By JARROD POTTER
THIRD time’s the charm for Steph Cumming as her Townsville Fire finally knocked off the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL grand final.
Cumming, 24, originally from Endeavour Hills, made the switch to the Queensland-based WNBL team three seasons ago, but hadn’t tasted the same success she had with Dandenong until this week.
After featuring in both of Townsville’s WNBL grand-final losses – in 2012/13 and 2013/14 – Cumming and the Fire went one step better on Sunday as the home crowd got to cheer on the Fire’s 75-65 win over the Spirit.
Cumming sunk 12 points in the finale, from 34 minutes court-time, as she helped shoot the Fire ahead with two of her signature long-range treys.
She thought it was a fitting farewell for her team mate – WNBL legend Rachael McCully (nee Flanagan) – to end her WNBL career in the team’s finest moment.
“It was brilliant – there are no words that can describe it,” Cumming said.
“Especially to send Flanny (McCully) off that way was amazing.
“The time it hit me (Townsville winning the championship) was when Flanny had two foul shots and there was less than a minute to go.
“I looked at the clock and thought we were 10 up with a minute to go, surely we couldn’t lose it from here.
“I looked at Flanny and she still had her game-face on and I had to calm myself down for a little bit longer.”
Townsville has been the side to beat all WNBL season as Suzy Batkovic, Cayla Francis and Mia Newley formed a huge front-court presence alongside Cumming and McCully.
“It was really good this year – the team really got along well and everything just fell into place for us,” Cumming said.
“We were lucky as we didn’t really have any major injuries and we get along so well off the court as well so it made it that much easier.”
Cumming has signed on to play with Kilysth in the SEABL winter basketball competition, with a former Rangers’ team mate Sam Woosnam coaching the Cobras.
Doubling the Endeavour Hills flair at Townsville, former Dandenong Ranger Rosie Fadljevic was also part of the Fire’s WNBL championship winning squad – as she averaged – but only played two seconds in the grand final just before half-time.
