The Albury-Wodonga Bandits sprung the first big upset at the NBL1 National Finals on Saturday with the Ringwood Hawks and Warwick Senators again winning big to set up their clash over the championship on Sunday.
After the opening day of the National Finals at Melbourne's State Basketball Centre, it did appear the champions of the NBL1 South, West and North were the teams to beat for the national title after impressive first up wins for the Ringwood Hawks, Warwick Senators and Townsville Flames.
The Hawks and Senators were able to keep their imposing form going on Saturday with strong wins again against the West Adelaide Bearcats and Southern Districts Spartans respectively.
However, it was the Flames who couldn’t quite keep their winning run going and missed the chance to play for the national championship with the NBL1 East champion Albury-Wodonga Bandits scoring the win against them.
The Warwick Senators have now won 20 straight matches on the back of defeating the NBL1 North's Southern Districts Spartans 88-73.
Two-time MVP Stacey Barr was again brilliant back in her old hometown with 33 points, eight rebounds and six steals with Grand Final MVP Leonie Fiebich delivering 22 points and 13 boards.
Leah Scott battled hard for the Spartans with 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Ringwood Hawks then kept their winning run going too beating the West Adelaide Bearcats 90-55.
Grand Final MVP Marena Whittle was outstanding once more with 31 points and nine rebounds with Digna Strautmane adding 24 points and eight boards.
Madelynn Utti finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for West Adelaide.
The action packed game of the day took place between the Albury-Wodonga Bandits and Townsville Flames. In the end it was the Bandits who had a slender lead most of the game and hung on for the 73-67 victory.
Grand Final MVP Unique Thompson was huge again with 25 points and 10 rebounds with Ai Yamada delivering 22 points and nine assists. Courtney Woods produced 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals for Townsville.
That all meant that after two games at the National Finals, Ringwood racked up 14 points with the two wins while Warwick picked up 13 to set up their battle in the championship game on Sunday.
Townsville has eight points from their two games with Albury-Wodonga on five. West Adelaide and Southern Districts have won just one quarter apiece over their two losses.
NBL1 – 2022 NATIONAL FINALS
DAY 2 – SATURDAY
ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 73 defeated TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 67
The Townsville Flames loomed as a team that would be tough to stop winning the national championship this weekend but the Albury-Wodonga Bandits had other ideas up against them on Saturday.
Townsville produced a stunning finals campaign in the NBL1 North to beat the second ranked Southern Districts Spartans in the semi finals and then to beat the previously undefeated Logan Thunder two-zip in the Grand Final Series.
The Flames brought that form with them to Melbourne on Friday night to beat the Spartans again 80-67 in the battle of NBL1 North teams ahead of taking on the Bandits on Saturday.
Albury-Wodonga had beaten the Sutherland Sharks to win the NBL1 East championship but they found the going tough to open the National Finals on Friday night with a 41-point loss to the Ringwood Hawks.
Both teams were missing an international superstar too coming into the Saturday match up with no Lauren Jackson for the Bandits and no Alanna Smith for the Flames, and what was to come was a tremendous battle for four quarters.
It was Albury-Wodonga who started strongly on the back of the strong presence of Unique Thompson to end up leading 23-17 by quarter-time.
The Bandits were able to push their advantage out to 10 points during the second quarter and were still clinging to a 36-32 advantage by the half-time break.
Townsville was able to work its way on top during the third quarter and to lead by as much as five points at one stage, but it was still a tight battle by three quarter-time with the Bandits still on top 54-53.
Albury-Wodonga were able to maintain that slender lead right throughout a tight and tense fourth quarter and ended up holding on for the 73-67 win to end Townsville's hopes of playing in Sunday's championship game.
The Bandits had a much better shooting night going at 49.1 per cent from the floor opposed to 36.9 per cent from the Flames despite Townsville taking eight extra field goals.
NBL1 East Grand Final MVP Unique Thompson was superb again for Albury-Wodonga with 25 points, 10 rebounds and four steals on 11/18 shooting from the field.
She got outstanding support from Ai Yamada with 22 points, nine assists and five rebounds with Casey Ardern contributing 10 points and four rebounds, and Molly Rice nine points and five boards.
Courtney Woods ended up top-scoring for Townsville with 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals with Steph Reid putting up 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Mia Murray added 11 points and three rebounds, and Grace Rodgers eight points and nine boards.
RINGWOOD HAWKS 90 defeated WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 55
The Ringwood Hawks have brought their NBL1 South championship winning form into the National Finals and booked their spot in the championship game with a big win over the West Adelaide Bearcats on Saturday.
Ringwood played a brilliant Grand Final last Saturday night in the same building to beat the Bendigo Braves for the NBL1 South championship and they've continued that form now at the State Basketball Centre this weekend.
The Hawks opened the National Finals by beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 97-56 on Friday night putting them in a strong position to make a run at the championship game ahead of taking on the Bearcats on Saturday.
West Adelaide won the NBL1 Central championship by beating the Sturt Sabres in the Grand Final and then the Bearcats arrived in Melbourne with the majority of their key players aside from Jasmine Simmons.
However, they struggled first up on Friday with a 25-point loss to the Warwick Senators from NBL1 West and it loomed as another significant challenge for them on Saturday against Ringwood.
Ringwood deserved to be feeling full of confidence and they once again started the game strongly putting together 11 consecutive points to end up leading 23-11 already by quarter-time.
The Hawks then opened up the second period scoring another 11 straight points to see that lead balloon out to 23 points and they went into the half-time break in control leading 47-27.
Ringwood's lead then grew to 27 points in the third quarter and 37 in the fourth before they ended up winning 90-55 to book in their spot in the championship game on Sunday.
Just a week after winning the Grand Final MVP and leading the Hawks to the NBL1 South championship, Marena Whittle continued her stunning form with another 31 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Digna Strautmane continued her strong form too with another 24 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists while shooting 10/15 from the floor and 3/6 from three-point range.
Danni Allen added 11 points and four steals for Ringwood, Marta Hermida 11 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals, and Jacqueline Trotto five points, nine boards, two assists and two blocks.
Madelynn Utti top-scored for West Adelaide with 13 points, 13 rebounds and four assists while Keeley Pearce finished with 11 points, Jasmin Fejo eight points, four assists and three steals, and Jennie Rintala seven points, seven boards and three assists.
WARWICK SENATORS 88 defeated SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 73
The NBL1 West champion Warwick Senators have had no trouble bringing their brilliant form on the road with them, scoring another big win at the National Finals against the Southern Districts Spartans on Saturday.
The Senators went on to win 18 straight matches to close the NBL1 West season and claim their first championship since 1994 on the back of that which saw them book their spot in Melbourne at the National Finals.
Warwick then opened the National Finals impressively on Friday night beating the NBL1 Central champion West Adelaide Bearcats 86-61 to make it 19 consecutive victories.
While Southern Districts are the Wildcard winners and the only team in Melbourne who didn’t win their conference championship, they were quite the strong team in the NBL1 North reaching the semi finals after ending the regular season in second position.
They had a tough start in Melbourne, though, losing to NBL1 North champions the Townsville Flames by 13 points meaning they had to win over Warwick to be any chance of still winning the national championship.
Both teams are taking part in the National Finals virtually at full strength so the stage was set for a fascinating contest, and it was a tight contest early on with the Senators only holding a narrow 23-20 lead by quarter-time.
Warwick was able to begin to pull away during the second quarter, though, putting together eight straight points to lead by as much as 13, and to go into half-time on top 42-32.
The Senators then pushed their lead out to 17 points in the third quarter, and it got out to 22 in the fourth before they ended up winning 88-73 to make it 20 straight wins and to book in a place in the championship game on Sunday.
The remarkable difference in the game was at the foul line with the Senators shooting 27/35 from the free-throw line opposed to just 9/12 for the Spartans, with Southern Districts called for 26 fouls on the night and Warwick just the 16.
That saw Natalie Taylor and Kalani Purcell foul out for Southern Districts, and Rebecca Haynes and Nadeen Payne pick up four.
Two-time NBL1 West MVP Stacey Barr was back home in Melbourne and put on a show with 33 points, eight rebounds, six steals and two assists while going 11/13 at the foul line.
Grand Final MVP Leonie Fiebich added 22 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals for Warwick, Nat Burton 12 points and seven rebounds, and Chloe Forster 10 points, seven assists and four boards.
Leah Scott continued her tremendous form for the Spartans with another 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals with Madelyn Allen adding 13 points, four boards, four assists and three steals.
Purcell also contributed nine points and 10 rebounds, and Lil Dart eight points, four boards and three assists.
