Bosko Kostur puts the finishing touch on a massive dunk over a Western Port player in the Cavaliers agonising double-overtime loss. 85600 Pictures: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
ONLY one series separates the Cranbourne Cavaliers women from claiming the Big V Division 2 championship in their inaugural year.
Having won the previous week, Cranbourne had a double shot at progressing to the final, but only needed the one match on Saturday night to get the job done.
The Cavaliers trailed by eight points at half time after Blackburn blitzed through the second quarter, but the Cavaliers locked down in defence to make scoring a difficult task for the Vikings.
Neither side shot well, with both teams forced outside and away from the key for the majority of the match.
Cranbourne gained momentum in the third quarter, hitting 6/19 from the field to level the scores at 43 apiece.
A scrappy last quarter unfolded, but sublime free throw shooting and some intimidating calf presence from Jade Foot gave Cranbourne the lead and the Cavaliers held on for a nine-point win to move on to the final week.
Renae Mokrzycki almost had a triple-double, dominating at both ends of the court with 10 points, 11 rebounds and nine steals, Alex Keates (12 points, nine rebounds), Lara Pauline (12 points, seven rebounds) and Amy McFarlane (12 points) also starred in the win.
“Defence again, every single week,” coach Mark Holman said. “Last week in the second half we held them to 16 points, and this week it was 15.
“We made a point of it before the game that defensively we needed to shut things down.
“We had a lot of trouble putting the ball in the hoop, but our defence is a constant every match and they’re the ones who helped us break the game open.”
Cranbourne captain Lara Pauline said Coburg will be a challenge to beat over three games, but believes the Cavaliers have what it takes to hoist the title.
“We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve we’re going to go through at training,” Pauline said. “Coburg is a big, physical side, so we know we’ve got to be physical and smart and just got to make the right moves to the rack as well and play good, straight up D.
“It’s a big series, especially because we have to beat them twice, but we’re excited.”
To get to the big dance is one checkpoint ticked off for the Cavaliers, but Holman said his charges aren’t content with just making it there.
“Feels good to make the grand final, but we’re not satisfied just yet,” Holman said. “We talked about it at the start of the season and we wanted to make the championship game, but having played everybody and knowing where we are as a group, I don’t think we’ll be happy with just being in the grand final.”
The first match of the grand final series is at Coburg Basketball Stadium at 6.45pm on Sunday.
Cranbourne’s State Youth Championship team was eliminated in the preliminary final by Western Port after a double-overtime epic was finally clinched by the Steelers by four points.
Bosko Kostur (22 points, 20 rebounds) and Matthew Walker (17 points, 11 rebounds) had massive double-doubles and Declan Soukop (13 points) was also strong offensively for the Cavaliers.
