Lady Wolfpack claims elusive SBL title
Wanneroo Wolves claimed their first championship in 18 years by winning Friday night's women's SBL grand final 72-47 over Kalamunda Eastern Suns at the WA Basketball Centre.
Despite continually being a competitive team in the women's SBL, remarkably the Wolves had not won a championship since 1995.
But Friday's win was also an achievement for 512-game veteran Sue Williams, who has a fifth SBL championship.
The Kalamunda Eastern Suns had done a fantastic job with a youthful squad under a young coach Craig Mansfield to make the grand final from fifth position, but the task of taking on a talented and experienced Wanneroo outfit in the championship decider proved to be just one step too far.
The Wolves simply wore the Suns down as the night went on with Kalamunda finishing up by just shooting 15-of-63 from the field at 24 per cent and 3-of-19 from three-point territory at 16 per cent.
Wanneroo star Nikita-Lee Martin was named the MVP of the grand final when she finished off her outstanding season with another 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals on the back of 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
Jennie Rintala top-scored for Kalamunda finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots with Lizel Buckley scoring 10 points, Melissa Moyle eight and Rachel Muenggenborg eight as well.
