Tara Murray
The Sunbury Jets weren’t able to hold on against the Bulleen Boomers with their Big V women’s state championship season coming to an end on Saturday night.
After losing game one of the best-of-three semi final series last week, the Jets needed to win on Saturday night to take the match to a decider.
Despite leading for majority of the night, the Jets fell just short, 79-72.
Jets coach Ben Draper said the girls gave it all, but in the end couldn’t come away with the win to force a third game.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “The girls played really hard to the end.
“Maria [Jespersen] got injured at the start of the third and we had to pull her and she didn’t play the rest of the quarter or the fourth quarter.
“That hurts a lot. We fought hard and led for 37 minutes but couldn’t hold on.”
Draper said the injury to Jespersen compounded the fact they were already missing Ally Stewart and Emily Ellis.
He said he believed that Bulleen was the best team in the competition, and the semi final match up could have easily been a grand final one.
Draper said they had a lot of contributors in the loss.
Ellen Barkeley top scored with 18 points as all five starters hit double figures.
“Em Conn who is our captain was dynamic on both ends of the floor,” he said. “She had a very effective game.
“Ellen Barkeley had a big one as well, while Isa [Andersson] and Maria had good performances. Nicole Cameron was big in the first half with some unexpected points.
The loss caps off what was an up and down season for the Jets. They started slowly, before getting themselves into finals.
“I’ve been proud of this group since day one,” Draper said.
“What they’ve been able to achieve and how they have stepped up and lifted through out the season.
“It’s been up and down and a late start to make it where we are.”
With a young core group of players the future is bright for the Jets. Draper said they were hoping to build on that next year.
“We want to keep everyone and look to add a couple more pieces to puzzle,” he said. “This group is amazing.
“The team itself have heart and that’s hard to teach. We have a good group to build around for next season.”
Bulleen will play Wyndham in the grand final, after Wyndham beat the McKinnon Cougars in game two and three.
