NBL1 National Finals Recap | Saturday Bendigo Braves

Atwell hits 44, Braves remain dominant (Original Piece by NBL1)

The Bendigo Braves are still yet to lose since last year's NBL1 South Grand Final with Amy Atwell drilling 44 points back in her hometown to move them into the Championship Game beating the Northside Wizards 112-73.

On the back of losing last year's Grand Final in the NBL1 South to the Ringwood Hawks, Bendigo went through the entire season in 2023 undefeated topped off by winning last Saturday's decider against the Waverley Falcons.

They then began their National Finals campaign in Perth on Friday night with a thumping 44-point win against the NBL1 West champion Cockburn Cougars ahead of Saturday's clash with the NBL1 North winners Northside.

All the Braves needed was another win to guarantee a spot in the Championship Game with the Wizards attempting to play spoilers and bounce back from a rough first up outing where they lost to the Norths Bears by 23 points.

The Wizards did claim the NBL1 North title in style but without both the regular season and Grand Final MVP Courtney Woods, it was going to be a tall order to try and take it up to the Braves.

Especially when Bendigo had Perth Lynx WNBL and Australian Opals star Amy Atwell catching fire in spectacular fashion.

Despite Atwell already having 26 points to her name by half-time, though, the Wizards had done well to stay in touch and only trail 54-44 by the main break.

However, Atwell kept firing and Bendigo pulled away once more in the third quarter with another 29 points to 15 to lead by as much as 26.

The trend continued in the fourth stanza with another 29 points to 14 and the Braves would end up winning by 39 points to have won their two games now at the National Finals by 83 points to be straight into Sunday's Championship Game.

Atwell delivered a phenomenal performance in the win for Bendigo with 44 points, seven rebounds and two assists on the back of shooting 15/27 from the field, 8/15 from three-point territory and 6/8 at the free-throw line.

Reigning NBL1 South MVP Megan McKay is another Bendigo back in her home state and she put up 25 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two assists having shaken off the foul frustrations of her last two games.

Cassidy McLean also hit 4/7 from three-point territory on the way to 21 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals, and Kelly Wilson ran the team superbly once more with eight points, 13 assists, four rebounds and two steals.

The Wizards did their best to compete with the Braves without their superstar Courtney Woods with Lil Dart putting up 20 points, four rebounds and three assists.

AJ Johnson added 18 points, six boards, five assists and two steals for Northside, and Nadeen Payne 17 points, five rebounds and four assists.