NBL1 CENTRAL RECAP | WOMEN'S GRAND FINAL 2023

The Flame Within: Sitting at the lower end of the table halfway through the season – The Flames completed a remarkable rise up the table to take the title 

Grand Final: Sturt Sabres vs Norwood Flames

Flames rise to engulf stunned Sabres  

The Norwood Flames have done what on paper was thought to be not possible – but proved it was firing their way to an upset championship win over the undefeated Sturt Sabres 65-80 at a packed Adelaide 36ers Arena. 

The Flames engulfed the Sabres firing at 46 percent and hitting eleven triples and scored no less than 15 points in all quarters in a committed display led by their Captain and MVP of the night Ally Wilson.

Halls Medallist Mikayla Williams started things off seeing the Sabres to a 9-0 run at a perfect strike rate in the first quarter - but the Flames through their champion in Wilson struck back to bring it back to 14-11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Basketball South Australia (@basketballsa_)

The Sabres created second-chance opportunities with plenty of offensive rebounds (10-3) but the Flame's efficiency (41 percent) saw them hit the lead at 16-17 after a five-point cameo from Caitlin Shillabeer with a minute to go. Coach Tim Shortt turned to the legendary Laura Hodges who after gaining another offensive board returned the putback on the quarter-time buzzer to give the Sabres the lead 20-19 after one – Williams with 10 points to lead all scorers.

The start to the second was driven by Tayla Brazel who grabbed a quick five points but the outside shots rained for the team from the ARC beyond it as the sources of Alek Akuen, Wilson and Sharna Thompson found money from the area. Coach Will Smith of the Flames attacked the Sabres head-on up the middle of the floor through Wilson who drove and bustled her way through the Sabres's unset defence as they jumped out with a Jorjah Smith dagger to a game-high ten-point lead 31-41.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by NBL1 (@nbl1)

Enter Smith again dropping the bomb on half-time beating the buzzer as the Flames held the lead 36-46 at the main break. Wilson had an enormous start with 17 points and 6 rebounds and despite a quiet second term – Williams had a double-double to halftime with 12 points and rebounds.

Jada Rice’s huge block on Williams in the third summed up the quarter as defence started to rule the floor. The beneficiary of that was Thompson who peeled off a pair of shot clock-beating triples from deep range forcing Shortt to call timeout with his chargers down 38-56 by a game-high 18 points.

Wilson continued to dish it off to Thompson who came up with 9 points for the term – it was the Flames to lose at three-quarter time up 45-61 with one to play. To make matters worse for the Sabres Williams went down with a slight knee twinge and needed some treatment before the last change.   

Wilson was having none of the Sabres getting back into this one as the double blues launched a comeback through Jasmin Rigoni off the pine (8 points for the final stanza). Jada Rice quietly efficiently pulled off the block of the night sending Zoe Walker-Roberts to the floor and finished off strongly to put them up 64-77.

Jada Rice ??????? that thing ?

Watch the #NBL1CentralFinals Grand Final Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/ugAHqUy9yK

— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 12, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Basketball South Australia (@basketballsa_)

The game was done after Thompson beat the clock with an outrageously long triple – party time ensuing for the Flames the only team to inflict defeat on their opponents.

MVP Wilson had her hands in everything all night as she capped off an elite final month of the season with 23 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and a block closely shadowed by Thompson with her five triples with 19 points, five assists and rebounds. Jada Rice stepped up to shutdown Williams after quarter time with 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks and cameos from Smith with 9 points and Shillabeer with 8 points.

Coach Will Smith was proud and still in awe and shock that his team had won the title. He also praised his star in Ally Wilson for a large contributing performance. 

"I don't really believe it, to do this with the season we've had, the players we've lost, the adversity we've had, at the start of the season we were 0-2 - to win a championship is unbelievable" a stunned Smith still coming to terms with his club's achievement shared.

"Ally (Wilson) sent me some messages yesterday and we were hoping as she said to get beastmode Ally and that's what we got tonight from her."   

Assistant Coach Terry-Jo McNamara was full of praise for the role players stepping up and contributing. “(Caitlin) Shillabeer coming in and hitting shots in this environment was amazing – that was the kind of games we needed from those players tonight.” McNamara shared.

“We didn’t shoot well last time we played them, so we mixed it up a bit with some drive and kick – we knew they’d rely on over helping so to get the ball moving was certainly a key to the win tonight.”

“Wilson we knew we had to keep getting into that paint and pushing the tempo as we believed no one could guard her when she’s in that mode."

Sturt Sabres Captain Kayla Mathews lamented the offensive struggle in the second half and admitted the Flame's defence surprised their group – giving credit to the Flames for taking her team out of their groove.

“We really struggled offensively in the second half and couldn’t find our normal looks – I’m still proud of our team making it to two consecutive grand finals but we know we came up short tonight than where we wanted to.”    

With National Finals awaiting the Flames and a date with the 2022 Champions the Warwick Senators this Friday night – the Flames excited about the prospect of taking their credentials national.

“It’s awesome experience-wise, we’ll have a party for this one then work out what we are going to do moving forward – it’s an exciting opportunity for the Norwood Flames Basketball Club.”

The Flames 2023 championship is their ninth in their existence and first since 2016 to make it four in the past decade – it is indeed a grand old flag for the red and the blue.