NBL1 South Recap | Saturday Women's Week 1 Finals

The Waverley Falcons and Launceston Tornadoes extended their NBL1 South Women's seasons with elimination final wins on Saturday night while the Bendigo Braves and Ringwood Hawks won straight through to being able to host preliminary finals.

The NBL1 South Women's finals series got underway on Saturday night with all of the top eight teams in action, but by the end of the evening, the season was over for the Knox Raiders and Geelong Supercats, and Bendigo and Ringwood had advanced to the preliminary final.

The playoffs in the NBL1 South got underway on Saturday with an elimination final at the State Basketball Centre and it was the visiting Waverley Falcons who proved too strong for the Knox Raiders, winning 83-68.

Bec Cole was outstanding for the Falcons in the win with 25 points and six assists while Carley Ernst put up 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Alicia Froling had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Kiera Rowe 17 points and nine boards for Knox as their season came to an end.

The other elimination final took place at The Geelong Arena and the home team couldn’t stick with the Launceston Tornadoes who went on to defeat the Geelong Supercats 77-65.

Maria Payne finished with 23 points for Launceston with Keely Froling contributing 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Marianna Tolo 15 points, 12 boards, five assists and five blocked shots.

Sara Blicavs produced 25 points and 12 rebounds as the season came to an end for the Supercats.

The first of the qualifying finals on Saturday night then took place at Red Energy Arena and it was a brilliant atmosphere in Bendigo with well over 1000 people crammed into the building as the Bendigo Braves hosted the Nunawading Spectres.

The Braves proved too strong too to move into hosting the preliminary final next week by beating the Spectres 91-73.

Tess Madgen was terrific for Bendigo once more with 29 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two steals with Megan McKay contributing 23 points and seven boards, and Abbey Wehrung 20 points and seven rebounds.

Cassidy Mihalko finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds for Nunawading who have earned a finals double chance.

The other qualifying final took place at The Rings and it was a tight affair where the Ringwood Hawks produced a strong second half to end up beating the Mount Gambier Pioneers 77-71.

Marena Whittle produced 27 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Hawks while Marta Hermida added 26 points, six boards and five assists.

Cassasndra Brown top-scored for Mount Gambier with 20 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

That all means that the semi finals get underway next Friday night with the Mount Gambier Pioneers at home to the Waverley Falcons, and the Nunawading Spectres playing the Launceston Tornadoes on Saturday.

The winners of those will take on the Bendigo Braves and Ringwood Hawks on Sunday in the preliminary finals with spots in the Grand Final for 2022 on the line.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
WEEK 1 FINALS – SATURDAY NIGHT

ELIMINATION FINALS
KNOX RAIDERS 68 lost to WAVERLEY FALCONS 83

The Waverley Falcons proved too strong for the Knox Raiders at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday night to keep their NBL1 South season alive.

It was an elimination final between the Falcons and Raiders to open the NBL1 South finals series for 2022 with their seasons going on the line after Knox finished the regular season in sixth spot at 15-7 while Waverley was seventh also at 15-7.

So precious little separated the two teams coming into the contest with both making a run in the opening quarter. The Falcons scored 12 straight points but then the Raiders responded with eight in-a-row to end up leading 23-21 by quarter-time.

Waverley were able to work their way on top during the second quarter and ended up outscoring Knox 15 points to eight to go into the half-time break leading 36-31.

The Falcons then blew the game further wide open in the third quarter. At one point they scored 19 successive points and that proved the decisive move of the contest.

Waverley went on to lead by as much as 22 points in the third term, and then 27 in the fourth before going on to win 83-68 and advance to a semi-final against the Mount Gambier Pioneers while the season came to an end for the Raiders.

Knox might have won the rebound battle 52 to 40 for the game and the Raiders did take eight extra field goals over the Falcons, but Waverley shot 43.9 per cent opposed to 32.4 and also took 10 extra free-throws for the evening.

Bec Cole was outstanding once again for Waverley with 25 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals with Carley Ernst contributing 22 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists.

Sophia Locandro added 12 points and nine rebounds, Amelia Todhunter 10 points, six boards, five assists and five steals, and Renae Mokrzycki seven points, four rebounds and two steals.

Alicia Froling top-scored for Knox with 20 points and nine rebounds as their season came to an end with Kiera Rowe delivering 17 points and nine boards, and Klara Wischer five points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

 

GEELONG SUPERCATS 65 lost to LAUNCESTON TORNADOES 77

The Launceston Tornadoes unveiled the dynamic trio of Keely Froling, Kelsey Griffin and Marianna Tolo on Saturday night for the first time in the eventual elimination final road win against the Geelong Supercats.

While the Supercats were at home at The Geelong Arena on Saturday night for the elimination final, they were always going to be up against it with the Tornadoes playing for the first time all season with each of Froling, Griffin and Tolo in the line-up.

Both teams were playing to keep their seasons alive to open the NBL1 South finals series and while Launceston did start strongly to lead by 10 early on, Geelong did well to fire back to trail by just four points at quarter-time.

Launceston took back over in the second term with another run of scoring eight straight points to lead by a game-high 16 points, but still Geelong did enough to stay within touch and be just 10 points down at half-time.

The Tornadoes remained on top double-figures for most of the second half, though, and while the Supercats did make a run either side of three quarter-time, they couldn’t get close enough to seriously threaten.

Launceston went on to win 77-65 and advance to a semi-final against the Nunawading Spectres while ending the season of the Supercats.

The shooting was the major difference between the two teams with the Tornadoes ending up going at 46.9 per cent from the field opposed to 35.3 from Geelong while they also went to the foul line 10 extra times, even if they shot a paltry 38 per cent.

While the big three did all deliver for the Tornadoes, it was Mariah Payne who ended up top-scoring with 23 points while hitting 5/14 from three-point territory.

Keely Froling then finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds with Kelsey Griffin contributing 16 points, six rebounds and four assists and Marianna Tolo 15 points, 12 boards, five assists and five blocked shots on a night where coach Sarah Veale only used the six players.

Sara Blicavs battled hard against the star-studded Tornadoes to finish with 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Supercats with Sarah Elsworthy contributing 17 points and three assists, and Taylah Simmons nine points, four rebounds and two assists.

 

QUALIFYING FINALS
BENDIGO BRAVES 91 defeated NUNAWADING SPECTRES 73

After finishing the regular season on top of the table, the Bendigo Braves are now straight through to a preliminary final in the NBL1 South after beating the Nunawading Spectres on Saturday night.

The Braves ended the regular season in top spot with a 20-2 record to be two games clear of the rest of the NBL1 South competition while the Spectres finished fourth at 15-7 to also earn a finals double chance.

The two teams did battle at Red Energy Arena in Saturday night's qualifying final with a terrific crowd on hand in Bendigo for the occasion which saw a tight opening to the contest with the Braves leading 25-23 by quarter-time.

Bendigo was able to then work their way on top in the second term with 21 points to 12 to end up scoring 14 consecutive points and open up a 15-point advantage, and to be in control 46-35 by the half-time break.

Nunawading did well to hit back from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to stay in touch by scoring seven straight points of their own, but Bendigo pulled away again in the fourth term with another 11-0 run to end up winning 91-73.

The result means Bendigo moves straight into a preliminary final where they will await the winner of the semi-final between Mount Gambier and Waverley while Nunawading takes on Launceston in the other semi-final.

Tess Madgen was outstanding once again for Bendigo with 29 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two steals while hitting 4/9 from three-point territory.

Megan McKay was a strong force down low with 23 points and seven rebounds with Abbey Wehrung adding 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Kelly Wilson 15 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Cassidy Mihalko did what she could to try and keep Nunawading in the contest with 24 points and 11 rebounds with Rachael Antoniadou 13 points, five rebounds and five assists, Rachel Brewster 13 points, and Emma Pearce 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.

 

RINGWOOD HAWKS 77 defeated MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 71

The Ringwood Hawks were able to come from behind at home on Saturday night to defeat the Mount Gambier Pioneers and advance straight into a preliminary final in the NBL1 South.

The Hawks earned the home court advantage for the qualifying final thanks to finishing the regular season in second position with an 18-4 record while Mount Gambier also earned themselves a top four finish with the 15-7 record.

That set the stage for a mouth-watering contest on Saturday night with a preliminary final spot at stake when they did battle at The Rings in Ringwood.

After a tight opening quarter, Ringwood finished it the better going on a 6-0 run to open up a seven-point advantage but it was the visiting Pioneers who assumed a degree of control in the second term.

Mount Gambier managed to lead by as much as seven at one point and ended up outscoring Ringwood 24 points to 13 to go into the half-time break with a handy 40-35 lead.

Ringwood was able turn things back around in the third quarter with an 8-0 run which saw them turn a nine-point deficit into a lead, but it remained a tight contest.

While the Hawks were on top narrowly most of the fourth period, the Pioneers refused to go away and even briefly regained the lead, but Ringwood did enough for the 77-71 win on their home floor.

The result means that Ringwood earns the right to host a preliminary final against either Nunawading or Launceston while Mount Gambier will host a semi-final against Waverley.

As she gears up for another WNBL season, Marena Whittle was outstanding for Ringwood with 27 points and 10 rebounds with Marta Hermida adding 26 points, six boards and five assists.

Toni Farnsworth also had nine points and seven rebounds for the Hawks, Jaqueline Trotto eight points and four boards, and Digna Strautmane seven points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals.

Cassandra Brown ended the night with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for Mount Gambier with Hannah Young contributing 16 points and six boards, Haileigh Reinoehl 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Jasmine Howe nine points, nine boards and seven assists.