ALTHOUGH Teige Morrell produced an outstanding performance on the big stage, the Lakeside Lightning were eliminated by the Rockingham Flames in the National Basketball League (NBL)1 West Women’s Preliminary Final over the weekend.

The Flames had booked a home final at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday night after winning their qualifying final a couple of weeks ago. On the other hand, the Lightning hit form at the right time of the year, making the prelim from seventh and leaving the door open for a miracle championship, although they had a tough matchup against Rockingham.

It was an extremely tight first half, with Lakeside showing it was here for the fight. A scrappy second quarter saw the Lightning take a two-point lead into the main break, and the Flames were made aware that they were going to have to fight for a spot in the grand final. The home side was better in the third quarter, bringing its best to lead by four at three-quarter time, but there were still more twists and turns to come. The Lightning were excellent in the final term, hitting the lead in the final minute of the match, before Rockingham’s Robbi Ryan sent the game to overtime, where the Flames were too good, claiming a six-point win.

The Lightning would not have been in the match if not for the performance of Morrell, who was a dominant force and finished an emphatic postseason campaign in style.

Rockingham Flames (92) def. Lakeside Lightning (86)

Teige Morrell – 20 points, 22 rebounds, nine assists, one steal

Lakeside’s best player did everything she could to get her side over the line, and although that did not end up eventuating, her performance was still outstanding.

As she has done so many times in the past, Morrell stood up as a reliable scoring option for the Flames, finishing with 20 points and trailing only Marnelle Garraud (21 points) in terms of scoring for Rockingham. Morrell shot 9/16 from the field, with all of her makes coming close to the basket, showing just how hard she is to contain for the interior defence.

She was also an absolute monster on the glass, pulling down 22 of Lakeside’s 53 rebounds in a dominant display in the air. Nine of these came on the offensive end, with the opposition unable to box her out as she punished Rockingham with second-chance scores.

Morrell received a lot of defensive attention in the paint, but showed the composure to make the right passes and recorded nine assists to come one shy of a triple-double. Garraud was the beneficiary of Morrell’s passing on several occasions and it helped the team nearly pull off an upset win.

Morrell can hold her head high after doing whatever it took to get the Lightning into the big dance, and almost led her team to a remarkable grand final berth.