By Marcus Uhe
The future of the Southside Flyers’ Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) season will be determined on Wednesday night in a blockbuster deciding game three of the semi-finals series against Melbourne.
Having split the first two games, the winner will face Perth in the grand final series with home-court advantage, after Perth finished fourth in the regular season.
The Flyers won the first contest in a high-scoring shootout on Wednesday night, 90-86, before Melbourne responded on Saturday with an 88-67 thrashing to level the series.
A dominant three-minute stretch to close the third quarter proved decisive in game one, where the Flyers scored 11 unanswered points and retook the lead for the first time since the game’s opening stages.
From trailing 59-61 with 3.32 remaining in the quarter, Southside took a pivotal 70-61 lead into the fourth, and held on for dear life in the final term as the Boomers made continuous pushes.
Jasmine Dickey lit the spark for Southside to close the third, with a pair of free-throws to level the scores and a steal that resulted in a Mercedes Russell basket.
Russell scored another to push the lead to four, before five points in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to Maddison Rocci rubbed salt into the wound.
Melbourne cut the lead to as low as one point in the final term but was unable to edge its way in front at any stage.
Four clutch freethrows to Sixth Woman of the Year Leilani Mitchell in the final minute kept the Flyers in front when it most-mattered, and the result was sealed with a block from Russell on Melbourne star Naz Hillman in the dying stages.
Southside won the rebounding battle 33-25 and received much better production from its bench than their opponents, with 26 points doubling what the Boomers’ provided.
Lauren Jackson scored 20 points to lead the Flyers, Mitchell not far behind on 18.
Game two saw the Boomers turn the tide thanks to starring performances from their key players.
Naz Hillman scored 22 points and had nine assists in just 26 minutes, while league MVP Jordan Canada had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The game was within striking distance at the beginning of the final term, with the Flyers only trailing by 10, but the margin blew out in the fourth quarter.
The Boomers out rebounded Southside by seven and shot better at the free-throw line, setting up a huge game three at Parkville’s Melbourne Sports Centre.
Jackson led Southside in scoring once again, with 21 points.
Former Flyer and Boomers star, Sara Blicavs has been ruled out of game three due to injury.
Perth shocked the competition with a 2-0 upset series win over minor premiers, Townsville.
