 lead at the halfway point.
Bulleen jumped out to a brief eight point advantage to start the second half thanks to a Sharon Milner three pointer and a Jenna O’Hea block that was quickly converted by young gun Liz Cambage. Threes from Nat Hurst and Ms. Jackson pulled the Capitals back into the battle with the teams finishing an evenly balanced third term that had Bulleen clutching to the same three point margin 56-53 going into the championship quarter.
Marianna Tolo began a remarkable defensive run with three blocks of the 203cm Cambage’s shot while Carly Wilson bombed a three to cut the margin to one. From there it was back and forth until an Abby Bishop bomb from beyond the arc put Canberra up 72-70 with a little over two minutes remaining. Down the stretch, Bishop made one of two from the line; Jackson missed a three followed by a miss from Bulleen before Jackson was fouled with less than five seconds left. Jackson drained both free throws to provide the final 75-70 margin.
Natalie Hurst’s 21 points and 3 assists led the way for the Capitals with Lauren Jackson (18 points/15 rebounds), Carly Wilson (12 points), Abby Bishop (12 rebounds) and Marianna Tolo (8 rebounds/6 blocks) all contributing in major ways.
Jenna O’Hea (26 points/7 rebounds/5 assists/2 blocks) paced Bulleen with help from Cambage (16 points/11 rebounds) and Elyse Penaluna (10 rebounds).
Overall the coverage from the ABC network was commendable and could very well show the NBL a thing or two about free to air coverage.
For more stories from the WNBL and All-Star selections please visit the WNBL website.
