08 Jul WNWBL Round 3 Wrap
The Sydney Blues are the only undefeated team in WNWBL 2025 following three wins against the Gold Coast Rollers and the Victoria Wonders dropping the first games at the hands of Sydney Uni. Over in the west, Perth was too strong for Adelaide.
The Blues were too strong for a Rollers side in search of their first win with the ladder leaders picking up three victories and by convincing margins.
The Blues welcomed Japanese import Mari Amimoto who scored 10 points in Game 1, 12 in Game 2 and 21 points in Game 3. Georgia Munro-Cook had a quiet Game 1 by her standards but returned to form in Games 2 and 3 to average 17.3ppg for the weekend.
“Mari is a quality player and adds to the Blues’ Gliders players and our all world legend Kylie Gauci,” said Blues coach Troy Sachs.
Gauci, who did not travel with the team on their last road trip, contributed 9.3 points, 5 assists and 2.7 steals per game and Maryanne Latu averaged 10.3ppg for the weekend.
“There has been steady progress to the team building and how we are gelling. The Blues need to continue to gel as we add pieces each round and build towards the finals as a unit all working together.”
Next for the Blues is a top of the table clash at home with Victoria Wonders, but Sachs says he’s only focussed on what his team is doing.
“We don’t prepare for a specific opponent. We focus on what we have to do individually to make the Blues game plan achieve its goal. We are looking forward to the challenge and getting more game time together.”
The Wonders remain in second place despite dropping two games to the Sydney Uni Lions, boasting new import Rose Hollerman.
In Game 1, the Lions led by as many as 11 midway through the final quarter before the Wonders made a final charge, Laura Davoli sank back to back shots in the space of 30 seconds to mount a 12-3 run to get within two of the reigning champions before Hollerman grabbed a defensive board with 47 seconds to play and finished at the other end to push the lead back to four.
From there, the Wonders had no choice but to foul and the Lions were able to hit enough of their free throws to hold on for a 50-47 win.
The Wonders bounced back in a big way in Game 2 with a 59-46 win and got their noses in front with 5:30 to play in the final quarter of Game 3 before Hollerman took control.
The American either scored or made the assist on Sydney Uni’s remaining 4 baskets to seal the 51-45 win for the visitors as she averaged 18 points. 13.7 rebounds and 5 assists per game across the weekend.
Laura Davoli led the way for Victoria with 18.3 points and 11 rebounds per game as she continued to relish her time with the Victorian squad.
“I’ve loved playing with Leanne, Shelley and Issy. The experience they have and offer the new girls is going to improve our side and squad in Victoria immensely,” said Davoli
“I’ve personally learnt a lot from them and our off-court environment translates seamlessly on court, our ability to communicate and work together is getting better each game, being able to play with them is so much fun and we all contribute something unique which makes us such a great side.”
In Perth, the Wheelcats returned to the winner’s circle with three wins against the Adelaide Thunder.
It was a truly team oriented performance by the Wheelcats with no player scoring more than 16 in a game. In Saturday’s two wins, (60-17 and 63-22) all but one player got on the scoresheet while on Sunday everyone made a basket.
For Adelaide, the new team can take heart from the gradual improvement across the weekend against a well drilled and experienced Wheelcats side. Kaitlin Gunn hit double figures in the opening two games before rookie Keria Sanchez had 15 points and 8 rebounds in Game 3.
The WNWBL resumes on 18-20 July.
Photo Credit: Victoria Wonders