On Saturday, the South Side Flyers secured their first WNBL Grand Finale Championship since 2012. Like most sports, the season was shortened and condensed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In front of 1,825 fans; the South Side Flyers and the Townsville Fire battled it out for the WNBL Grand Finale Championship. After a close first half, that showed the flyers only leading by 2 points; the flyers came out in the third on fire.
South Side Flyers star Liz Cambage; who only saw three minutes in the initial half of the match after being plagued by foul trouble caught fire. Liz would have a 12 point third quarter that helped spark a Flyers 10-0 run.
The Flyers would never look back as their lead would balloon to over 17 points in the fourth to help secure the (99-82) victory.
Cambage in a post-game interview talked about sharing another Championship moment with teammate Jenna O’Hea; who she has won a WNBL Championship with in 2011 with the Melbourne Boomers, saying:
“I sent Jenna a text message back in March. I saw a photo of us celebrating the Boomers’ grand final like 10 years ago sent it to her, and I was like: ‘Jenna, I want this again.’
“I hadn’t even thought about signing yet, I just wanted that moment again with Jenna. She’s one of the best leaders, the smartest players, an all-around amazing athlete. I’m just so happy I get to do this again with her”, said Liz.
Liz Cambage also referenced the WNBL bubble that saw all eight teams at one secure site in Queensland for a seven-week playing schedule, describing it as, “the biggest grind of a basketball season I’ve ever felt,” “It’s been a long 55 days. It’s been a marathon.”
The South Side Flyers were led by their point guard Leilani Mitchell; who scored 31 points and falling just one point shy of tying the record for most points recorded in a WNBL Championship game. The Championship is the third for Mitchell who was also named the WNBL Grand Finale Championship MVP. And guard Lauren Nicholson who scored a team-high 20 points in the loss led the Townsville Fire.
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