Amy Atwell hit 44 points to ensure the Bendigo Braves are still yet to lose in 2023 and they will be joined in Sunday's NBL1 National Finals championship game by the Norths Bears who won through despite another 47 points from Ally Wilson from the Norwood Flames.
The three women's matches on Saturday for Day 2 of the NBL1 National Finals at HBF Arena Joondalup in Perth saw the Bendigo Braves defeat the Northside Wizards 112-73, the Cockburn Cougars beat the Warwick Senators 62-59, and the Norths Bears defeat the Norwood Flames 110-79.
As the only two teams who won both games to open the weekend, it's the NBL1 South's Bendigo Braves and NBL1 East's Norths Bears who will meet in Sunday's Championship Game from 11am local time.
NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS RECAP | FRIDAY WOMEN
DAY 2 WOMEN
Atwell hits 44, Braves remain dominant
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 star 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.
Amy Atwell was on FIRE ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 19, 2023
4??4?? points on 8?? made triples to beat the Northside Wizards ???
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Cougars knock Senators out of Championship race
There was no room for sentiment for your fellow NBL1 West team with the Cockburn Cougars ending the NBL1 Championship defence of the Warwick Senators with the 62-59 victory.
With the Cougars having lost to the Bendigo Braves on Friday night to open the National Finals, the best they could hope for was to play a spoiler role with the Senators looking to back up their first up win against the Norwood Flames.
The two teams are the last two championship winners in the NBL1 West with Warwick winning in 2022 before then claiming the National Championship in Melbourne with Cockburn winning the club's first ever women's title this year.
The two local teams went to battle on Saturday afternoon and it was a tight contest all the way even if neither team ever quite found their top offensive gear.
The teams just combined for 23 points in the opening quarter with the Senators clinging to a 12-11 lead by the end of one.
The Senators did pull out to a seven-point lead during the second term but Cockburn hit back heading into half-time with Warwick clinging to the 30-27 advantage going into the interval.
The Cougars were then able to work on top in the third quarter opening up a six-point lead and remained narrowly in front the rest of the way, but it was still set up for a thrilling finish with the Senators needing the win to enhance their prospects of reaching the Championship Game.
The margin was six in favour of the Cougars with just under four minutes to play before Senators import Karly Murphy brought the margin back to four with an offensive rebound and put back.
Warwick then forced the turnover and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard got it off to Murphy to make it a two-point game.
Ultimately, Perth Lynx WNBL forward Clinch Hoycard was fouled taking the attempted tying jumper and went to the line for the Senators. However, she missed both and then also missed another attempt after nabbing the offensive rebound.
Stacey Barr had one more look at the winner after the o-board from Nat Burton, but it wasn’t to be and the Cougars went on to secure the three-point win to leave both teams with a win and loss from the National Finals this weekend.
Jessie Edwards had a terrific performance for the Cougars with 22 points, 11 rebounds and two assists on 8/14 shooting and 6/7 from the foul line.
Steph Gorman produced 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Cougars, and Sarah Mortensen 14 points, 11 boards, five steals and two assists.
Karly Murphy produced another strong performance for the Senators with 22 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists, with Stacey Barr adding 13 points, 10 boards and three assists, Nat Burton nine points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks, and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard nine points, seven boards and two steals.
Karly Murphy owns the paint ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 19, 2023
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Bears book in Championship Game despite Wilson's 47
The Norths Bears will be the last team to have a crack at ending the perfect 2023 season of the Bendigo Braves with the NBL1 East champions beating the Norwood Flames despite another spectacular 47 points from Ally Wilson.
The Bears secured the NBL1 East championship last Saturday beating the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the decider and then opened their National Finals campaign in style at Joondalup on Friday beating the Northside Wizards from the NBL1 North.
They then had the chance to lock away a spot in the decider on Sunday against Bendigo with a win against Norwood on Saturday, but standing in the way was superstar Ally Wilson who had 45 points and 18 rebounds in a loss for the Flames against the Warwick Senators.
Wilson was always going to ensure that Norwood didn’t hand Norths anything and she had the opening seven points of the on the way to 17 in the first period.
That helped keep scores level at 25-25 by quarter-time but the Bears have arrived in Perth this weekend on a mission and delivered 33 points to 20 in the second quarter to go into the half-time break leading 58-45.
Ally Wilson is in her bag again with 3?3? points so far ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 19, 2023
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Norwood stayed in the contest and even claimed the point for the third quarter outscoring Norths 24 points to 23, but the Bears pulled away again in the final stanza with 29 points to 10.
That saw Norths claim the 31-point win on the back of Friday's 23-point win against the Wizards to now book in their place in Sunday's Championship Game where they get the chance to end the perfect season of the Bendigo Braves by winning the national title.
It was an impressive all-round performance from the Bears with Maddie O'Hehir delivering 32 points, three rebounds and two assists while knocking down 6/10 from three-point territory.
Jolene Anderson continued her supremely impressive form with another 24 points, nine boards and four assists for Norths while Carla Pitman contributed 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Emily Simons also had 10 points, nine rebounds and two steals, and Caitlyn Martin nine points, six boards and two assists.
It was another simply stunning performance for Norwood from Ally Wilson who produced 47 points, eight rebounds and five assists on the back of shooting 16/35 from the field, 7/16 from beyond the arc and 8/11 at the foul line.
Jada Rice added eight points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Sharna Thompson six points and three rebounds.
Caitlyn Martin with the beautiful scoop ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 19, 2023
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