National Finals Recap | Women Day 2

Image credit: @jcpphotovideo

Knox Raiders and Cockburn Cougars won again on Saturday to advance to NBL1 National Finals championship game in Canberra with Knox attempting to now spoil another perfect season as they did in the NBL1 South Grand Final.

NATIONAL FINALS RECAP | WOMEN DAY 1

Woodville Warriors (64) lost to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (108)

The NBL1 East champion Manly Warringah Sea Eagles hit back impressively from a tough first up performance at the NBL1 National Finals to beat the Woodville Warriors 108-64 on Saturday.

Both teams opened their time at the National Finals on Friday with losses to mean they weren’t in contention to make the Final on Sunday, but they still wanted to finish their weekends on a high after their conference championships.

Woodville lost to the NBL1 West's Cockburn Cougars by 47 points on Friday while Manly Warringah would have been disappointed to lose to the NBL1 South's Knox Raiders by 28 points given they have arrived in Canberra with a full strength team after their NBL1 East title.

The Warriors, meanwhile, were still without Erin Phillips, Jordan Hunter, Laura Erikstrup and Isa Andersson and Manly Warringah were able to take advantage with a strong start to be leading 25-15 by quarter-time thanks to shooting 8/19 from the field to Woodville's 4/18.

The Sea Eagles then completed a 13-0 scoring run in the second quarter to open up a lead as big as 29 points and then still being in control leading 54-28 by the half-time break thanks to shooting 21/44 overall to the 9/36 from the Warriors.

It was more of the same in the second half for Manly Warringah with 26 points to 18 in the third quarter, and 28 to 18 in the fourth for them to wrap up their time at the National Finals with the 44-point victory.

The Sea Eagles ended up shooting 52 per cent from the floor to the 27 per cent from the Warriors while they pulled down 59 rebounds to 41 for the game largely purely on the 60 missed shots from Woodville.

Sari Mowbray came up huge with 18 points in her 17 minutes for the Sea Eagles to go with two steals and on 8/13 shooting from the field.

Grand Final MVP Taylor Wurtz delivered 17 points, four assists and three rebounds on 5/9 three-point shooting with Kim Dickinson contributing 16 points and 10 boards, Chloe Dix 12 points, six assists and five rebounds, Freya Bijkerk 11 points and four boards, and Josie Bulman 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Jasmin Fejo was a virtual lone hand at least from a scoring front for Woodville finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 8/29 shooting from the field, 4/12 from three-point territory and 9/12 from the foul line.

Casey Real also had nine points despite 1/13 shooting from deep, Naomi Allotey eight points and eight rebounds, and Katherine Perkas eight points, six boards, four assists and two steals.

WOODVILLE WARRIORS 64 (Fejo 29, Real 9, Allotey 8, Perkas 8)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 108 (Mowbray 18, Wurtz 17, Dickinson 16)

Knox Raiders (62) defeated Waverley Falcons (52)

It turned into quite the defensive grind between the last two NBL1 South championship winners and the Knox Raiders had more of their guns available and ended up prevailing 62-52 against the Waverley Falcons to advance to Sunday's Final.

On the back of winning the NBL1 South championship two weeks ago by handing Geelong United their first loss in the Grand Final for all of 2025, the Raiders started their National Finals campaign on Friday beating the NBL1 East's Manly Warringah Sea Eagles by 28 points in dominant fashion.

Knox have arrived in Canberra with all their big guns as well but it isn't the case for a Waverley team who lost in the semi finals of the NBL1 South on the back of winning not only the conference championship last year, but backing up winning the National Finals on the Sunshine Coast.

Waverley are without Bec Cole, Carley Ernst and Amelia Todhunter for the National Finals and it was slow going from the start for both teams with the first quarter largely a feeling out process between the last two NBL1 South championship winners.

By the end of the first quarter it was the Falcons who had the better of proceedings to be leading 18-7 by the first break on the back of shooting 6/18 from the field with 5/6 at the foul line to 3/18 overall from the Raiders and just 1/1 at the charity stripe.

Knox were able to turn things around in the second quarter with 19 points to eight where the Raiders were able to shooting 8/24 to the 3/16 from the Falcons.

As a result, the scores were all level at 26-26 by half-time and then things opened up a bit more in the third quarter where the two teams combined for 37 points.

It was 19 points to 18 in favour of Waverley for them to be up by a point heading into the fourth quarter it was Knox who took control in the final 10 minutes.

The Raiders went on a 7-0 scoring run and ended up with 18 points to seven in the last period for the eventual 10-point win to book in their place at Sunday's Final.

It was a rough offensive game from both teams with Knox shooting at 32 per cent from the field to 29 from Waverley while the aiders did go 10/18 at the foul line to 7/8 from the Falcons.

Alicia Froling starred in the win for Knox with 20 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots while playing all 40 minutes of the game.

Kristy Wallace also ended up with 14 points, two rebounds and two assists, Kiera Glover 10 points, seven boards and three assists, and Agnes Emma-Nnopu five points, 12 rebounds and two steals.

There were opportunities on the Waverley team for players to grab their chances and Millie McCarthy did that in her first season with the Falcons.

After crossing from the Perry Lakes Hawks in the NBL1 West she didn’t always get a lot of minutes in the NBL1 South season, but the point guard did at the National Finals and had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists on 3/7 three-point shooting.

Katelyn Shumate also had 14 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, Jenna Batsch 10 points, six boards, there assists and two blocked shots, and Renae Mokrzycki eight points and 12 rebounds.

KNOX RAIDERS 62 (Froling 20, Wallace 14, Glover 10)

WAVERLEY FALCONS 52 (McCarthy 14, Shumate 14, Batsch 10)

Cockburn Cougars (89) defeated Logan Thunder (60)

The perfect NBL1 season of the Cockburn Cougars has continued with the NBL1 West champions advancing to the Final at the National Finals improving to 25-0 in 2025 with the 89-60 win against the Logan Thunder.

The Cougars completed a perfect season in the NBL1 West by going 20-0 in the regular season before beating the Rockingham Flames, Perry Lakes Hawks and Warwick Senators on the way to winning championship last Saturday night at RAC Arena.

Cockburn then arrived in Canberra for the National Finals as the only undefeated team left from around the country and they had most of their championship stars available aside from import big Daniel Raber and college-bound teenage star Amelia Corasaniti.

The Cougars then started their National Finals campaign beating the NBL1 Central's Woodville Warriors by 47 points on Friday as they prepared to take on Logan on Saturday for a spot in Sunday's Final.

The Thunder lost the opening game of the NBl1 North Grand Final Series against the Southern Districts Spartans before hitting back to win the last two games to clinch the championship and a spot in Canberra.

Logan came from behind to beat the Waverley Falcons then on Friday to set up the match up on Saturday against the Cougars with a place in the Final on the line.

Logan were only missing Amandine Toi from their championship team but Cockburn worked on top in the first quarter and by quarter-time held a 28-14 advantage with captain Jewel Williams setting up play expertly and her long-time teammate Jessie Edwards dominating inside.

That lead grew for the Cougars out to 21 points in the second quarter and by half-time they were leading 51-34 on the back of shooting 20/40 from the field to the 13/32 from the Thunder. The only thing letting Cockburn down was 4/12 free-throw shooting.

Logan did try to mount a fightback in the third quarter and even did outscore Cockburn 18 points to 17, but they couldn’t ever get close enough to strike and the Cougars took back control in the fourth frame.

Cockburn ended up scoring the 29-point win to make it 25-0 on 2025 now as they book in a spot in the National Finals decider on Sunday against the Knox Raiders. Ironically, it was Knox who ended Geelong United's unbeaten season in the NBL1 South Grand Final.

The Cougars dominated the possession game with 13 extra shots and 11 more free throws than Logan thanks to pulling down 26 offensive rebounds and forcing the Thunder into 18 turnovers.

Jessie Edwards and Jewel Williams have played most of their careers together starting as juniors at the Kalamunda Eastern Suns before that's where they started their SBL/NBL1 West careers.

They have now both settled with the Cougars and are two-time championship winners as a result, and both were dominant presences in the win on Saturday.

Edwards dominated inside with 27 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, three blocks and two assists on 13/22 shooting from the field despite going 1/6 at the foul line with Williams ending up with nine points, 13 assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Gun import Sarah Mortensen has been crucial in the 2023 and 2025 championships for Cockburn, and she put up 20 points, eight rebounds and two assists with Steph Gorman contributing 10 points, two boards and two assists, and Grand Final MVP Ruby Porter nine points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists.

The 2025 season is now over for Logan who will still be able to celebrate their NBL1 North championship with Leah Scott providing another 16 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots despite 5/16 shooting.

Vahayliah Seumanutafa also finished with 12 points and two rebounds for the Thunder with Bride Kennedy-Hopoate contributing eight points, Sinai Foai seven points, and Mikaela Cann seven points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals despite also having nine turnovers.

COCKBURN COUGARS 89 (Edwards 27, Mortensen 20, Gorman 10)

LOGAN THUNDER 60 (Scott 16, Seumanutafa 12, Kennedy-Hopoate 8)