WNBL Grand Final this afternoon

Bulleen hoping for charm of third time

The Bulleen Boomers will face the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL Championship for the third consecutive season today. The Boomers are looking to reverse their fortunes of the last two and get over the hump. Meanwhile Canberra, holder of a number of championships will be looking for their first three-peat.

The teams split their two regular season matches before Bulleen pulled out a 71-67 win in the First Semi Final of the playoffs. Canberra gained posted an 83-78 win over Bendigo last week to earn a return match today.

Bulleen will as always rely on the play of Elizabeth Cambage in the post to lead their efforts. Cambage averaged 22.6 points per game for the season to go along with her stellar rebounding and inside defence. The Boomers are hoping to have Kylie Reid and Rachel Jerry healthy for the match.

Canberra is hoping to have a healthy Susie Batkovic to battle Cambage inside. The trio of Carly Wilson, Jessica Bibby and Mariana Tolo will need to again step forward if the Capitals are going to three-peat.

Prediction:

I should probably say “kiss of death” for the team I pick to win with the way my predictions go but I will pick Canberra to win 70-64 and gain their third straight title.

The action starts at 3pm AEST on the ABC Network  

WNBL Action

WNBL Prelim Final on tap

The hotly contested WNBL season is nearing a crescendo as Canberra Capitals face off against the Bendigo Spirit for a chance to play Bulleen’s Boomers for the 2010-2011 WNBL Championship on 13 March 2011. To get to this point, Bendigo disposed of the Logan Thunder 74-53 last weekend while Canberra dropped a 71-67 heartbreaker to Bulleen.

On paper, Canberra should breeze through this one after 64-53 and 87-59 romps over the Spirit in the regular season. Suzy Batkovic, Marianna Tolo and Carly Wilson have led from the front for the Capitals all season and should do so again in this game. Bendigo will need a boost from key players Tess Madgen, Kristi Harrower and Gabrielle Richards to be competitive.

The action can be viewed live from 1500 (AEST) Saturday on the ABC network.

Back 4 Real this time

Canberra Capitalises on chance and grabs title #7

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.

WNBL Landscape to Change!! Ms. Jackson Returns!!

LAUREN JACKSON RETURNS TO WNBL

Basketball Australia (BA) can confirm that four time Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Most Valuable Player Lauren Jackson has signed a contract with the Canberra Capitals to play out the remainder of the 2009/10 season.

The Capitals announced Jackson’s signature this morning at ActewAGL House in Canberra alongside ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and ActewAGL Chairman John Mackay.

Chief Minister Stanhope and Mackay played vital roles alongside Capitals CEO Mark Cartwright in providing and generating the funds necessary to secure Jackson’s services.

Jackson became the hottest free agent in women’s basketball when she signaled her intention to opt out of a two year deal with Russian club side Spartak Moscow in the aftermath of the assassination of team owner Shabtai von Kalmanovich.

The Capitals were quick to swoop and Jackson’s international clearance to join the Capitals was received overnight, just hours before a league deadline for player registration.

Under Rule 3.3 (e) of the WNBL Operations Manual, “A club can register no further players after half the regular season games for that Club in that season has been played.” In the Capitals’ case, that “half the regular season” date is today, November 25^th.

“This is terrific news for the WNBL and basketball,” BA Chief Executive Larry Sengstock said.

“It is a rare chance for basketball fans to see the best player in the world playing in our WNBL and we urge the people of Australia to take that opportunity.

“We have a number of Olympians in the league already this year and the competition has been first class but adding Lauren to the mix will undoubtedly be a huge boost.

“Spectator numbers will increase dramatically as will media interest and they are just a couple of indicative positives we’ll see from having Lauren back in the WNBL.”

Jackson has played 154 WNBL games since her rookie season with the Australian Institute of Sport in 1998/99 and has won five WNBL Championships; one with the AIS and four with Canberra.

She last played in the WNBL in the 2006 Grand Final where she led Canberra to victory and was named Most Valuable Player of the Grand Final.

The Capitals have indicated that Jackson is not expected to suit up for the Capitals this week as her rehabilitation from a back injury continues.

Her return to the WNBL is tentatively slated for Saturday December 5^th, when the Bendigo Spirit hosts the Canberra Capitals at Bendigo Stadium. That clash is the ABC TV Game of the Week, televised nationally on ABC1 at 1:00pm AET.

If Jackson was not ready for action on that date her next available opportunity would be the Capitals’ round 11 clash with Perth on December 12. That would allow Jackson to play 13 games for Canberra if it makes the Grand Final.

After eight rounds of competition, Canberra is running fifth of 10 teams with a 6 win, 4 loss record.

WNBL Round 2 Report

The match of the week for this round was at Townsville on Saturday night.

Following on from Friday nights narrow win at Logan, the Capitals ran out of steam down the stretch in the tropical north. Tracey Beatty was back to her dominant best for the champs with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks but Amy Lewis led a mid final quarter surge with two big three pointers for the Fire who trimmed a 78-69 Canberra advantage to a single point with three minutes left on the clock.

The action was furious over the last three minutes until Rachael Flanagan calmly sank two free throws to give the Fire a winning edge. Townsville withstood two final last gasp attempts from Canberra for the final 79-78 margin.

Here are press reports of the rest of Round 2 from: wnbl.com.au.

Adelaide shines at the Dome

10.10.09

A composed Adelaide side outlasted Bendigo in a tough contest, the Lightning’s depth giving them the edge 76-62 in Adelaide on Saturday.

A game high 28 points from Kristi Harrower was not enough to give Bendigo the win. Sam Woosnam and Angela Marino posted 18 points apiece to lead Adelaide.

Harrower was disappointed to lose but said Bendigo will only get better.

“Last year was exactly the same, we didn’t start great and then we went on a seven-game winning streak,” Harrower said.

It was a polished start to the game as both teams executed well with few defensive stops in the opening quarter. Bendigo matched Adelaide’s high tempo but the home team managed to nail several 3-pointers and established a six point lead before Bendigo coach Bernie Harrower called a time out with two minutes remaining.

A buzzer-beater from Lauren King kept Bendigo in touch 19-25 at the first break.

Bendigo’s luck started to dry up as they struggled to find the basket from outside and Adelaide picked up the dropped shots to convert at their own end. At halftime the Spirit was shooting at just 30 per cent from the field while Lightning was faring much better with 59 per cent to lead 47-32 at halftime.

The Spirit fired up in the third quarter, scoring the last nine points of the term to stay in touch, Adelaide led by only ten points at the final break, 62-52.

Kristi Harrower’s individual play kept Bendigo within nine points but needed a bigger contribution to come from the Spirits other players who could not find the basket in the closing minutes. Adelaide was patient and with Foley directing traffic they pushed the lead out to take the win by 14 points.

[Box Score]

ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 76 (Samantha Woosnam 18, Angela Marino 18, Jess Foley 16) bt
BENDIGO SPIRIT 62 (Kristi Harrower 28, Lauren King 16, Jasmine Finnigan 8)

Boomers Outmuscle AIS

10.10.09

The Global Metals Bulleen Boomers have outmuscled a young AIS team to score a resounding 110 - 40 win at the Veneto Club on Saturday night.

The Global Metals Bulleen Boomers registered their second win of the season on Saturday, with a resounding 110-40 victory over the young AIS squad.

Playing in front of a packed Veneto Club it was former AIS player Liz Cambage who wreaked havoc on the visiting team, registering 31 points (including 14 of 15 free throws) for her new club the Boomers.

The Bulleen supporters were out in force, eager to catch a glimpse of their new look side in person.

“There was a big buzz around the place, probably other than finals I can’t ever remember the stands being full before we even start our warm ups”, said Co-Captain Sharin Milner “Looking around there is plenty of blue and gold".

Bulleen started the game with a great post feed to Liz Cambage for the basket, an ominous start for the visitors, who were playing on the road for their third straight game. The pressure from the Boomers was unrelenting for the entire first quarter, culminating in a 32-10 scoring term.

Cambage could sympathise with the AIS players, who were never really a threat on the scoreboard, acknowledging how tough it is for them.

“But they played so hard”, said Cambage “They don’t stop, so you’ve got to respect them for that".

The WNBL player of the week for Round One Bulleen’s Elyse Penaluna was hamstrung with early fouls, but the steady play of Sharin Milner (11 points) helped keep the Boomers focused on the task, as they extended their lead to 58-14 at the half.

“Tom set the challenge for us early in the week about not taking them lightly, and making sure we played every possession, and I thought we did that", said Milner.

“A key factor in that was the crowd involvement, and everyone seemed to be really engaged from the tip off right until the end, so we’re really pleased with that effort."

The third term started in almost identical fashion to the first, with a three point play on the first possession by Cambage, the first of her 12 points for the quarter, which included a three point bomb from long range. A positive for the AIS was them being able to double their scoring output from the first half in the third quarter, outscored 31-14 for the term.

The final term saw Bulleen begin to rest their starting players, but the pain did not end there. The gallant AIS were hit with wave after wave of young Boomers, relishing their game time opportunity to impress in front of the big crowd.

“It was fantastic for them to see some decent minutes, not just right at the end of the game; they all got in there and amongst it and contributed” said Milner.

[Box Score]

Bulleen Boomers 110 (Elizabeth Cambage 31, Hanna Zavecz 15, Rachel Jarry 14) bt
AIS 40 (Alice Kunek 8, Nadeen Payne 7, Madeline Taylor 7)

By: Ryan Mobilia, Boomers Media

The Flames bring it home in Sydney

10.10.09

After a first round loss the ACUVUE Sydney Uni Flames did not disappoint in Round 2 at their home court on Saturday.

The formidable lineup downed the Dandenong Jayco Rangers 73-62 in Sydney.

Opal Suzy Batkovic-Brown once again led the Flames wih 23 points and 11 rebounds, Eva Afeaki also added a double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. AIS graduate Stephanie Cumming scored a team high 16 points for Dandenong.

The Flames grabbed a five point lead at the first break, 18-13, but the Rangers, still searching for their first win, fought back in the second and Sydney Uni only held a 33-30 advantage at halftime.

A buzzer-beating three from Deanne Butler at three-quarter time pushed the margin back out to seven points and the Flames held on for their first win.

While both teams shot at 37 per cent from the field Sydney Uni grabbed the advantage with their strength in the post, out-rebounding the Rangers 55-28.

Next week will be the first true test of the Sydney lineup as they face the much-hyped Bulleen Boomers who are yet to lose, in the ABC TV Game of the Week played on Friday night with a replay broadcast on ABC1 from 1.00pm AEDT Saturday.

The Rangers will hope to notch up their first win of the season when they host Logan next Saturday.

[Box Score]

SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 73 (Suzy Batkovic-Brown 23, Eva Afeaki 12, Deanne Butler 11) bt
DANDENONG RANGERS 65 (Stephanie Cumming 16, Caitlin Ryan 15, Casey Nash 10, Megan Moody 10)

Harrowing defeat for Lynx + video

11.10.09

The Perth Lynx have suffered a demoralising defeat at the hands of the Bendigo Spirit in their round 2 clash at Perry Lakes Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It was the Spirit’s second win of the season and a big one at that - 85 to 58.

And in a mirror image of Perth’s opening game against Sydney 8 days ago, the home side’s poor first term again set the tone for what was a forgettable afternoon for the Lynx.

The writing was on the wall very early when the Spirit, led valiantly by Kristi Harrower with 27 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds, broke out to a 11 point lead after just several minutes of play.

Turnovers, missed easy baskets and a lack of spark on the court from the home side was punished by the visiting Spirit, as they raced to a 19 point first term advantage, 25-6 at the first break.

The Lynx did manage to find some rhythm in the second period, at one stage pegging the advantage back to under 10 points for a brief moment thanks to some fancy shooting from Kate Malpass from long range, but all their good work again became undone in the third quarter.

Having closed the gap to 39-24 at half time, the Lynx again fell into a slump.

Perth seemingly had no answer to Bendigo’s barrage as Harrower continued to put on a basketball clique. The Australia Opal could do no wrong, landing the shots from inside the key and from well beyond range, she was even lethal from the charity stripe making 10 from 11 attempts.

Lynx coach Joe McKay made several changes in an attempt to ignite his side with Rebecca Mercer and Ashley Gilmore adding some spark to the home side’s charge.

But someone appeared to have greased the ball with Perth giving up easy turnovers and gifting the Spirit 13 points on the transition.

By three quarter time the game was all but done, the visitors outscoring their opponents by 10 points to head into the final term with a very handy 25 point advantage.

With the game finally tightening up in the fourth term, the Lynx managed to keep the Spirit’s advantage under 30 points after it had threatened to go far beyond that earlier, a 27 point win.

[Box Score]

BENDIGO SPIRIT 85 (Kristi Harrower 27, Lauren King 17, Chelsea Aubry 16) bt
PERTH LYNX 58 (Kate Malpass 15, Ashley Gilmore 12, Danielle Campbell 11)
At Perry Lakes Stadium, Perth

To see LMSC's video highlights from the game and interviews with both coaches click on the video link below.

Story courtesy of www.lmsc.com.au for more details from the game click here

Bulleen strong in Opening round of WNBL

The Bulleen Boomers have put themselves near the top of the heap as the team to beat in the WNBL this season. The Boomers easily accounted for defending champions Canberra 88-73 in Saturday afternoons feature match of the round.

Size was a huge advantage for Bulleen in the form of Opals Elyse Penaluna and Elizabeth Cambage. The two combined to dominate from the inside and limited the effect of the Capitals centre Tracey Beatty who fouled out of the match and had a total of only ten minutes court time.

The win gained a measure of revenge for Bulleen after last seasons title game loss to the Canberra crew.

Penaluna led the Boomers with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Cambage added another 4 blocks to go with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Hanna Zavecz 19 points/9 rebounds, Sharin Milner 12 points/9 assists and Jenna O'hea 9 points/7 rebounds were also key contributors to the victory.

For Canberra, Natalie Hurst popped in 25 points with support from Jessica Bibby who provided 15 points. Marianna Tolo battled gallantly on the inside and finished with 6 points and 7 rebounds to go with her 7 points.

Oh yes it's Ladies night....WNBL season kicks off tonight.

The 2009-2010 WNBL season gets underway tonight with Dandenong hosting Bendigo, Logan hosting the AIS and Sydney visiting Perth.

At Dandenong captain Caitlyn Ryan returns from shoulder problems to lead the charge for the Rangers when they match up with the visiting Spirit. These two always play intense matches with each other so prediction wise, I'll go with the home team in a close one by 3.

The Logan thunder will debut a good sized "Thunder Stick" tonight when Marta Dydek from Poland takes the court against the AIS. All-Rounder Kirsten Veal will be there to keep the lightning in the Tunder attack. I'll go with the Thunder by say 18+ in this one.

In the nights final match up, Perth host the Sydney Flames. The Lynx are looking for improvement this season and are ready to pounce on any visitors who see them as an easy road win. That said, I don't think the Flames will be the first victims this week, Sydney by 8.

The always exciting Saturday afternoon match has the Canberra Capitals defending the home turf against Bulleen. Carrie Graf's squad will be hungry for a positive start to their title defense and features one of the deepest teams in the comp. Bullen will have to settle for using the game to gauge how much work they need to do. I see the title holders winning by 12 or more.

The Ais and Sydney are the weeks "double" teams as the students travel to Townsville where Rohanee Cox and the Fire lie in wait. No happy endings for the AIS here, Townsville by 25 or more. Sydney's Flames will complete their double at Adelaide where they will be in for a tussle with the Link. These teams are fierce rivals and always bring out the best in one another. Can't split them so I'll go with the home standing Link by 2.

If you are near any of the home coursts this weekend, get out and watch some entertianing and exciting basketball action.

While we are on the womens game, here is a story from http://www.basketball.net.au featuring a couple of Aussie ladies going well in the USA.

Opals star as Mercury top Fever

Australia's Penny Taylor played a starring role as her Phoenix Mercury secured a crucial 1-0 lead in the best-of-five WNBA Finals series against Indiana on Wednesday, writes James Dampney for AAP.

In the highest-scoring game in WNBA history, Opals stand-out Taylor scored an equal team-high 23 points in the Mercury's 120-116 overtime victory at the US Airways Center in Phoenix.

Phoenix and Taylor are chasing their second WNBA championship in three seasons and host game two on Friday before the series shifts to Indiana.

Starting Fever point guard and Taylor's Opals teammate Tully Bevilaqua also had a solid night, scoring 14 points and dishing out four assists, but Indiana fell just short of stealing home court advantage in the series.

In a see-sawing encounter that featured 19 lead changes and 13 ties, Indiana's Katie Douglas hit a three-pointer with 7.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

But Mercury guard Cappie Pondexter, who matched Taylor's 23-point haul, scored seven points in the extra period to guide Phoenix home.

Douglas led all scorers with 30 points, while teammate Ebony Hoffman stepped up big time with a career-high 27 points.

But they couldn't contain the deep Phoenix line-up, with six Mercury players finishing with double-figure scoring.

Diana Taurasi, who was named league MVP before the game, tallied 22 points and nine boards for the Mercury.

And Taylor kept them in it midway through the game when her teammates had gone cold, hitting 7-of-10 shots from the field overall, including 2-of-3 from three-point territory and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

The 2006 world championships MVP also added two boards, two assists and two steals in just over 27 minutes on court.

"I know with Cappie, (Taurasi) and Penny, there is no such thing as pressure," Mercury coach Corey Gaines said.

"They've played in big games their whole life."

The match-up was supposed to be a contrast between Phoenix's high-octane offence and Indiana's vaunted defence, but that didn't eventuate in game one.

"It wasn't the defensive-versus-offensive game people were expecting, clearly," Taylor said.

"Anyone who saw this game could tell you that.

"It was just amazing displays of talent, especially down the stretch."

Prior to this game the league's highest-scoring contest was Phoenix's 111-110 victory over Houston in triple overtime in a regular-season contest back in 2006.

The Mercury and Fever both scored more points than any team previously in league history, with the previous best Phoenix's 115 in an overtime win over Sacramento on June 13 this season.

PHOENIX 120 (Penny Taylor 23, Cappie Pondexter 23, Diana Taurasi 22) btINDIANA 116 (Katie Douglas 30, Ebony Hoffman 27, Tammy Sutton-Brown 19)in overtime at US Airways Arena, Phoenix, Arizona, USA Phoenix leads best-of-five series 1-0. Image courtesy wnba.com