South Finals | Falcons will themselves to another GF

Featured image: Cam Brown | @cambrownvisuals

The Waverley Falcons have shaken off the absence of two key front court pieces to now be a chance at a second NBL1 South championship in three years after winning Sunday's preliminary final 70-61 against the Diamond Valley Eagles.

The last spot in the NBL1 South Grand Final went on the line on Sunday at Waverley Basketball Centre as the Falcons and Eagles fought over the right to take on the defending champion Knox Raiders next Saturday night at the State Basketball Centre.

Waverley had finished the regular season in third position but also lost key bigs Maddi Utti and Sophia Locandro but that blow was somewhat softened with the return of Carley Ernst who had just become a mother for the second time less than four months ago.

They earned the first week of the finals off before beating the Casey Cavaliers in overtime ahead of hosting the preliminary final while the Eagles had finished seventh and beat both the Ballarat Miners and Eltham Wildcats to set up Sunday's match up.

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No more than three points separated the two teams in the first quarter and it was Waverley narrowly leading 19-18 by quarter-time with seven points each to Tayla Dalton and Liana Kinkela while Abbey Ellis had eight points for Diamond Valley.

Waverley did manage to work on top in the second term with 15 points to 10 to go into half-time leading 34-28 with Kinkela up to 11 points while Ellis had 12 up the other end for the Eagles.

It was 16 points each in the third quarter for Waverley to maintain the 50-44 lead by three quarter-time and then that advantage got out to 14 in the final term and the Falcons were able to secure the nine-point victory.

Waverley have now qualified for a second Grand Final in three years having won both the NBL1 South and National championships in 2024 to set up the battle next Saturday night with the Knox Raiders.

The Falcons ended up shooting 39 per cent from the floor to 30 from the Eagles along with 6/18 to 3/25 from the outside but Diamond Valley did get up an extra 12 shot attempts with 18 offensive rebounds.

Liana Kinkela came up huge for Waverley with 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks with 9/15 shooting from the floor and 2/3 from the outside.

Katelyn Shumate added 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals, Georgia Pineau 14 points, seven boards, two assists and two steals, Talya Dalton 11 points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Carley Ernst pulled down 10 boards.

Diamond Valley have now lost in the preliminary final two years in-a-row with Abbey Ellis finishing with 18 points, four steals and two rebounds.

Shannon Dufficy added 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Alex Sharp 13 points, nine boards, two assists, two steals and two blocks, and Isis Beh eight points, three rebounds and two steals.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | PRELIMINARY FINAL

WAVERLEY FALCONS 70 (Kinkela 20, Shumate 15, Pineau 14)

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 61 (Ellis 18, Dufficy 13, Sharp 13)