NBL1 South Recap | Sunday Semi Finals

The NBL1 South semi finals are now complete after the Waverley Falcons proved too strong for the Eltham Wildcats on Sunday afternoon to set up a women's preliminary final clash with the Geelong United Supercats.

The women's NBL1 South semi finals began on Friday night with the Mount Gambier Pioneers beating the Ringwood Hawks 74-72 before the Waverley Falcons defeated the Eltham Wildcats 80-57 on Sunday.

The men's semi finals saw the Diamond Valley Eagles defeat the Frankston Blues 95-91 and the Knox Raiders prevail 84-81 against the Eltham Wildcats.

NBL1 SOUTH RECAP | SATURDAY SEMI FINALS

NBL1 SOUTH RECAP | FRIDAY SEMI FINALS

WOMEN

Falcons advance to earn shot at the Supercats

The Waverley Falcons depth and quality shone through in Sunday's impressive 80-57 home semi-final victory against the Eltham Wildcats to set up a preliminary final clash with the Geelong United Supercats.

Waverley finished the regular season in fourth position in the NBL1 South with a 16-6 record before losing last week's qualifying final to the undefeated Bendigo Braves.

However, they had earned a second chance and played host to the Wildcats on Sunday at Waverley Basketball Centre with Eltham having finished the regular season in eighth spot before beating the Frankston Blues last week in an elimination final.

The fake from Bec Cole was ???????? ?

Watch the #NBL1SouthFinals Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/zwqf3VPs2V

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 30, 2023

The Falcons began to pull away late in the opening quarter beginning with Bec Cole drawing a charge on Anneli Maley. Sophia Locandro then completed a three-point play and soon after Cole hit a mid-range jumper to put Waverley up five.

The Falcons were still leading 20-16 by quarter-time before they dominated the early parts of the second period to go up by 14 when Cole drained a three-pointer with 4:30 to play in the half with the Wildcats forced into a timeout.

Eventually Eltham did stop that scoring run at 10 for Waverley but by half-time the Falcons' advantage had blown out to 42-26 and they had one foot into a preliminary final.

While the Wildcats threw everything at a fightback in the third quarter, they were only able to cut the Falcons lead back to 12 by three quarter-time.

Hailey Leidel firing from range ?

Watch the #NBL1SouthFinals Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/E4vYtgE9FG

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 30, 2023

Anneli Maley did make it a 10-point game to start the fourth stanza but then Cole responded with a huge three for Waverley. Renae Mokrzycki then scored inside to put the Falcons back up 15 and in transition Maddi Utti finished to make it a 17-point game.

From there, Waverley cruised to the 23-point win to now set up a preliminary final battle with the Geelong United Supercats on Saturday with a spot in the Grand Final the following week on the line while the season is over for Eltham.

Maddi Utti ended up delivering 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7/12 shooting for Waverley but the key to their victory was the number of strong contributors they had.

Carley Ernst also produced 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists, Sophia Locandro 15 points and five boards, Bec Cole 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Renae Mokrzycki 10 points and eight boards, and Amelia Todhunter seven points, five rebounds and four assists.

Anneli Maley finished up her season with Eltham with another 21 points, 16 rebounds and four assists before she now heads west to join the Perth Lynx for the upcoming WNBL season.

Louise Forsyth also produced 13 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats, Hailey Leidel 10 points, five boards and three assists, and Bec Pizzey nine points, two rebounds and two steals.

The Falcons are ??????? to the preliminary final ?

Maddi Utti provided the highlight reel from her 18 points, 2 assists and 2 steals ?

Watch the #NBL1SouthFinals Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/zY1bIMOaS5

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 30, 2023