The Cougars Basketball Club achieved the ultimate on the local scene with comprehensive wins in the Women’s and Men’s South East Coast Basketball League grand finals last Wednesday night. Both wins were set up on the back of taking complete control of the third quarter, often labelled the premiership quarter.  Panthers kept in touch in the first half but were no match in the run home.  The Cougars teams experienced contrasting journeys to the finals series. The Women dominated the winter competition and remained undefeated for the season. Not only did they finish with the perfect result, they consistently recorded huge scores and margins. The Men, on the other hand, made it into the finals after a battle with Panthers-Wizards for fourth spot. They certainly made the most of their opportunities as they breezed through the minor finals in a most impressive fashion. The Women’s final started slowly as both sides checked out each other in terms of offence and defence. Melissa Russell stamped her mark on the game in the early minutes and, with Georgia Green finishing well, had Cougars out to an 8 point lead. This duo continued in this vein in the second quarter and Brianna Walters became the focus for Panthers with a twelve point haul to keep the margin at 8 at the main break. The Panthers players were competitive in court play and did not give up against the class side of the competition. The signs were however ominous for Panthers as the depth of talent and height advantage of Cougars became obvious. The third quarter belonged to Cougars as Green built on the efforts of team-mates and through the leadership of Russell and Coach Kirsty Egan whose defensive efforts on Walters played an important part in curbing Panthers’ scoring opportunities. Final scores were 69-43. Green scored a game high 35 points and Russell finished off an all-round outstanding game with 25. Best for Panthers was Walters with 19 followed by state junior Nicola Handrick on 8 and improving Kelly Lockwood on 7. It was no surprise that the City of Mount Gambier MVP in the grand final went to Melissa Russell.                                                          The Men’s final with a fair degree of energy and gusto. Doug Hudson quickly showed his leadership ability as he set up and monitored their full court press, which later proved to be the match winning strategy of the game. Two points separated the teams at the first break as Hudson scored 11 points from all points of the compass while Teagan Brown and Tyson Kettle the scoreboard ticking over for Panthers. State juniors Kane deWit and Sam Stafford led from the front for Cougars in the second quarter as Panthers continued to struggle to find offensive consistency against the pressure defence. The third quarter of the game was all Cougars, described by Coach Ray deWit as the best the team had played for the season. Led by Hudson, Cougars took the game by the scuff of the neck and snuffed out any chance Panthers may have had of regaining control. The score line of 29-10 for the quarter says it all and reflects the situation which unfolded in this 10 minutes. Highlights of the period included the maturity and exemplary composure displayed by State junior deWit and the ability of Sam Stafford to find space and convert with pin-point accuracy. In contrast, the Panthers playing did not adjust and hence became distracted from the task at hand when the game was there to be won.                                                                                                                                                    Panthers outscored Cougars in the final quarter but the title was already in Cougars’ safe keeping. Final scores were 98-78. For Cougars Kane deWit bagged a game high 26 points followed by Sam Stafford on 23 and Doug Hudson on 21. Teagan Brown and Tyson Kettle led the scoring for Panthers in possibly their most disappointing game for the season. Hudson was awarded the City of Mount Gambier MVP of the grand final making it a clean sweep in team and individual awards for Cougars on the night.