South Spotlight | Raiders prevail in OT over Falcons

Featured image: Lawrence Surgers | @pics.by.tre

It was the battle of the last two NBL1 South champions and both were on significant winning streaks and Katelyn Shumate shot the Waverley Falcons to overtime but the Knox Raiders ended up prevailing 81-75.

Coming into the clash at the State Basketball Centre and the defending champion Raiders had won seven straight while the 2024 championship winning Falcons arrived having won five in-a-row.

Not only had both teams won the last two NBL1 South championships, but each of them also went on to win the National Finals so winning comes naturally to both groups setting up a fascinating battle.

Scoring was hard to come by in the opening three quarters with Knox leading Waverley 42-41 by three quarter-time before things picked up in the final term firstly with the Raiders opening up a 10-point lead.

Waverley then fired back and three late triples from Shumate including a stunner from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer saw the Falcons level scores up and get the game to overtime.

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Knox took charge with the first nine points of the extra five minutes on the way to the six-point win that gives them eight on the trot to improve to 13-4 while the Falcons are now 9-6 having just missed out on a sixth consecutive win.

Knox gave up that 10-point fourth quarter lead but still got the win in the end thanks to the strong start to extra time with Paige Bradley finishing with 19 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals with 5/9 field goal shooting and going 7/8 at the foul line.

Rachel Bell also had 19 points and three rebounds with 7/8 shooting at the stripe while Leah Santomaggio provided 15 points on the back of 5/6 shooting from behind the three-point line.

Alicia Froling added 11 points, 14 rebounds and three assists, Agnes Emma-Nnopu nine points, nine boards and three blocks, and Paige Burrows eight points, three rebounds and three assists.

Waverley missed a chance to make it six in-a-row with Katelyn Shumate nailing all three of her triples for the game to get the game to overtime and ended up with 16 points and five rebounds.

Hannah Rapp provided 18 points and four rebounds, Maddi Utti 16 points, eight boards and two assists, and Tayla Dalton 15 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Both teams started slowly at the offensive end with just the 12 points each in the opening quarter before it was 15 apiece in the second term but that did include Knox having scored 12 straight to open up an eight-point lead.

Waverley responded with an 8-0 run and as a result scores were all tied at 27-27 by half-time with the Raiders shooting at just 39 per cent with only four free-throw attempts while the Falcons were going at just 28 per cent from the floor but got to the line 10 times.

The runs from either team continued through the third period too but by the end of it, Knox had scored 15 points and Waverley 14 with the Raiders clinging to the 42-41 advantage at three quarter-time.

Knox were then out to a 10-point lead with just 3:30 to play after Rachel Bell knocked down a pair of free throws, but then Waverley fired back.

It started with a three-point play from Tayla Dalton before Hannah Rapp and Katelyn Shumate knocked down three-point bombs.

Shumate hit another from downtown with 30 seconds to play to make it a two-point ball game and then Agnes Emma-Nnopu went 1/2 at the line with 4.6 seconds to go to have Knox leading 68-65.

Waverley had a chance at a prayer and that's exactly what Shumate delivered from just inside half court as she banked in the three to send the game to overtime after her third triple of the last term.

But it was then all Knox to start overtime with the home team scoring the first nine points and that set them on the path for the eventual six-point victory to make it eight straight.

Knox will look to keep their winning run going next Saturday night on the road to the Frankston Blues while Waverley back up on Sunday and will attempt to bounce back at home to Keilor Thunder.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 11

KNOX RAIDERS 81 (Bradley 19, Bell 19, Santomaggio 15)

WAVERLEY FALCONS 75 (Rapp 18, Shumate 16, Utti 16)