THE Northside Wizards have claimed the 2023 NBL1 North Women’s championship, after star Courtney Woods led the team in game two of the grand final series against the Rockhampton Cyclones on the weekend.

The Wizards faced off against Rockhampton for the second time in as many days as the deciding series rolled on. Northside delivered a whopping 25-point triumph in game one, proving the far better team in a dominant performance. Coming into Saturday night’s game at Northside Indoor Sports Centre, it was clear the Cyclones would have to lift, and although ‘pressure makes diamonds’ as the saying goes, the Wizards entered the contest as favourites.

However, the visitors came out of the blocks firing, taking a seven-point lead into the first change and already producing some better offence than the entire first match of the series. Northside suddenly had a better challenge this time around, and would need to find the answers to avoid a forced game three on Sunday.

The second quarter was much improved from the hosts, who took a one-point advantage into half-time with a suffocating defensive performance. Both teams looked to restrict the opposition’s look in a big way in the second half, but it was the Wizards that were the most effective in this domain, holding the Cyclones to 20 points in the final two quarters en route to a 11-point win.

It was the big name in Woods that stood up when it counted for the champions, with the 26-year-old stepping up on the big stage.

Northside Wizards (70) def. Rockhampton Cyclones (59)

Courtney Woods – 23 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists, three steals

Woods was quite close to a triple-double in a magnificent all-around performance on Saturday, doing whatever it took to get her side over the line.

Playing all 40 minutes, she was seemingly always involved in the play and produced one of her best performances when it mattered most.

Her 23 points was the most of any player on the court, being given license to shoot the ball whenever she had the rock, and rewarding the Wizards with some effective offence.

Woods made half of her 14 attempts from the field, balancing her shot selection between drives into the lane and shots from behind the arc, where she drained a trio of three-pointers, while also going a perfect 6/6 from the free throw line.

Another extremely important facet of her performance was her playmaking, helping draw the defence in with some slicing dribbles, before dishing out to a teammate in a far better scoring position. The likes of Lil Dart (17 points) and AJ Johnson (16 points) all benefited from Woods’ passing, and it was one of the key factors that turned the team’s offence around after a slow first quarter on this front.

In big games like this, it is typically the stars that step up with telling performances as Woods did here, proving the difference to overcome a gutsy Rockhampton showing and seal the ultimate prize for the Wizards.