Suns Shine Brightest in OT Thriller

The Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves Women’s team fell agonisingly short in overtime to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 84-89 on Saturday night at HBF Arena.

Chelsea Belcher starred for the Wolves, scoring four three pointers en-route to a commanding 17 points.

Jasmine Martin and Amber Land also came up strong for the Wolves, both scoring 13 points with the latter also getting 14 rebounds.

Jennie Rintala and Jewel Williams were both impressive for Kalamunda scoring 22 and 21 points respectively, with Rintala also managing a huge 21 rebounds.

Izzy Miotti and Mikayla Pirini also got into double figures for the Wolfpack scoring 11 and 10 points.

The Wolves managed to take the Suns to overtime despite a rebound differential of 46-69 in favour of the Suns, and 29 fouls called against the Wolves compared to 16 for.

Georgia Denehey went down in the second quarter with an ankle injury but refused to quit, checking back in in the second half and closing out the final 20 minutes of the season.

The Wolves got off to a relatively slow start taking all the right shots but not being able to convert early in the game.

Tayla Pipes hit a late three to give the Wolves some life heading into the first break, however a Suns buzzer beater set the score at 13-22.

Following Denehey falling in the second quarter, the rest of the Wolves ladies stepped up and pulled it back to a two-point game, before Land beat the buzzer to tie the game 39-39 going into half time.

Denehey showed immense heart and determination starting the second half.

Belcher hit multiple threes in the third quarter and scored nine points for the period, willing the Wolves to a 62-60 lead.

The Wolfpack held a two-point lead with under a minute to go but unfortunately couldn’t close out the game with Kalamunda tying the game and sending it into overtime.

The Wolves continued to attack in the overtime period with Andee Ritter hitting a huge three with less than a minute to go making it a one-point game but unfortunately couldn’t claim victory.

The Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves Women’s team round out the season in third spot on the ladder and will be looking forward to a fruitful finals campaign.

Head Coach Charles Nix stated on the group’s intensity heading into finals that, “the basic message to the group is to “be us”, if we play our style of game and execute our rules on both sides of the floor, we are every chance to keep playing beyond next week.”

The Wolfpack Women’s team host the Perry Lakes Hawks in the first round of the finals.

 

Wolves Men Secure Top Spot

The Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves Men’s team clinched the number one seed heading into finals with a 125-84 win over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at HBF Arena on Saturday night.

Earnest Ross Jr again lead the charge for the Wolfpack with an impressive 28 points performance, as well as snatching seven rebounds and dishing out eight assists.

Wolves big man Kevin Davis also came up big with 21 points and 12 rebounds with two huge blocks and some massive dunks.

It was an all-round scoring performance from the Wolfpack with Trian Iliadis putting 19 on the board, Ridell Camidge 17, Reece Maxwell 14, and Sean Easther 10.

Javion Blake top-scored for the Suns and the game with 29 points, hitting an impressive 71% of his shots.

The game started with something we’ve gotten used to seeing over the course of the season with a big Kevin Davis block.

Following a slow start, some strong offensive sets across the board set up a Wolves quarter time lead of 26-22.

The Wolves started the second quarter hot with a 10-0 run getting them out to a 14-point lead.

Ross made his impact known early in the second getting eight points and two assists early in the quarter.

The first half came to a close with Sean Easther putting up a shot that rolled around the rim before falling in to beat the buzzer.

The boys had a huge third quarter, scoring 43 points and Camidge and Davis connecting on multiple alley-oop slams.

Ross also hit four huge threes over the course of the third quarter before checking out for the remainder of the game.

The final quarter of the regular season gave the home crowd a taste of what’s to come in finals.

Camidge made the most of his possessions in the fourth quarter scoring nine points.

The Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves Men’s team stormed through to the top spot and look forward to a strong finals performance.

When questioned on his game plan heading towards a finals campaign, coach Ben Ettridge responded, “We have a process that we stick too, win or lose. What changes in finals is that you can lock in more on who you are facing, as you have one focus for the three games.”

The Wolfpack will be facing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns again in the first round of the finals and will be hoping to carry their momentum into the QF series and future onward into a 2019 play-offs campaign.