North Finals | Mackay stun Logan to reach Grand Final

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There were times this NBL1 North season where Logan Thunder looked invincible but not to Mackay Meteorettes and they put together an outstanding team performance in the semi final to win 88-87 and advance to the Grand Final series.

The Thunder did finish a game clear in top spot at the end of the regular season at 14-2 but one of those losses along the way was handed to them by Mackay.

The Meteorettes went on to finish fourth before beating the Northside Wizards to open the finals and set up their semi-final battle at Bendigo Bank Cornubia Park Sports Centre with a Grand Final spot on the line.

The Meteorettes did start well shooting 60 per cent form the field in the first quarter to the 39 from Logan but the Thunder got up an extra eight shots to keep things close with Mackay leading 25-23 by the end of one.

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Mackay then took over further in the second quarter to open up a 15-point lead and to still be on top 55-42 by half-time even while taking 13 fewer shot attempts than Logan across the opening 20 minutes.

Cheyenne Bobongie had 13 points for the Meteorettes while Chelsea Brook had 11 to go with seven rebounds and three assists as they made the most of shooting a scorching 70 per cent from the field.

Logan had nine offensive rebounds to one and forced Mackay into 10 turnovers, but couldn’t capitalise with shooting at 38 per cent and 4/15 from the outside despite Amandine Toi scoring 16 of their 42 points.

That lead then got out to 17 for Mackay in the third quarter and Logan were facing the real prospect of being knocked out on their home floor but they did end up getting back into the contest and another 11 points in the term from Toi helped cut the Mackay lead to 76-69 by three quarter-time.

That set up a big finish and Logan kept on inching closer and were able to draw level a couple of times including with a massive triple from Toi with just over a minute to play to make it 87-87.

That would prove to be the last shot made from the field and the last score was a technical free-throw converted by Sammie Puisis for Mackay with 7.7 seconds remaining after a controversial kicked ball call made that denied Logan a turnover.

Aja Parham-Ammar might have had a point, but it matters little now and that put Mackay up by a point and they stayed there when Toi's attempted game winning three didn’t fall up the other end and then Brook denied Leah Scott getting off a look on the offensive rebound.

It's a stunning way for Mackay to book in a spot in next weekend's Grand Final series that will now be played in Townsville as they reach their first women's decider in the NBL1 era.

It was an impressively efficient display from the Meteorettes with Chelsea Brook finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks with 7/10 field goal shooting.

Cheyenne Bobongie also had 17 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals while Sammie Puisis added 14 points and eight boards, River Baldwin 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and four blocks, Monique Bobongie 10 points, four boards and two assists, and Eden Catip 10 points on 4/7 shooting.

It was a heartbreaking way for Logan's season to end on their home floor especially considering they got up 26 extra shots for the game than Mackay on the back of forcing them into 20 turnovers and having 17 offensive rebounds to three.

Amandine Toi had a big night for Logan with 32 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists on 4/10 three-point shooting with Leah Scott adding 17 points, 11 boards and three steals, and Prasayus Notoa 14 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

Mikhaela Cann also had 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds with Maddy Allen contributing 10 points and three boards despite going 1/10 from the outside.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | SEMI FINALS

LOGAN THUNDER 87 (Toi 32, Scott 17, Notoa 14)

MACKAY METEORETTES 88 (Brook 17, C Bobongie 17, Puisis 14)