Caps take WNBL championship
Updated
All-round performance ... Lauren Jackson (File photo) (Canberra Pictorial, supplied: Eric Li)
The Canberra Capitals defeated Bulleen Boomers in an WNBL grand final thriller for the second year running to claim a record seventh championship.
Canberra trailed at every change at Melbourne's State Netball and Hockey Centre on Saturday, but scored the final six points of the match to win 75-70.
For minor premiers Bulleen, who have yet to win a championship in their 27-season history, it was just their second loss of the season.
Guard Natalie Hurst top-scored for the winners with 21 points, while Australian Opals superstar Lauren Jackson contributed 18 points, as well as 13 rebounds.
Jackson also nailed the final two foul shots of the game, with less than four seconds to play, to ensure the Capitals would take the title.
Boomers forward Jenna O'Hea was superb, with 26 points and seven rebounds, while 18-year-old budding star centre Liz Cambage had 16 points and 11 boards.
But the Capitals did an excellent job to blunt Cambage's influence in the second half, after she had notched 10 points in the first, including her team's first seven of the game.
Jackson, by contrast, had a scoreless first quarter, but grew in influence.
The Boomers started the final term well, with an early O'Hea three-pointer giving her side a six-point lead.
They were still six points clear when O'Hea sunk another triple with less than five minutes to play.
But the Capitals showed their experience to fight their way back and hit the lead for the first time in the term when Carly Wilson hit a three-pointer.
A Cambage two-pointer briefly regained a one-point lead for the home side, but it was Bulleen's last score of the game.
Abby Bishop put the visitors ahead with a triple, adding another point soon after from the foul line to make it a three-point lead.
O'Hea missed an attempt to level the scores, and while a missed shot from Jackson gave the Boomers one more chance, Rachel Jarry also missed from three-point range.
Jackson was fouled in the final seconds, sending her to the line, where she iced the game.
- AAP
First posted
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