NOT ONLY did the WNBL regular season come down to the final game to determine the playoff seedings, but it came down to the final second in an absolute thriller between the Perth Lynx and the Townsville Fire, with the former getting the job done.

Both teams entered Sunday’s clash with 15 wins and five losses, the winner to take second spot on the ladder heading into finals. Perth was coming off a win, but Townsville had won eight consecutive games and were arguably the form team of the competition, and it looked every bit the team to beat in the early minutes of the game.

The Fire burst out of the blocks to a rapid 10-3 start off the back of Courtney Woods, who had double the points Perth had through four minutes on her own. Woods, fourth in the competition this season for points per game, finished the first quarter with 10 points to lead all comers, as the Fire opened an 11-point advantage after one period.

The second term began with a back-and-forth display of hoops, before two Alex Wilson buckets reigned the deficit into seven points. Wilson continued to score at will in the second quarter, her layup with 90 second remaining bringing the Fire’s lead down to just five. The margin would remain there going into the main break. 

Both sides continued to trade buckets in much of the same fashion to open the second half, before Townsville crept out to a nine-point lead with a minute and a half to go. Perth, undeterred, roped it back in with three straight buckets from Laeticia Amihere, Alexandra Ciabattoni and Amy Atwell.

Perth made the move out of the blocks in the fourth period, quickly building a 15-4 run that put them in front and had the Fire scrambling. The 11-point swing came off the back of threes by Anneli Maley and Miela Sowah, while Amihere’s defence was stellar.

Perth retained the lead for much of the final term, heading into a wild final possession. The Fire, down by two points, had a shot to take the lead on a three by Lauren Cox. It fell short, hitting front rim but spilling straight to Abbey Ellis for an offensive rebound, she kicked it to Nia Coffey who from one step inside the arc, nailed a two to tie the game with just 3.2 second left on the clock.

The clutch shot was enough to force overtime and extend the season by another five minutes. 

Townsville got off to the better start in the overtime period, shooting out to a six-point advantage through Cox and Courtney Woods. Wilson once again stepped up for the visiting side to crawl back within four, but Coffey responded with a pull up jumper to extend the lead back out to six points with just 36 seconds left.

Perth skipper Maley then nailed two vital free throws for the Lynx, before chaos broke out. Woods was double-teamed off the inbound, and stripped by Steph Gorman, the ball fell right into Maley’s lap underneath the basket and she calmy slotted another basket to sneak back within two points with 20 seconds remaining.

Out of its own timeout that advanced the ball, Townsville placed the ball in the hands of Cox, who was also double-teamed and also stripped by Amihere. The Perth gun pushed the ball quickly in transition, finding Ciabattoni open for three on the wing.

She rose up and knocked down a clutch shot from distance to give the Lynx the lead by a single point, and Woods’ near-halfcourt heave at the buzzer just barely fell off the rim, leaving Perth one-point winners and owners of second spot on the ladder. The frantic finish was everything the blockbuster match deserved.

Wilson led the way for the visitors all game with timely buckets. She finished with 21 points, five assists and five rebounds, while Atwell, who also nailed important baskets, added 16 points. Amihere was a force defensively, blocking a whopping six shots to go with 18 points, whilst Maley had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Ciabattoni contributed nine points on 100 per cent shooting from the field, including the all-important game-winning three.

Outside of Ciabattoni, Perth did not shoot the ball all that well and was comfortably outrebounded. The Lynx did however get 30 points from their bench and converted 18 points on the fast break. Their impressive transition game hid the fact that Townsville outscored them in the paint and on second chance points, while both sides scored 15 points from turnovers.

Woods was superb for the Fire, ending with 27 points and seven rebounds. She shot 11/19 from the field despite missing all three attempts from long range. Coffey posted 19 points and nine rebounds, and knocked down some imperative baskets, while Cox scored 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. Alicia Froling added eight points and 10 rebounds, while Alexandra Fowler and Ellis provided solid minutes and balanced stat lines, combining for 13 points, 11 rebounds and six steals. 

The two sides will now meet in the opening round of the finals series, Perth earning the right to host two games in the best of three series. This matchup is reminiscent of last year’s opening finals round where these same two teams met after Townsville finished first on the ladder and Perth finished fourth.

On that occasion it was Perth that won the series two games to zero, and advanced to the Grand Final series, eliminating the Fire. The semi-finals will kick off on February 22^nd and run until the 2^nd of March if necessary.