Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s side faces do-or-die QSL basketball semi-final with Brisbane Capitals

The Toowoomba Mountaineers have the chance to etch their name in history over the next two weeks as they eye a long-awaited state league title. Details here

Toowoomba Mountaineers coach Matt Cox. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s side’s quest for a breakthrough title is set to continue this Saturday, when they take on the Brisbane Capitals at Auchenflower Stadium in a do-or-die QSL basketball semi-final.

Mountaineers coach Matt Cox was excited by the prospect of returning to playoff basketball and believes his side is ready to make a mark.

“It’s exciting for our team, our association and for the women’s program in general,” he said.

“A lot of time and commitment has gone into it, it has been a huge effort by the players that we’ve had service the club.

“We’ve largely spoken about bringing our junior locals through and they have been a large core of our team over the last few years.”

Since Cox took over in 2021, a major focus has been on developing the Darling Downs talent while also returning to finals – which they have now done in back-to-back seasons.

“I think its massive, last season we tried to put as much talent on the floor as we could to try and be competitive,” he said.

“We did that really well but we were bringing in a few people from out of town.

“But this year we have put together pretty much the entire roster being Toowoomba juniors or current local players.

“So I think it is exactly what we wanted from going back to this QSL level and it has been a long time coming to try and get to this point but we are starting to really gain some momentum there and it is awesome.

Toowoomba Mountaineers young gun Halle Shipton takes to the court. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Toowoomba is a small community and you see it within the crowds and the support that we get from local businesses, local members, it really means a lot to the town and I think it means a lot to the people where we are representing in such a good way with local players.”

The Mountaineers have not won a state league title – men or women – since the 1990s, when the legendary Pop Dickerson led the men’s side to back-to-back titles.

Now with a chance to end the title drought and bring a championship back to the Garden City, Cox is eager to make history.

“It would be massive, it is what we are here for, what everyone signed up to try and achieve and we had belief that our group could be the best team in the competition from day one,” Cox said,

“It would be a massive thing for this association, I don’t think a women’s team has ever won a state league title for the Toowoomba Mountaineers in our 50 plus year history so it definitely would mean a lot.

“It is something that we have spoken about that we definitely want to go two better than we did last year.”

Cox also spoke of the joy in the locker rooms when his side locked in their finals spot in their penultimate game of the season with a thrilling over Southern Districts Spartans on Saturday night.

Brittany Hayes in action for the Toowoomba Mountaineers. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“(There was) definitely a lot of excitement, we really battled and Spartans did a great job of bringing the fight to us for 40 minutes,” he said.

“They did an excellent job with some of their shot-making and continuing to give effort but we just didn’t die wondering we just kept being resilient as we have all season long.

“There was a real sense of joy among the locker room that we’ve achieved something and I said a couple of weeks ago that we really deserve to be there and it is awesome to book that spot up.”

The Mountaineers are well aware of the task they face in the undefeated Capitals, having played them in their final game of the regular season on Sunday.

“Even though we lost, we had some really good moments throughout the game where we held them to eight points in the third quarter,” Cox said.

“That gives us a lot of confidence going into this weekend that we are right there and we can compete.

“We have had the advantage of being able to go over the game tape and look where we went wrong, look what Brisbane was trying to do and make some adjustments.

“I think we’re prepared as much as we could be.”

Originally published as Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s side faces do-or-die QSL basketball semi-final with Brisbane Capitals