Bendigo Spirit crowned 2024/25 WNBL Champions
After an intense Game 2 in the Grand Final series, Bendigo Spirit have come away with a ‘spirited’ win, crowning them Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Champions for 2024/25. The final score was 55-63, with Bendigo Spirit’s Sami Whitcomb being awarded the Rachel Sporn Medal for the Most Valuable Player of the Grand Final series.
A sold-out Townville Entertainment Centre crowd were ready to support their team in their quest to tie up the series. Over 5400+ attended, making it the biggest turnout at a Townsville home game.
The first quarter saw no score for the first two minutes, until Kelsey Griffin was sent to the free throw line to score two points for Bendigo. However, within these two minutes, it had already proved to be a much more physical game than the first, with players hitting the deck at both ends of the court.
Veronica Burton came up with her first of five steals for the match and connected with Whitcomb for another two points, with the Fire still yet to score. Down the other end, Marianna Tolo made her second foul on Fire’s Lauren Cox, who took the first two points for Townsville, much like in the first game.
The Spirit’s Casey Samuels knocks down the first three-pointer of the game straight off the bench, taking it to a five-point lead until Fire captain, Courtney Woods, made a hard drive into the key taking on the trio of Whitcomb, Griffin and Samuels.
Fire turned it up in the last five minutes of the quarter, with Saffron Shiels coming on to the court and making a baseline drive, taking on Griffin to score her first points of the match. Lauren Mansfield and Cox both made three-pointers – taking Cox to a personal tally of 13 points – and allowing the Fire to take the lead, 21-20, at quarter time.
Townsville started the second quarter with the momentum after great ball movement between Shiels and Mansfield resulted in two more points. The Fire’s defence was able to keep Bendigo scoreless for three minutes, pushing them further into the lead by nine points.
After a timeout, the Spirit came out and gained a steal, finishing the passage of play with a three-pointer from Whitcomb.
With under a minute to go in the half, Cox delivered a pass to Alicia Froling under the basket, who put another two points on the board. The Spirit then turned over the ball over after a miscommunication coming up the court.
The quarter finished with a bounce pass from Kelly Wilson to Whitcomb driving into the key, seeing the game yet again going into half time with Fire in the lead; 34–33.
The third quarter began with a block by Wilson, with her going on to also take the first points for the quarter. This was then matched by Woods’ own jump shot, regaining the lead for Townsville.
Bendigo gained some momentum after a quick pass from Whitcomb to Tolo, to regain a two-point lead. This was then matched by Cox down the other end, making a bucket after immense pressure from Tolo and Samuels, taking the score back to 38 apiece.
Whitcomb made another three-pointer for the Spirit, followed by a strong drive into the key by Burton to score her first points of the game. Whitcomb then sunk another three, taking the lead out to six points. Incredibly, the Spirit limited the Fire to only scoring seven points in the entirety of the penultimate quarter.
The Fire went into the final change five points down; 41–46, however the Spirit’s key players – Whitcomb and Tolo – finished the quarter with three personal fouls each.
Within the first minute of the last, Whitcomb makes a foul, taking her to four personals. In a risky yet inspired move, Spirit coach, Kennedy Kereama, decided t0 leave Whitcomb out on the court.
Burton drew an offensive foul from Nia Coffey after driving into the key. Down the other end, Burton’s shot was blocked by Abbey Ellis, but Fire lost the ball due to Spirit’s fierce defensive pressure.
A major play by Spirit’s Abbey Werung saw her make a three-pointer – her first points of the game – taking Bendigo’s lead into double digits. The Fire, perhaps starting to tire, began to lose the attack they had in the first half, however Cox still rallied, adding another two points to the tally try and re-light the spark.
After a three-point play by Woods and Ellis’ massive three-pointer, the Fire were only two points down with just under three minutes to go.
A rare mistake by Whitcomb saw her miss both free throw shots from the charity stripe, but she managed to grab her own offensive rebound, leaving Tolo to add another two points to the score, taking the lead to seven points with 55 seconds to go.
In the last two plays of the game, Whitcomb found herself back at the free throw line, knocking down three more points to take her personal tally to 26 points, the most in the game.
In the end it was an eight-point margin in favour of the Spirit, seeing Bendio clinch the club’s third WNBL Championship in straight sets.
This was Spirits first Grand Final win in a decade, and captain Kelsey Griffin – along with Wilson and Tolo’s – fifth WNBL title.
Words by Bridget Mudge
Whitcomb was named MVP with finishing on 26 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Teammate Tolo, who was also a standout in this match, finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds.