Sunbury Jets finished their season in style by claiming their first ever Big V women’s basketball title on Saturday night.
The Jets’ division 1 season started with a big win against Geelong Supercats on a Saturday night back in March.
It finished the same way – with the Jets defeating the Supercats in game two of their best-of-three game grand final series.
The Jets won game one 62-41.
On Saturday night, in front of their home crowd, the Jets played as they had all season to win 79-54.
They dominated on the defensive end, shutting down their opposition’s best scorers, before capitalising at the offensive end.
Only two points separated the teams at quarter-time. But the warning signs were there for the Supercats, with the Jets already having seven steals.
The Jets held a match-winning 27-point lead at three-quarter-time – and that was exactly where the Jets wanted to be heading into the last quarter. It meant every player had the chance to take to the court in the last 10 minutes.
Picture Shawn Smits.
Each player played at least four minutes as the Jets savoured a championship win – the first in the 21-year history of the club’s women’s team.
Jets coach Kennedy Kereama said it was a relief to have completed the perfect season.
He said it was at the defensive end where the win was set up.
“It’s something we’ve worked hard for all season,” he said. “We set ourselves a pretty good target … it’s nice it’s over.
“Defence is something we’ve prided ourselves on.
“For that to come through … it’s nice to know you put things in place with a heavy concentration on one thing and the girls got it done.
“It’s probably our shining light all season … now we get to celebrate the incredible season we’ve had.”
While the defensive end set up the win, it was out-scoring the Supercats 27-10 in the third quarter that sealed it.
Kereama said that fourth-quarter effort came on the back of a stirring speech from Courtney Duever, who was later named game MVP.
Picture Shawn Smits.
She had figures of 28 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and six steals.
She had 33 points and 16 rebounds in game one of the grand final series.
Duever wasn’t originally part of the Jets’ plans for this season.
“She’s a class player,” Kereama said. “I’m just glad she made contact with me. We were probably going to go with what we had and then we had a couple of knee injuries and that made it easier to bring someone else in.”
Emma Mahady, Monique Stevens and Jess Bygate also secured double-figure goal tallies on Saturday.
