It was Amy Atwell, Megan McKay and Kelly Wilson who saved the Bendigo Braves unbeaten NBL1 South season as they just advanced to the Grand Final where they'll face Bec Cole, Carley Ernst and the Waverley Falcons with the Sandringham Sabres men setting up the clash with the Knox Raiders.
Both women's preliminary finals in the NBL1 South took place on Saturday night with the Bendigo Braves beating the Mount Gambier Pioneers 97-96 and the Waverley Falcons defeating the Geelong United Supercats 85-74.
The men's preliminary finals began on Friday night with the Knox Raiders beating the Mount Gambier Pioneers 68-63. Then on Saturday night, the Sandringham Sabres beat the Diamond Valley Eagles 107-86.
NBL1 SOUTH RECAP | FRIDAY PRELIMINARY FINALS
WOMEN
Falcons win on the road to reach Grand Final
The Geelong United Supercats were in some ominous form to qualify to host Saturday night's preliminary final but couldn’t quite keep it going with the big game experience of Bec Cole and Carley Ernst leading the Waverley Falcons to the 85-74 victory.
The Supercats ended the regular season winning their last three matches to lock away third position before then upsetting the Mount Gambier Pioneers on the road in the qualifying final to book in the preliminary final at The Arena with the week off in between.
Waverley ended the regular season in fourth place before losing in a competitive showing to the unbeaten Bendigo Braves in the qualifying final. The Falcons then advanced to the preliminary final by beating the Eltham Wildcats last week.
The stage was set for the preliminary final at The Arena on Saturday night and it would be the Falcons who gradually worked their way further on top as the evening unfolded.
Waverley ended up leading by two points at quarter-time and then ended up leading by as much as eight in the second term before being on top 41-36 at the half-time interval.
Waverley then managed to pull away further in the third stanza by outscoring Geelong 23 points to 19 and leading 64-55 by three quarter-time.
The lead for the Falcons blew out to 17 points in the last quarter before going on to win by 11 and book in a spot against the Bendigo Braves in the Grand Final.
The stars all delivered for Waverley in the win with Bec Cole finishing with 23 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals while fellow WNBL veteran Carley Ernst produced 21 points, 10 boards, three assists and two blocked shots.
Maddi Utti also had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Sophia Locandro 17 points, three boards and two blocked shots.
Agnieszka Skobel ended up with 18 points and six steals on the night for Geelong United with Sarah Elsworthy contributing 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Ella Tofaeono 15 points and 10 boards, and Eve Braslis 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Braves survive with late Atwell, Wilson magic
The Bendigo Braves were staring down suffering their lone loss of the 2023 season in the preliminary final to the Mount Gambier Pioneers on Saturday night before who else but Kelly Wilson hit the winning bucket to advance them to the Grand Final.
On the back of losing last year's NBL1 South Grand Final to the Ringwood Hawks, the Braves have put together a perfect season winning 22 regular season matches and then advancing to the preliminary final beating the Waverley Falcons.
However, the Pioneers were going to be no pushovers in the preliminary final at Red Energy Arena after finishing the season in second place at 17-5.
Mount Gambier did have a slip up in the qualifying final against the Geelong United Supercats, but hit back at home last Friday night against the Ringwood Hawks to book in their preliminary final position.
The Pioneers started the game impressively to lead by as much as nine points in the opening quarter but the Braves were able to work back into the contest and by quarter-time, scores were level at 24-24.
Bendigo then threatened to put the game to bed in the second quarter like they've done so often this season. The Braves took charge going on a 10-0 run and ended up outscoring the Pioneers 30 points to 17 for the period to go into the half-time break in control at 54-41.
It was going to take a huge effort from Mount Gambier to give themselves the chance of a remarkable upset, but that's exactly what they did in the third quarter.
The Pioneers outscored the Braves 25 points to 14, and then kept the momentum going into the fourth quarter to grab the lead with the Braves rattled with a string of uncharacteristic turnovers and blown layups.
Mount Gambier went on to lead by six by the time Zitina Aokuso knocked down a three-pointer with 3:30 on the clock.
Suddenly it was the Braves who needed to respond and Amy Atwell did hit a three, but Isabella Brancatisano kept Mount Gambier up five with the answering bucket.
Isabella Brancatisano making it work through traffic ?
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Haliegh Reinoehl and Atwell then traded three-pointers for their respective teams but when Atwell nailed another for Bendigo with 1:30 remaining, the undefeated Braves had reclaimed the lead.
Cassidy McLean then stretched that lead out to five but again Mount Gambier answered firstly with a three-point play from Sherrie Calleia and then two free-throws from Miela Goodchild.
It was then the remarkable Kelly Wilson who pulled up for a mid-range jumper that never looked like missing to put Bendigo back in front by a point, and then when Goodchild turned the ball over, the Braves were able to run down the clock and advance to a second straight Grand Final.
Amy Atwell came up huge when it mattered most for Bendigo with some huge fourth quarter shots on her way to 33 points, four steals, three rebounds and two blocks on 4/8 three-point shooting.
Megan McKay also delivered another 20 points and 20 rebounds for the Braves on 10/17 shooting with Kelly Wilson leading expertly once more with 18 points, four boards, four assists and three steals.
Cassidy McLean also contributed 16 points, three rebounds and two steals despite going just 4/16 from the floor.
Mount Gambier went ever so close to what would have been a remarkable win with Cassandra Brown finishing with 22 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals on 10/15 shooting.
Isabella Brancatisano added 20 points, six rebounds and three assists, Miela Goodchild 17 points and three boards, Haliegh Reinoehl 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Sherrie Calleia 13 points, six boards, four assists and three steals, and Zitina Aokuso nine points and five rebounds.
MEN
Sabres stay hot to advance to Grand Final
The Sandringham Sabres will enter the NBL1 South Grand Final in some hot form after beating the Diamond Valley Eagles 107-86 at home in Saturday night's preliminary final.
The Sabres finished the regular season in fourth position before knocking off the Knox Raiders in the qualifying final at the State Basketball Centre in what will now turn out to be a Grand Final preview.
Sandringham earned the week off with that win before hosting the preliminary final at Southern Basketball Stadium with the Eagles also building some impressive momentum to meet them there.
Diamond Valley finished in seventh position at 12-10 before beating the Nunawading Spectres and Frankston Blues in the opening two weeks of the finals to advance to the preliminary final.
Coming off the week's break, Sandringham blew the game wide open with a monstrous first quarter with 40 points to already be leading by 18 at quarter-time.
The game was all but over from that point with the Sabres ending up leading by as much as 21 points in the second stanza, 33 in the third and then ending up winning by 21 to book in their Grand Final appearance next week against the Raiders who they beat in the qualifying final.
Ben Ayre continued his standout form for Sandringham ahead of his NBL season at the South East Melbourne Phoenix. He produced 27 points and eight assists with 9/20 shooting from the floor and 6/6 from the free-throw line.
Campbell Blogg also delivered 19 points, three rebounds and three assists, CJ Asuncion-Byrd 18 points, four rebounds and two assists, Tom Koppens 15 points and six boards, and Kaylan Kitto 11 points.
Dane Pineau also put up nine points, 25 rebounds, four blocks and two assists ahead of his NBL season at the New Zealand Breakers.
Ngor Manyang finished with another 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals with BJ Symons contributing 17 points and seven boards, Ben Allen 10 points and five rebounds, Mandrell Worthy 10 points, and Joel Capetola nine points and two assists.
