The Southside Flyers have capped off a dominant WNBL season by defeating the Fire 99-82 in the grand final in Townsville.
Key points:
- The Flyers only led by two points at half-time, before getting on top of the Fire in the final two quarters
- Leilani Mitchell starred for the Flyers with 31 points
- It is the club’s first WNBL championship since it was rebranded as the Southside Flyers
The Flyers, who finished the regular season on top of the standings, were pushed hard by the Fire in the opening two quarters, with the score locked at 22-22 at the first break.
Leading 48-46 at the end of the second term, the Flyers began to take control of the season decider when they opened up an eight-point advantage midway through the third quarter.
They then led 71-61 at the final break, before finishing strongly in the fourth quarter to ice their championship victory.
Leilani Mitchell, who won the Rachael Sporn Medal as the grand final MVP, was outstanding for the Flyers with a 31-point tally, while Rebecca Cole scored 22 points.
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Liz Cambage overcame early foul trouble to post 14 points for the Flyers.
Flyers captain Jenna O’Hea said the win would ease some of the pain of last season’s grand final series loss to the Capitals.
“It’s indescribable now,” O’Hea told ABC Sport.
“We got so close last year. So to get over the hurdle today, 2020 has been a rollercoaster for everyone.
The victory brought to an end a WNBL season that was held in a compressed format because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All eight teams joined the North Queensland hub, with players coming from overseas competitions forced to quarantine before the season began.
“It’s been a long 55 days, it’s been a marathon,” Cambage said.
“This has been the biggest grind of the basketball season I’ve ever felt. It’s just relief. We did it.”
It is the club’s first WNBL title since it was rebranded as the Southside Flyers ahead of the 2019/20 season.
It won three championships when known as the Dandenong Rangers.
Mitchell steps up for Flyers
The Flyers faced an early hurdle when Cambage was subbed out after just three minutes of the opening quarter following her second personal foul.
The Opals star did not return to the court until the start of the third quarter.
The absence of Cambage for most of the first half forced the Flyers into a significant tactical change, and it was Mitchell who stepped up to the plate.
Mitchell nailed five-of-six three-point attempts in the first half to keep her side in the contest, and Cambage scored 12 points in the third quarter to blow the game wide open.
Star Fire guard Shyla Heal, who posted scores of 30 and 28 points earlier in the finals series, was kept contained by the Flyers.
The 19-year-old finished with just 11 points on four-of-18 shooting, with Lauren Nicholson (20 points) left to do the bulk of the scoring for the Fire.
The Flyers were given a huge boost before the game when O’Hea was cleared to play after making a quicker-than-expected recovery from a knee injury.
O’Hea finished with five points from 17 minutes of action.
Cambage and O’Hea helped the Bulleen Boomers win the 2010/2011 WNBL title, and the pair were in tears after the game.
“I sent Jenna a text message back in March. I saw a photo of us celebrating the Boomers grand final 10 years ago and I sent it to her and I was like, ‘Jenna, I want this again’,” Cambage said.
“I hadn’t even thought about signing yet, I just wanted that moment again with Jenna.
“I’m just so happy I got to do it again with her.”
ABC/AAP
