03 Sep Blues Complete Story with Championship Win
The Sydney Blues are the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League champions after outplaying the Sydney Uni Lions to win 69-38.
The Blues, who finished the regular season in first with a 14-1 record, led by just four points at the first break and that was still the margin after Mellissa Dunn made a two-point basket for the Lions with 3:00 left in the second quarter.
From there the Blues made their move, scoring the next 10 points on a perfect 5/5 shooting while the Lions committed four turnovers and managed just one field goal attempt leaving the Blues with a 36-22 halftime advantage and in the box seat to win the title.
The Blues went on with the job in the second half with a 33-16 effort to secure the club’s first silverware since 2023 and add a WNWBL championship to the one they won in 2017.
Georgia Munro-Cook was named Finals MVP with 33 points and 9 rebounds while Kylie Gauci was all class, playing the full 40 minutes and scoring 18 points on 9/13 shooting to go with 10 assists and 9 rebounds.
“We started a bit shaky on Friday, but we managed to pull it through with our defence and we did that again tonight,” said Georgia Munro-Cook.
“If shots aren’t dropping, we can still stop them.”
Sydney Uni’s Rose Hollerman paid tribute to Gauci’s performance after the game.
“It’s hard to lose a game but I think it’s kind of iconic to have Kylie Gauci go off the way she did,” said Hollerman.
“I played against her my whole entire career so it’s awesome to be back here in Australia and play against her again.”
The Sydney Blues took the championship double winning both the five on five on Sunday and the 3X3 on Saturday.
Jesse Cronje, Maryanne Latu, Daniella Egle-Bast and Victoria Simpson secured victory for the Blues with a 8-7 win over Perth.
WBA Finals Results
WNWBL Gold Medal Match: Sydney Blue 69 def. Sydney Uni Lions 38
WNWBL Third Place Play-off: Perth Wheelcats 57 def. Victoria Wonders 37
Women’s 3X3 Final: Sydney Blues 7 def. Perth Wheelcats 6