THE Australian Pork Bendigo Spirit will play the Townsville Fire in the WNBL grand final for a third-straight season.
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The Spirit qualified for the decider with a hard-fought 85-77 win over the Sydney Uni Flames in Sunday’s preliminary final at the Bendigo Stadium.
An outstanding individual performance from guard Kelly Wilson was the catalyst for the win.
Wilson’s 32 points helped keep the Spirit’s bid to become the first club since Adelaide from 1994-96 to win three-straight WNBL titles.
“It’s sensational for our franchise. To be able to get back after last week’s debacle, I couldn’t be more proud of my group,’’ Spirit coach Bernie Harrower said.
“We were embarrassed last week and then to dig deep like we did today… and come up with some huge defensive plays down the stretch that’s what won us the game in the finish.
“Three grand finals in a row, we get our shot at redemption now. It would have been really disappointing to go out in straight sets, but now we get that opportunity to go up there (Townsville) and try to defend our title.”
Wilson was the hero for the Spirit. The Opals squad member scored 32 points on 10-17 shooting, including five three-pointers.
“She was Kristi Harrower today,’’ Bernie Harrower said of Wilson’s performance.
“She put the team on her back today and carried us home. We all knew she was capable of it and she really came to the fore today.
“She was fantastic.”
Centre Gabe Richards had 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Kelsey Griffin added 14 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Jane Chalmers didn’t score a point for the Spirit, but her three minutes on court at the end of the game was every bit as valuable as the performances of her higher profile team-mates.
In the final 50 seconds of the game Chalmers made three crucial plays.
Firstly, she delivered a brilliant pass to set up a Richards lay-up to give the Spirit an 81-77 lead.
On the next play she showed her defensive tenacity to force a jump ball and the Spirit gained possession.
Thirdly, the pint-sized guard blocked a Leilani Mitchell shot, the Spirit grabbed the ball back and Belinda Snell iced the game from the free throw line.
“We needed a spark at the finish and she (Jane) was capable of that,’’ Harrower said of his decision to play Chalmers in front of Tessa Lavey.
“She knows my system so well and she does inspirational things. It was my gut feel. It was debatable between Jane and Tessa because Tessa was pretty good in the first half.
“In the end I just felt Jane knew our system that little bit better than Tessa, that was the only reason.”
The Spirit will have a light week on the training track before travelling to Townsville on Saturday morning for Sunday afternoon’s grand final.