WNBL finals: Melbourne Boomers square semi final series with Southside Flyers at 1-1
An import’s perfect night and a special burst from the WNBL’s MVP has ensured the cross-town semi-final series between Southside and Melbourne will go to an epic decider.
Women's Basketball
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WNBL MVP Jordin Canada refused to be denied, producing an unstoppable second-half blitz that finished off a monster night from fellow import Naz Hillmon and kept Melbourne’s title hopes alive.
Canada shook off an uncharacteristic four first-half turnovers, flipping the switch after the long break with 15 of her 21 points as the Boomers busted open game two of their semi-final series with Southside with an 88-67 hammering.
The Flyers will now have to wait until at least Wednesday for a chance to win their way through to a fourth WNBL grand final series in its five-year existence after the Boomers reversed the game one result to set up the blockbuster decider.
Southside’s three-headed monster frontline of Lauren Jackson, Mercedes Russell and Carly Ernst should have been too big to handle for the Boomers, but it was Melbourne’s burly import Naz Hillmon who had her way in the paint.
The physical Flyers fell foul of the whistle whenever Hillmon had the rock and she lived at the charity stripe, making all 15 of her freebies on her way to a game-high 22 points. The American ate glass, too, tearing down nine boards in a performance that might have been more than a little nod to her snub from the All-WNBL First Team.
Melbourne shot 36 free throws to Southside’s 11 and Russell lamented the Flyers’ struggles keeping Hillmon and the rest of the Boomers off the free throw line.
“It was a tough loss for us, we put them to the line too many times, I think that was the separation of the game,” Russell said.
“I don’t know if I’ve played against anybody that’s shot 15 free throws by themselves so I guess that’s on us, just playing straight up, boxing her out and not fouling her.
“Luckily it is a series, so we have another chance and, right now, it’s 1-1, so it’s even, we’re going to come in Wednesday and be focused and ready to play.
“The slate is clean, this is the biggest game of the season for us.”
Hillmon said her side benefited from throwing caution to the wind, given the gravity of the stakes.
“I feel like there was a little bit of there’s nothing to lose, we know that we beat this team in the regular season, it wasn’t an impossible feat, so just the combination of knowing we had a lot of mistakes in game one we could fix in game two and just wanting to play hard for each other,” Hillmon said.
“We’re feeling good but at the same time we always know there’s something to work on.
“We have to make adjustments and find a way to play at our highest level because this is a win-or-go-home game.”
The Boomers went into the clash with the devastating news Opal Sara Blicavs had succumbed to a foot injury and would not play again this season but Tera Reed and Aimie Rocci were more than ready to fill the void, with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Rocci, in particular, has stepped up in the semis. The former Flyer missed four games with concussion early in the season and never really found her feet but, in both finals contests, she’s been ultra-aggressive, getting on the rim and hitting from deep.
That pair, Hillmon and co-captain Keely Froling (12 points) kept the Boomers alive throughout and then Canada’s class rose to the top, allowing her to deliver the knockout blow.
The Flyers were well-served again by their dependable superstar Jackson, who backed up her 20-point night with a team-leading 21, Russell bounced back from a quiet game one with 15 and Ernst had 11, but import Jas Dickey was unable to match her Wednesday night heroics, finishing with two points on 1-5 shooting and a game-worst -27 in her 19 minutes.
With five minutes to go in the game Canada showed why she’s the league’s MVP, killing off the contest by scything her way to the cup for back-to-back lay-ups and then finding Monique Conti in the corner for three to make the league 16 and signal party time for the Boomers.
Boomers coach Chris Lucas hailed his MVP but acknowledged the efforts of her supporting cast.
“Jordin’s a wonderful player but I think sometimes we put her under too much pressure,” Lucas said.
“What we’re trying to do is share the load and take some pressure off her and then, when we need to make a bucket, she somehow finds a way.
“I thought our ball movement and player movement was so much better than the other night (game one) and I’m just really happy with the group.
“It’s 0-0 now and what does it mean? It means you’ve got an opportunity. I’ve been around for a while, they just don’t come along very often.”
If game one’s 90-86 thriller was one of the best advertisements for the quality of WNBL basketball you’ll see, the first quarter in this one was anything but.
In the first three-and-a-half minutes, the two teams combined for a stomach churning 1-12 from the field, the Boomers’ first bucket coming on a trey from Hillmon — who has made just five from deep all season.
Melbourne fell in love with the three ball and were 1-10 for the quarter but commonsense prevailed late in the quarter as Froling — twice — then Reed got on the rim for six quick points.
The Boomers led 14-12, helped by the Flyers missing 15 of their 19 field goal attempts.
In fact, the Flyers didn’t make a three ball until the early stages of the second half — when Lauren Jackson, then Maddi Rocci connected on back-to-back tries in under a minute to erase a six-point Boomers’ break
HUGE FINALS INJURY BLOW AS ENFORCER RENEWS HOSTILITIES WITH GOAT
Melbourne’s hopes of staving off WNBL elimination have been dealt a huge blow with star Opals forward Sara Blicavs ruled out for the rest of the finals.
Code Sports understands the World Cup bronze medallist, who only managed 13 minutes off the bench in Wednesday night’s game one loss to Southside, has succumbed to a foot injury.
The 31-year-old’s absence puts more onus on Boomers co-captain Keely Froling to take her game to an even higher level, after a box office game-one battle with legendary Lauren Jackson.
Froling had a game-high 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while 42-year-old Jackson led the scoring for the Flyers with 20, the pair going at it in a classic confrontation.
The Boomers’ enforcer is now plotting a Jackson take down in a do-or-die game two back at the Boom Box on Saturday night in a bid to send the series to a decider next week.
“I always like going up against LJ. She obviously has that size advantage against me and I just try to use my speed advantage against her,” Froling said.
“I think it’s always a good match up and hopefully we can get her off that low block a little bit, that would be nice and not have her score so many.
“She obviously has more experience than anyone in the game … but hopefully we can tire her out a little bit in this match.
“There is pretty big respect for LJ and I just try to be physical with her and like I said, use my speed and that against her.”
Froling, who shares the captaincy with guard Kristy Wallace, said the Boomers had to be equally wary of not letting other scorers off the chain as they did in game one.
Flyers’ import Jasmine Dickey played a starring role off the bench with 16 points and Froling said the Boomers had to limit the impact of those around Jackson.
“We also have to look at some of their other scoring. I think Dickey came off the bench and had 16 or something,” Froling said.
“We know LJ is going to score. (Coach) Chris (Lucas) said today there is no one in the world that has ever stopped her turnaround jump shot, so we are probably not going to make some magic trick happen that will stop that.
“But I think for us it’s a focus on not letting those other players score. So she can have her 20, but not let Dickey and those sort of people come off the bench and score.”
Froling joined the Boomers for the 2023-24 season from the Sydney Flames with the hope of making a mark in finals.
The Boomers are playing off in a seventh straight finals campaign and Froling is determined to ensure the team’s campaign stays alive.
“I love playing finals. It has been a while since I have personally been in the finals,” she said.
“Being on a team that didn’t make finals for two years I was really hungry to kind of be back in that high performance environment and just playing with really good players as well.
“So I love this opportunity and I am always going to go out there and do my best and hopefully have a similar performance to Wednesday.”
“She has been phenomenal, obviously she is just an incredible player all around,” she said.
“She is a game-changer and that’s why she is so successful in the WNBA. I think we are really lucky to have her in Australia.”
A member of Australia’s team for last year’s Asia Cup, Froling was not part of the Opals’ squad for last month’s Olympic qualifiers in Brazil.
But she has not given up hope on Paris.
“Obviously I was pretty disappointed not to be named in that squad, especially after the Asia Cup and after WNBL,” Froling said.
“You never know what is going to happen and I am just going to keep playing and keep training as hard as I can and whatever happens, happens.
“I would love to make that Paris team, but we’ll just see what happens.”
“It (the crowd) was pretty disappointing but I think that was due to a number of factors,” Froling said.
“Hopefully we can sell it out. You look at how high quality Wednesday’s game was on behalf of both teams and hopefully people realise that and come and see some great basketball.”
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Originally published as WNBL finals: Melbourne Boomers square semi final series with Southside Flyers at 1-1
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