WNWBL: The Final Four
With the finishing line in sight, our top for WNWBL teams will do battle for the final time this weekend in the 2013 WNWBL Finals Series.
There will be a number of question marks answered this weekend that will ultimately decide each team’s fate in 2013.
Victoria
Our minor premiers Victoria will be without Cobi Crispin for the first time since moving east in 2011. During her time in the navy blue, Crispin has helped Victoria to two championships and she’ll be hoping that her absence is barely a hiccup in Victoria’s quest for a three-peat.
What needs to go right?
Ellie Cole’s impact in her first year of basketball has taken every body by surprise. Look for her to shoulder more responsibility this weekend as she’ll form the crux of the Victorian line-up with Gliders Shelley Chaplin and Leanne Del Toso.
Stacks Goudkamp Bears
The Bears rocketed into a Championship contender in 2012 when they were able to run Kathleen O’Kelly-Kennedy, Mari Amimoto and Kylie Gauci in the same team. They’ve added Leisl Tesch to their roster this season and seem poised to make their assault on some long overdue success.
What needs to go right?
Finals basketball is almost a completely new game with the significant increase in intensity. If the Bears are going to have a genuine shot at the Championships this year, depth off their bench will be their biggest asset.
Be Active Western Stars
The Stars are likely to be without scoring machine Amber Merritt for finals. It’s going to be difficult to replace the 32 points and 10 rebounds per game that Amber brings to the team but the Stars proved their doubters wrong in round four winning two of their four games despite being Merritt-less.
What needs to go right?
In wheelchair basketball, high pointers get all the glory but it’s the lows that do all the work and the Stars have two of the best in the game in Clare Nott and Sarah Vinci. Nott hits the stat sheet as regularly as any high pointer but both her and Vinci’s biggest asset to the Stars this weekend will be their ability to help get their bigs up and down the floor.
Sydney Uni Flames
In front of a home crowd, the Flames would be quietly confident they can make a real impact this finals series. They’ve played both Victoria and the Stars in one point games this year and will just need a little bit of luck to swing those results in their favour over the weekend.
What needs to go right?
With Players like Sarah Stewart, Katie Hill, Hannah Dodd, Caitlin de Wit and Stephanie Van Leeuwen, the Flames have a very good mixture of youth and experience. Sarah Stewart is ranked as the League’s 4th best scorer in 2013 and with the experience of three Paralympic Games behind her; she’s no stranger to big games. If the Flames are going to make the impact they are hoping to, it will be off the back of her on-court leadership.
Join the girls as they hit the floor this weekend at the Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatic Centre:
Friday 6 September-
6pm: Game 1: Victoria v Stacks Goudkamp Bears
8pm: Game 2: The Be Active Western Stars v SYDNEY UNI FLAMES
Saturday 7 September
7pm: Game 3: Loser Game 1v Winner Game 2
Sunday 8 September-
10am: 3rd place playoff: Loser Game 3 v Loser Game 2
12pm: GRAND FINAL: Winner Game 1 v Winner Game 3
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