West Finals | Giants make history winning first final

Featured image: Travis Anderson | @andmediaphoto

Rachel Pettit celebrated her 250th NBL1 West game with seven three-point bombs and Delaynie Byrne and Sierra Moore combined for 51 points and 26 rebounds as the Goldfields Giants celebrated their first ever final beating the Lakeside Lightning 93-78.

The Giants joined the NBL1 West women's competition back in 2022 and now this year booked in a finals spot for the first time and not only that, but earned a home final on Saturday night at Evolution Mining Stadium.

Their opponents were the Lightning who are back under the coaching of championship winner Craig Mansfield this year and they booked in their own finals spot in seventh position having won their last game against the South West Slammers.

It was a big occasion for Goldfields with the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder right behind them with a big crowd turning out and by quarter-time the Giants were leading 27-23 with Delaynie Byrne scoring 14 of those points.

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The lead for the Giants then blew out to 20 points in the second quarter and suddenly Sierra Moore caught fire to be up to 19 points by half-time spurred on by being overlooked in MVP voting the previous Saturday despite her season deserving of the award.

Goldfields went into half-time leading 52-37 with Byrne also up to 16 points and Rachel Pettit 13 in her 250th game while Delanie Crawford had 15 points for Lakeside to try to keep her team in the contest.

Scoring dried up for Goldfields in the third quarter with just the 13 points on 5/18 shooting, but Lakeside only managed 16 points on 7/17 shooting themselves for the Lightning to be only 12 still by three quarter-time.

Goldfields then completed the deal to win their first ever final and do so on their home floor with shooting 44 per cent from the field and 15/36 from the outside to the 36 per cent and 12/45 from Lakeside.

The Giants now advance to a semi-final this Friday night on the road to the East Perth Eagles with Delaynie Byrne ending up with 28 points and 16 rebounds with 11/23 shooting from the field and 4/10 from the outside.

Sierra Moore then had another 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 8/11 shooting from the field and 7/12 at the foul line.

But the real star of the show was captain Rachel Pettit in her 250th game who delivered 7/14 three-point shooting on the way to 25 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Lexi Pana also had eight points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, and Chloe Zorzi six points, nine rebounds and two assists.

It's the season over for the Lightning with Delanie Crawford finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds and two assists with 7/16 shooting from the outside.

Esme Morales also had 25 points, six assists and three rebounds, Sam Roscoe eight points, 11 boards, seven assists and three blocked shots, and Kiriana Hawaikirangi eight points, three rebounds and two steals.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ELIMINATION FINAL

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 93 (Byrne 28, Pettit 25, Moore 23)

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 78 (Crawford 31, Morales 25, Hawaikirangi 8, Roscoe 8)