Toowoomba Mountaineers women beat SD Spartans to claim first women’s title in 50 years
For the first time in 50 years, the Toowoomba Mountaineers women are Queensland basketball championships. Find out how they won and see all the grand final night action here.
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Led by league MVP Gracie Stugart, Toowoomba Mountaineers broke a 50-year title drought on Saturday, winning the QSL 1 women’s championship.
Stugart – who produced a 33 point, 12 rebound, 11 assist triple double – was the star of the show but it was one of the Mountaineers’ young guns who landed the most telling blow early in the match.
As fans scrambled for courtside vantage points and more waited at the door, Chelsea Jacklin drained a 3-point shot just 16 seconds into the game.
With a vocal home crowd, including the members of the Mountaineers’ 1975 women’s championship team supporting them, the current squad never looked back after that Jacklin shot.
Taking an imposing 22-7 lead into the first break, the Mountaineers raced away beating SD Spartans 83-63.
“Honestly there is a lot of emotion right now. It’s just an amazing moment,” Mountaineers point guard Gracie Stugart said.
“We set our expectations high, and I knew with this group of girls we would win it all.
“Throughout the season we battled a lot of adversity but we never stopped believing and it showed tonight.
“They (SD Spartans) have some really talented players and gave us their best but we stuck to our game style and came out with the win.
“The whole team stepped up, everyone contributed to get the job.”
Here’s a look at the how the Mountaineers crowned queens of the QSL 1.
Dynamic duo
Every championship team has a duo that sets the tone on and off court.
Captain Mia Stower and league MVP Gracie Stugart are the Mountaineers’ dynamic duo.
Stower produced her typical double-double, 17 points and 20 rebounds, on Saturday night.
And once again Stugart was every bit of the player who has tormented opposition defenders all season driving the lane, drawing fouls and finding open teammates in scoring positions.
Saturday’s final however was more a case of how they went about things and less about what stats they recorded.
Both players were extremely calm, collected and commanding.
They never seemed rushed, bothered or out of place even as the shot clock ran down and SD Spartans piled on the defensive pressure.
Their teammates responded to that energy, taking their own games to another level.
Shipton from deep
The Mountaineers revolve around the consistent performances of Stower and Stugart.
Their success this season though has been built on a ‘Big 3’.
The problem for opposition teams is they don’t know who the Big 3 are.
Throughout the season, countless Mountaineers players have stepped up at both ends of the court – making themselves the third star.
Halle Shipton was the third star against Spartans.
The Mountaineers’ sharpshooter hit five threes in her 17-point, 6-rebound performance.
Measured performance
Last weekend’s semi-final was a nailbiting, nerve-racking affair.
The Mountaineers struggled with the sense of occasion playing a nervous, stop-start game.
Despite being clear favourites heading into the game, Toowoomba were unable to take true control of the game – forced into a different style by a determined Brisbane Capitals.
In the decider Toowoomba were anything but nervous.
They played with the same confident energy from tip-off to the final siren.
The home team never really lifted its game because they started with high energy and maintained that pace through out.
SD Spartans deserve credit because they were a good team in the final, but the Mountaineers were just better.
Team effort
Mountaineers coach Matt Cox is blessed with a near perfect blend of young rising stars and seasoned veterans in his squad.
Guided by veterans like Kimberlee Wilson, Lisa Salmi and Brittany Hayes, the Mountaineers’ next generation have evolved into composed young guns.
More importantly though, there are no egos in the squad.
The Mountaineers play for the team not themselves, and that has proven to be a winning formula.
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