THE weekend has seen some exciting action from the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL), as the final round of play takes place at a number of courts around Australia. Saturday saw a blockbuster double-header that kicked off with a clash between the Melbourne Boomers and the UC Capitals at the Melbourne Sports Centre in the evening.

In a clash between two of the competition’s top four sides, there was plenty of anticipation heading into this matchup, as it could be a preview of what we see in the finals series over the next couple of weeks. The Capitals were slim favourites given they were at the top of the table when the round kicked off. However, it was the Boomers who came to play, producing their best two-way performance of the year to take down the Capitals by a whopping 55 points, one of the biggest margins of the season.

You could not have asked for a better performance from a Boomers standpoint, as the home side dominated all four quarters and completely had their way for the entirety of the match. The Capitals had no answer for the powerful play delivered by their opponents, and were constantly on the back foot. Melbourne produced a stunning shooting performance making 42 of their 67 field goal attempts and sank over half of their shots from behind the arc. Contrastly, the Capitals could not match this output, struggling with their efficiency. The victors were successful in all of the key statstical categories, which held them in ripping stead throughout the match.

The victors were well served by the efforts of their starters, all of whom racked up double-digits in the points column. Leading the way was skipper Cayla George, who poured in 23 points and eight boards in a captain’s performance. She had some good help from teammates Tess Madgen and Eziyoda Magbegor, both of whom produced 19 points to give their side a massive scoring boost. The defensive efforts of the Boomers were also impressive, as they restricted their opponents from getting any easy shots up.

The second match in the day’s double-header saw the Southside Flyers score a nice win over the Adelaide Lightning at The Lights Community and Sports Centre. Despite a 28-point, 10-rebound effort from Alanna Smith, the home side could not match the class of their opponents, and ended up falling to the tune of eight points in one of the more remarkable upsets of the 2021/22 season.