THE Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) Under 18 Girls competition wrapped up over the weekend, and there was plenty of excitement around the league, including a drawn match between the Kilsyth Cobras and the Bulleen Boomers at Kilsyth Basketball Stadium on Friday night.

Kilsyth Cobras 19 | 9 | 11 | 18 (57)
Bulleen Boomers 11 | 12 | 13 | 21 (57)

The Boomers were the clear favourites coming into the game, given their standing at the top of the table across the entirety of the season. The Cobras were set for a finals berth, but had stuttered since joining the VC Championship division, losing four of their seven outings coming into the final round.

Remarkably, it is Kilsyth’s second drawn match in a row, after last week’s encounter with Casey. However, the Cobras will be encouraged heading into the postseason, given they were able to match it with the best, while Bulleen will see it as a wake-up call ahead of a finals campaign in which it will enter as one of the favoured sides.

The Cobras announced their intentions early in the game, grabbing an early lead with some potent offence. It was the best their ball movement had looked in weeks, and the Boomers found themselves trailing by eight points at the first break, with plenty of work ahead. Their offence stalled in the second quarter, and it allowed the Boomers to get back into the game. Bulleen trimmed the margin by three in the second period, putting an emphasis on some tighter defence.

Offence from both sides still struggled to take off in the third term, but again it was the Boomers that got their nose ahead. The deficit was once again chipped down, as Bulleen trailed by just three heading into the final term. With time winding down, the Boomers tied things up in a high-scoring final term, and neither side was able to conjure a winning bucket in the closing stages of the game.

The Cobras’ offence was led by the strong showing from Hannah Day, who was terrific all game, but especially when her side took the lead early in the match. She also stood up with some big buckets in the last quarter, and without her timely buckets, the Boomers may have just ran over the top of Kilsyth and completed the comeback win.

The Boomers were well-served by a trio of contributors, with three players registering double-digits in the points column. Lily Carmody (13 points), Tabitha Betson (13 points) and Danijela Kujovic (12 points) were all instrumental in Bulleen pulling off the impressive comeback. Their strength all season has been their ability to conjure scores from a number of sources, and that trend continued on Friday night.