By Tara Murray
Sunbury Jets are through to the qualifying final in Big V women’s state championship.
Entering the finals on the back of an eight game winning streak, the Jets came out firing in the first half against the Falcons.
They stunned the Falcons and their fans, as they led by 28 points at the main break.
With experienced players in the line-up, the Falcons were always going to come back, and come hard they did.
An 18-2 third quarter in their favour, brought them back into the game.
The Jets regained composure in an even last quarter, to eventually win 74-61.
Jets coach Kennedy Kereama was thrilled to get the win.
“The reality is, in the first half we played as well as anyone could,” he said.
“We could not imagine being up by 28 to 30 points at half-time.
“It was a bloody good result, we thought it would be a lot closer.”
While the Jets were firing on all cylinders in the first half, the third quarter was completely different.
Kereama knew that there was only one way to go, having played so well.
“It was unbelievable basketball and it was great to watch, but at some point the team will come at us.
“We were prepared for the adjustments and they made the adjustments we were expecting them to make.
“We lost our way. We missed six or seven foul shots and missed lay-ups.
“We went from one extreme to the other. If a few shots fell differently, it would have been a completely different outcome for the quarter.
“There’s still heaps of positives out of the match.”
He said defensively they did a good job in restricting key players in both halves, as just three players scored double figures.
The Jets used just eight players, with 12 players suiting up.
Josie Stockill top-scored with 23 points for the Jets and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Orla O’Reilly, Kerryn Harrington and Eylse Penaluna all scored double figures, while Courtenay Wragg provided some points off the bench.
Kereama said it had been a challenging week and he was really proud of how they performed.
The Jets now face Knox Raiders in a qualifying final.
On the line is a grand final berth. The loser will go through to the preliminary final.
While the Jets are the reigning premiers, Kereama said the pressure was on the Raiders, who claimed the minor premiership.
“Knox were there [on Saturday night]
and were no doubt taking notes on the third quarter.
“They will try and play that way for 40 minutes.
“We haven’t played them at full capacity. The pressure is on them having beaten us,” he said.
“We have nothing to lose. It’s not over whether we win or lose.”
