South Finals | Falcons survive battle of wounded teams

Featured image: Cam Brown | @cambrownvisuals

Both teams might have finished in the NBL1 South top six but were well short of full strength by Sunday's qualifying final with the Waverley Falcons staying alive with the 67-62 overtime win over the Casey Cavaliers.

Both teams looked like championship contenders at different points of the NBL1 South season and Waverley did still finish in third position at 15-7 having won their past five matches heading into the finals while Casey were 14-8 in sixth place.

That meant both teams earned the opening weekend of the finals off ahead of meeting in Sunday's qualifying final at Waverley Basketball Centre with a spot in a preliminary final on the line.

But neither side were close to full strength with Maddi Utti and Sophia Locandro unavailable for the Falcons while the Cavaliers were without MVP Dallas Loughridge along with Sharne Robati.

That did add some extra intrigue to the match up to see who could cover those losses the better and it was a tight battle entire afternoon with no more than eight points ever separating the two teams.

>> SOUTH FINALS | KNOX MAKE IT 14 IN-A-ROW

>> SOUTH FINALS | SABRES BEAT THUNDER IN STAR-STUDDED BATTLE

>> SOUTH FINALS | EAGLES LOCK IN PRELIMINARY FINAL SPOT

>> SOUTH FINALS | EAGLES ADVANCE WITH ABBEY'S 40

>> SOUTH FINALS | SHUYU LIFTS TIGERS INTO QUALIFYING FINALS

Waverley were clinging to the 17-15 lead by quarter-time even while shooting just 6/18 from the field but they got up an extra five shot attempts with Casey having six turnovers.

The Falcons then managed to push out to an eight-point lead in the second quarter but Casey responded with an 8-0 run to get back level and that's where the scores stayed by half-time with things locked together at 30-30.

The Cavs were up to 10 turnovers by half-time to just two from Waverley but Casey were shooting a little better at 37 per cent to the 29 from the Falcons despite them getting up 11 extra shot attempts.

After the big finish to the second half, Casey also scored the first six points of the second half to make it a 14-0 run and open up a six-point lead, but the Falcons hit back this time to leave scores level at 45-45 by three quarter-time.

The Cavs then again grabbed the momentum with back-to-back threes from Hailey Wynd and Nya Lok to be back up six with three minutes to play before the Falcons hit back and eventually it was a huge three in the final minute from Katelyn Shumate.

That levelled scores once more and despite all the drama of the last minute including a rough call on an adjudged flop by Georgia Pineau gave a tech foul to the Cavaliers, but Sam Bowman couldn’t convert.

That left scores still tied at 59-59 by full-time and then in the extra time Waverley took charge scoring eight of the 11 points including scoring the first six to secure the five-point win.

The result keeps the season alive for the Falcons to set up a preliminary final with Katelyn Shumate finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Liana Kinkela also had 12 points and two rebounds, Millie McCarthy nine points and three assists, and Tayla Dalton nine points and four assists.

Carley Ernst also had a significant impact having just returned after being a mum for the second time and she was out there for 23 minutes and had seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

The season that promised so much for the Cavaliers is now over after their first NBL1 finals appearance with Chelsea D'Angelo ending up with 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Nya Lok also had 16 points, five rebounds and two assists, and Sam Bowman 16 points, 15 boards, two assists and two blocked shots.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | QUALIFYING FINAL

WAVERLEY FALCONS 67 (Shumate 13, Kinkela 12, Dalton 9, McCarthy 9)

CASEY CAVALIERS 62 (D'Angelo 19, Lok 16, Bowman 16)