The Warwick Senators have now won 21 straight matches to not only be the NBL1 West champions for 2022, but also the NBL1 National Champions after beating the Ringwood Hawks 83-75 in Sunday's championship game in Melbourne.
Just 10 days ago and the Senators women hadn’t won a championship since 1994, but they capped off their tremendous NBL1 West season by beating the Willetton Tigers in the Grand Final last Friday night in Perth.
That booked them a spot in the National Finals and the Senators were terrific in first up wins over the West Adelaide Bearcats and Southern Districts Spartans to book their place in Sunday's championship decider at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre.
However, Ringwood arrived on Sunday with similar momentum having won the NBL1 South championship by beating the Bendigo Braves last Saturday night on the same floor.
The Hawks then beat the Albury-Wodonga Bandits and West Adelaide to set up Sunday's championship match up with the Senators.
As it turned out, the Senators were on top virtually the whole way including leading by as much as 18 points just before half-time, but the Hawks refused to lie down and closed to within two late in the piece.
However, Warwick held firm for the eventual 83-75 victory to claim the national championship in style and to do so with a 21-game winning streak.
The success of the Senators this season under the coaching of Jonelle Morley has been on the back of their outstanding main rotation of six players with the three bigs and three guards, and they once again all delivered in terrific fashion in the championship game.
Morley has done an outstanding job now to take the Senators to NBL1 West and national champions in her second season in charge.
"This team is next level, that's amazing to come all the way over here and put that out in the Grand Final. Nobody thought we could do it but we knew that we could do it," Morley said.
"It was a tough gig and the first day we got here we did it on no sleep after getting up at 3am to fly over here and then play our first game that same afternoon. But they pulled it out, played together and this team is amazing. We've done a great job."
Fresh off winning the Grand Final MVP last Friday night, German import Leonie Fiebich was again superb for the Senators to take out the MVP of the game as well on the back of 16 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists on 7/10 shooting.
Two-time league MVP Stacey Barr added 17 points and nine rebounds while hitting 5/9 from downtown while young gun Chloe Forster Contributed 18 points and five assists, and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard 11 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Nicole Jorre de St Jorre is now a national championship winning captain and had 10 points and three assists while Nat Burton added another triumph to her remarkable career with nine points, three rebounds and two assists.
Barr was looking forward to playing back in Melbourne for the weekend and couldn’t be happier to be going back to Perth now as national champions.
"It's really special. We thought last week was the peak of our season, but to come out here and compete against the rest of the Australian teams and get the win is amazing," Barr said.
"We're actually on a flight back to Perth straight away after this but we'll have a bit of a celebration tomorrow when we get back home and I'm sure we'll make the most of it then."
Ringwood has plenty to be proud of as NBL1 South champions and then to get to the championship game with Marena Whittle once again superb on Sunday with 26 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Marta Hermida added 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists with Toni Farnworth contributing 15 points and five assists, and Digna Strautmane 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Both the Senators and Hawks won their respective championships last weekend and then opened the National Finals with big wins in Melbourne against the West Adelaide Bearcats while Warwick also defeated the Southern Districts Spartans and Ringwood beat the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.
That set the stage for a fascinating match up to decide the national championship with the local fans in Melbourne getting behind Ringwood and filling up the State Basketball Centre but it was the Senators who scored first with a three-pointer from young gun Chloe Forster.
Digna Strautmane then got Ringwood on the board but Nat Burton gave the Senators the 5-2 start before the Hawks had their first lead thanks to a three ball from Strautmane.
The lead continued to alternate throughout the next few minutes until Warwick pulled away again with a triple from Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard to put them up 15-9, but the Hawks finished the opening term with the last four points to stay close.
It was Forster who kept her impressive three-point shooting going early in the second quarter. She hit two more bombs to put Warwick up by seven, and it didn’t take long for Stacey Barr to connect from deep too and the Senators' lead was out to 11.
The Senators were feeling good and Perth Lynx forward Clinch Hoycard then connected on another triple for the lead to grow to 12, but Marena Whittle was doing her best to try and keep Ringwood in the contest.
The problem was Warwick just couldn’t miss and it was 439-game veteran Nicole Jorre de St Jorre joining in the three-point party.
The Senators lead got to 18 heading towards half-time before they were up 46-34 at the main break when the Hawks at least got some momentum from a Marta Hermida buzzer-beater.
Ringwood did need to start the second half well to give themselves a chance of making the local crowd happy and they did exactly that scoring seven of the opening 10 points of the third quarter to close to within eight.
Strautmane then drained a three ball and suddenly the Senators were a little rattled and the margin was back to five. Warwick was able to steady with three buckets to Fiebich, Jorre de St Jorre and Forster to push the lead back out to 12 though.
However, Ringwood wasn’t about to go down without giving it everything and just before three quarter-time the margin was just three thanks to Strautmane. Barr responded for Warwick and going into the fourth term it was the Senators leading 62-55 thanks to a late triple also from Fiebich.
Ringwood opened up the fourth period with a three-point play from Toni Farnworth who is an NBL1 West championship winner and Grand Final MVP herself.
The Senators continued to have the answers, though, and it was Barr draining yet another three-point bomb to keep them up eight but the Hawks were still not going away. They were back within three thanks to a triple from Hermida and the stage was set for a big finish.
Barr answered with her fifth three of the game and it was another veteran Burton who pushed the margin back out to eight with five minutes to play.
Ringwood were going to have to dig deep to overcome a Warwick team who hasn’t lost a game since May 7 and they did. The Hawks never gave in and a tough Hermida layup in traffic had them within two with 31 seconds to go.
Jorre de St Jorre was cool at the line hitting two to steady Warwick before Forster also nailed some late foul shots at the line which was enough for the Senators to win by eight and claim the national championship.
NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS – WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
WARWICK SENATORS 83 (Forster 18, Barr 17, Fiebich 16)
RINGWOOD HAWKS 75 (Whittle 26, Farnworth 15, Hermida 15)
MVP: Leonie Fiebich (Warwick Senators)
