Forestville wins its first women’s basketball title in eight years, overcoming Sturt by three points
The Eagles are the 2019 women’s Premier League champions after beating Sturt in the grand final.
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Forestville won its first women’s Premier League women’s grand final since 2011, beating Sturt by three points in a nailbiting contest at Basketball SA Stadium on Saturday night.
The Eagles were down by a point at three-quarter time but clawed their way back in the final period to claim the 61-58 victory.
They led by one point late in the last quarter before Aimee Brett produced a stunning drive down the court and hit the winning shot with three seconds left on the clock.
But the MVP award went to Forestville US import Oceana Hamilton who top scored with a game-high 16 points, while amassing 12 rebounds.
Forestville’s final four minutes was impressive with strong defence but the Eagles had plenty of highlights, including a huge three-point shot from youngster Rebekah Frisby-Smith just before quarter-time to give her team a 22-17 lead at the first break.
Eagles coach Monica Bello was proud of her side’s performance and its ability to remain calm under the immense pressure.
“We are a very emotional team,” Bello said.
“Some of the girls, like Rebekah Frisby-Smith, are still under-18s - she’s never played a grand final.
“She (Frisby-Smith) was just so calm and collected in pressure situations.
“That’s what is so great about the depth of our team.
“Our defence in that last quarter is what I know our team can do.
“We operate from our defence and get a lot of energy out of it.”
Forestville’s triumph comes a year after losing the title decider to North Adelaide.
Although the Eagles’ starting five had slightly changed Bello felt this season was “redemption”.
“I know the make-up of the team is a little different but it’s still redemption, they are wearing the Eagles jumper,” Bellos said.
“You don’t want to be thinking of the past but we had to use that as motivation, we didn’t want to repeat (last year).”
Bello was unsure if she would coach again next season after four years at the helm, saying it would “be nice to go out on a high”.
Danielle Angley and Elissa Brett were strong for the Sabres, netting 10 points apiece, while rising star Ruby Porter also showed glimpses of brilliance with her speed and ball movement but could not make it count on the scoreboard.
Sabres coach Marcus Wong was disappointed, especially as the match was his swan song as mentor after deciding to move into a different role with the club and veteran Kate Gladstone was retiring.
“We have full respect for Forestville, they play hard, they are well coached and we knew it would be tough,” Wong said.
“We are a bit more emotional because it’s the last year in the program for some of us.
“We wanted to send Kate off with a championship, so that was disappointing.
“Forestville defended us very well, we didn’t adjust well enough, we didn’t execute well enough.
“I thought we defended well for the most part but we didn’t score well enough.”
