North Grand Final | Mackay romp to championship glory

Featured image: @simons_sportpics

MVP Courtney Woods was ruled out of Game 3 of the NBL1 North Grand Final series and the Mackay Meteorettes took full advantage to win the 2026 championship with the thumping 120-87 victory.

Now there's no saying that the Meteorettes couldn’t have done similar even with Woods out there for the Townsville Flames given they did win Game 1 back on Friday night 107-78 also at Townsville's Carmichael Ford Stadium.

The Flames did hit back in Game 2 on Saturday to win 82-76 to set up the decider, but during that game Woods did suffer a concussion that was diagnosed afterwards and would rule her out of the decider on Sunday.

It was a big ask for the Flames to respond given that she had 30 of her team's 78 points in Game 1 on shooting 10/16 with the rest of the side scoring just 48 with 19/61 shooting. Then in Game 2, Woods scored another 39 points on 15/24 and her teammates combined for 43 on 16/46.

There was also the danger that if in a one off scenario, the Townsville could step up in Woods' absence especially with a championship at stake on the home floor or for Mackay, the danger of them becoming complacent.

But it didn’t take long for the Meteorettes to take charge opening up a 29-19 lead by quarter-time with Monique Bobongie scoring eight of those points.

>> NORTH GRAND FINAL | BALDWIN RULES AS MACKAY TAKE CHARGE

>> NORTH FINALS | FLAMES STUN DOLPHINS TO REACH GF

>> NORTH FINALS | MACKAY STUN LOGAN TO REACH GRAND FINAL

>> NORTH FINALS | MONIQUE HAS 25 AND METEORETTES STAY ALIVE

>> NORTH FINALS | WOODS STARS AS FLAMES WIN A THRILLER

The lead for Mackay then grew to 20 during the second term and by half-time they were still on top 55-43 with Monique Bobongie up to 13 points, Sammie Puisis 11 and Chelsea Brooke 10.

The Flames were doing well to not get totally blown out with Kate Searle having 11 points and Ella Tofaeono nine while it was a foul heavy opening half with 17 free throws to Mackay and 15 to Townsville.

Mackay then blew the game wide open for good in the third frame to secure the championship by doing so with 37 points on the back of shooting 14/22 from the field and 8/12 from the outside.

That saw the lead balloon to 29 points and then it got out to 37 in the fourth quarter before the Meteorettes secured the 33-point victory and to win the championship in empathic fashion.

It's Mackay's first women's championship of the NBL1 era, a first overall since 2014 and a fifth in total to go with the triumphs in 1987, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Meteorettes ended up shooting 57 per cent for the game to 48 and 16/29 to 10/28 from the outside with Monique Bobongie producing another 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals on 3/5 three-point shooting.

Sammie Puisis also finished with 25 points and six rebounds with 7/8 shooting from the outside with Chelsea Brook contributing 21 points, seven boards and two assists, River Baldwin 14 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists, Cheyenne Bobongie 12 points and nine assists on the way to the Grand Final MVP, and Nikita Muscat nine points and three assists.

Townsville just missed out on what would have been a second championship in five years with Mia Murray doing all she could to give the Flames a sniff with 29 points on 5/6 three-point shooting.

Kate Searle added 19 points and five rebounds, Ella Tofaeono 13 points, five boards and three assists, and Chailee Ward 13 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | GRAND FINAL GAME 3

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 87 (Murray 29, Searle 19, Tofaeono 13, Ward 13)

MACKAY METEORETTES 120 (Puisis 25, Brook 21, M Bobongie 18)

Grand Final MVP: Cheyenne Bobongie (Mackay Meteorettes)