South Finals | Eagles lock in preliminary final spot

Featured image: Travis Palmieri | traviphotography

The Diamond Valley Eagles delivered a big first and fourth quarter and that proved enough for them to end up coming from behind to beat the Eltham Wildcats 73-66 and advance to an NBL1 South preliminary final.

Eltham finished the regular season in second spot at 17-5 so earned the first weekend of the finals off ahead of hosting Diamond Valley at Montmorency Secondary College with a preliminary final spot on the line.

The Eagles had to win their way through by beating the Ballarat Miners last Saturday and they did that on the back of a 40-point outburst from Abbey Ellis.

Diamond Valley made a strong start away from home with 22 points to 14 in the first quarter on shooting 8/22 from the field to 5/19 from the Wildcats along with pulling down five offensive rebounds for three extra shot attempts and two more free throws.

Eltham fired back in the second term with a 10-0 scoring run after falling down by 13 and by half-time that lead for the Eagles was back to just 38-35.

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Eltham did shoot 3/5 from the outside in the second period to be going 7/17 to the 4/17 from the Eagles to get back into the contest with things evenly poised at the half with their seasons on the line.

The Wildcats then worked on top in the third quarter and were clinging to the 52-51 advantage by three quarter-time even with both teams combining for 12 turnovers in the period and shooting 13/32 between them.

That set up a big finish and it was Diamond Valley who took back control in the final term with 22 points to 14 on the back of shooting shot 6/16 from the field but 4/9 from the outside and 6/6 at the foul line to secure the seven-point victory.

That sees the Eagles advance to a preliminary final against the winner of Sunday's match up between the Waverley Falcons and Casey Cavaliers while the season is over suddenly for Eltham after ending the regular season in second position.

Shannon Dufficy ended up top scoring in the win for Diamond Valley with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals with Sophie Byrnes adding 13 points, three boards, three assists and three steals.

Abbey Ellis couldn’t quite replicate her heroics from the week prior but still had 12 points and six rebounds with Alex Sharp adding 10 points, 10 boards and four assists, and Tayha Watkins nine points, two rebounds and two assists.

Eltham did cough up 20 turnovers for the game while only getting to the foul line nine times over 40 minutes with Lil Dart ending up with 18 points, seven assist, six rebounds and two steals on 4/13 three-point shooting.

Sarah Elsworthy added 17 points, five rebounds and three assists on perfect 4/4 shooting from the outside with Sara-Rose Smith contributing eight points, four boards and three assists, and Bec Pizzey eight points, eight rebounds and two assists.

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ELTHAM WILDCATS 66 (Dart 18, Elsworthy 17, Pizzey 8, S Smith 8)

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 73 (Dufficy 17, Byrnes 13, Ellis 12)