For the first time in history, Wagga Blaze has triumphed in the grand final to bring home the women’s division one championship.
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Minor premier Wagga defeated Bathurst Goldminers 74-66 in Terrigal on Sunday.
By half-time Wagga had a nine-point lead.
Bathurst closed in, and with six minutes to go in the final quarter, Wagga led by two points.
“We were challenged for a little while, but we managed to pull through,” Wagga coach Jason Maskell said.
“We were confident if we could control them well enough, we would win.”
Wagga’s Saadia Doyle controlled the tempo of the game and hit her shots, allowing Wagga to end with a clear lead.
“Our defence won us the game,” he said.
“We played the same defensive set the whole game, we were just too good.”
Bathurst was the only team to defeat Wagga all season, winning 72-45 in early July.
But the Blaze entered the match confident, knowing how to limit the Goldminers.
“We stopped their wing penetration,” he said.
“It’s something we've been working on at training.”
Wagga’s Brooke Walsh and Steph Male defended admirably on the wing.
Doyle, dominated play, top-scoring with 37 points, and was named Most Valuable Player in the grand final.
On Saturday, Wagga beat Newcastle 70-59 in the semi final to progress through, and competition top-scorer Doyle and the competition’s top three-point scorer, Wagga’s Prue Walsh, 17, were named on the All-Star Five team for 2016.
