Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers are one win away from a three-peat of WSBL championships after wrapping up their semi-final series against the Glasscraft Wanneroo Wolves in three games.

The Tigers advanced to the Grand Final with a physical 56-54 victory after trailing by as much as 13 points early in the first half. They will face the East Perth Eagles who swept Perry Lakes in their Semi Final series. Willetton look to be only the second team in WSBL history to win three consecutive championships.

It was the second straight series the Tigers came back from a one-nil deficit to win, after losing Game One to Lakeside in the Quarter Finals.

Like they have all series, Wanneroo came out firing early making their first four shots and racing out to a 15-4 lead. Ainsleigh Sanders bounced back from a quiet Game Two to score six quick points as the Wolves managed to hold the Tigers without a field goal for the first six minutes of the game.

The Wolves also received a spark off the bench from Amy Kidner who was very active early and helped restrict the impact of Zoe Harper. However it was short lived as Harper began to make her presence felt early in the second quarter with some deft low post moves. Kate Malpass also found her range as she connected with a three pointer to pull the Wolves’ lead back.

Shani Amos was again the leader of Wanneroo’s fast break as the Wolves increased the tempo of the game and looked to catch Willetton off guard.

Amos provided some open looks for Meghan Lee who made consecutive baskets and took Wanneroo into half time with a five point lead. Every Wolves player that saw court time made the score sheet in the first half.

The second half started positively again for Sanders as she made a couple of early shots but turnovers almost saw the Wolves surrender their lead.

Marsh and Malpass began to look ominous from distance as they began to find some consistent range and threatened to take over the game. Marsh made two deep three pointers to snap any momentum the Wolves seemed to gain, while Malpass began to make jump shots from all areas of the court.

Defense played a major part of the first three quarters for both teams as many of the players found themselves spending a lot of time on the floor scrambling for loose balls and fighting for rebounds.

Willetton took their first lead of the game with 7:30 remaining in the final quarter, but Rebecca Mercer wrestled the lead back immediately for the Wolves. A huge three point basket from Willetton’s Jo Stear tied the game with just under five minutes remaining and Malpass gave the Tigers a two point lead heading down the stretch.

An apparent foot injury to Amos seemed to rattle the Wolves as the Tigers offense found an open Marsh in the key for an easy layup and four point lead with less than two minutes remaining.

Mercer immediately cut the lead back to two as Wanneroo then made a crucial defensive stop with Sanders stealing the ball from Harper in the low post.

Unable to find a ball handler, Sanders carried the ball herself and unfortunately for her team, turned it over at half court with 24 seconds remaining.

Wanneroo had one last chance to tie or win the game but a tough layup for Lee was off target and the Tigers held possession until the final buzzer.

“To Wanneroo’s testament they came out like an absolute bullet at the start. They played excellent defense against us,” Tigers coach Glenn Clarke said.

“We knew if we persisted inside that the points would come. They face guarded Malpass well, they did a really good job on us.”

Malpass led all scorers for the Tigers with 16 points, while Marsh finished with 12 and Harper contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds. Wanneroo was led by Amos who had 13 points and nine rebounds and Sanders who added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Willetton’s guards were excellent on the defensive end as they limited the dangerous Mercer to only eight points for the game.

“East Perth have some real key players, it’s going to be hard to stop them so we need to limit them and just play our style of game,” Tigers captain Melissa Marsh said.

Article by Nathan Winch at Willetton Basketball Stadium
Photo by Grant Lauterbach

Follow the SBL on Facebook