12 Aug WNWBL Round 5 Wrap
The Sydney Blues finished their season off in emphatic fashion accounting for the Adelaide Thunder while the real intrigue lay in the jockeying for position for spots 2-4.
With a finals berth out of reach for the Gold Coast Rollers, the best they could do was spoil Sydney Uni’s party when they went head to head in Sydney.
But he Lions started fast, getting out to a 19-8 advantage as the Rollers managed just three made field goals in Friday’s opening quarter.
The pace remained unchanged in the second quarter as Sydney Uni stretched the lead to 40-21 by halftime and 72-43 by game’s end.
American import Rose Hollerman was incredible, finishing with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
It wasn’t the only time she came close to a triple double over the weekend, scoring 33 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists on Saturday in a 71-56 win and 31 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists in a 71-55 win on Sunday.
But Hollerman didn’t go it alone with Hannah Dodd averaging 15 points and 8 assists per game.
Former Sydney Uni star Annabelle Lindsay came up against her old team and finished with 23.3 points and 9 rebounds per game for the weekend. She was supported by Ashlee Grice who averaged 13.7 points per game and Bridie Kean who dominated the boards with 13.7 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile Victoria and Perth battled it out across three hard fought games in Melbourne for a chance to finish top 2.
The loss of Laura Davoli who has departed Australia for college commitments in the US left a large void for the Wonders to overcome with Perth getting convincing wins in all three games.
Amber Merritt led the way with 24 points and 7 rebounds on Friday and 32 points and 6 6 rebounds on Sunday but it was Georgia Inglis who stuffed the stat sheet with 10.3 points, 7 rebounds and 13.3 assists per game.
Leanne Del Toso was Victoria’s leading scorer with 17.3 points and 9 rebounds per game.
The losses sent Victoria down to fourth place while Perth, who went into the final round in third, remained there based on countback.
Perth and Sydney Uni both finished on 35 points, in the event of two teams being on equal ladder points, the positions are decided by points for and against between the teams involved.
The Lions hold a +26 for/against over Perth and grab second place.
It means the Wheelcats and the Wonders will go head to head once again in the semi finals on August 29th at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports, NSW from 6pm.
In the other semi final it will be Sydney Uni taking on the Sydney Blues, who finished their regular season off with three comprehensive wins over Adelaide.
The star-studded side was too strong for the Thunder, defeating them 102-24 on Friday, 66-16 on Saturday and 80-23 on Sunday.
If Friday’s 78-point win wasn’t enough pain, Saturday brought even more with the Blues notching up 41 points before Adelaide was finally able to get on the board.
Georgia Munro-Cook dominated the box score all weekend averaging 39.3 points per game but she was the benefactor of tremendous team work by the entire Blues squad at both ends of the court with Kylie Gauci averaging 10 points and 8.7 assists and Teisha Shadwell scoring 18 points and 8 rebounds per game in her two appearances.