Warriors and Cruisers through to Waroona basketball grand finals, as Suns and Young Bloods bow out

It was a night of thrills and spills at the Waroona Amateur Basketball Association competition as the senior finals series began. Four games were played at the Waroona Recreation and Aquatic Centre on Wednesday night as teams battled it out for either a guaranteed spot in the grand final or to keep their chance at the premiership. The round was highlighted by a thrilling women’s qualifying final between the Cruisers and Phoenix. It was a close match throughout, with the two sides battling it out for the upper hand during the game. The Cruisers were three points ahead by half-time, but a strong performance from Phoenix levelled the scores at full time. With a gridlock, the game went into overtime, though the scores were still tied by the end. A second round of overtime finally saw the Cruisers come home with a slim 38-36 victory. The men’s qualifying final was not as heart-stopping, but was still a close contest. Taking to the court with only five players, the minor premiers Magic faced an uphill battle against the eight-strong Warriors side. Despite the disadvantage, the side kept their opponents to only a two-point lead going into half-time. However, exhaustion got the better of the team during the second half, with the Warriors finishing the game with a 46-37 victory. It was a similar result for the women’s elimination final between the Kings and Young Bloods, though the higher ranked team was the one who got over the line. The results were close at the halfway point of the match, with the Kings only leading by three points. It was the second half which made the team the clear victors, being crowned the winners with a 35-26 point win. Despite losing the match, it was the Young Bloods’ Makkiah Dittmann who was the highest scoring female player last week with 18 points. The Suns failed to shine in their men’s elimination final against the Kings, which saw their 2022/23 season come to a crashing end. Writing appeared to be on the wall by the end of the first half, with the Kings taking a comfortable 31-13 lead into the break. It only got worse for the Suns from there, with team scoring 18 points to the Kings’ 52 in the second half, leading to a final score of 83-31. Keelan Hinchcliffe’s 18 point result for the winning side made him the round’s highest scoring male player for the week. Magic will face the Kings in the men’s preliminary final, while Phoenix will face the Kings in the women’s preliminary final. Both matches start at 7pm.