ONE word is all that mattered for the triumphant Keilor Thunder: Belief.
Without it, the Thunder’s season would have been shot to pieces months ago.
Instead, the Thunder achieved what most felt was mission
impossible, claiming Big V basketball women’s division 2 premiership for
the second time in three years.
BEATEN: Keilor Thunder men lose grand final to Melton
PICTURE GALLERY: Big V men’s grand final – Keilor Thunder v Melton
The Thunder came from the clouds to win this one, overcoming a slow start to the season to gatecrash the finals late.
Then they upset top-ranked Werribee Devils in a semi-finals sweep
before completing the fairytale with a 2-0 win over Casey Cavaliers in
the best-of-three grand final series.
“It was all about their belief,” Thunder coach Carey Paps told the Weekly. “They all believed they could do it when other people wrote them off.”
The Thunder don’t like to do it the easy way.
Go back to game one of the semi-final series against Werribee,
when they fell nine points behind midway through the second period and
fought back to win.
On Saturday night, on the road in the game two 52-45 win over
Casey Cavaliers, the Thunder fell behind by four at three-quarter time
but found a way out of a perilous situation.
“It was mainly built on their team work,” Paps said. “I think we
go fairly deep compared to other teams in the league. That’s what it
came down to in the end.”
The cream rose to the top for the Thunder in the last quarter of the seven-point win over the Cavaliers.
Jessica Francke’s MVP-winning series was big and her impact in
what would be the deciding game was enormous, with 16 points and 10
rebounds.
Jodi Impey was surprisingly kept in check for the better part of the game but reeled off the last six points.
Paps could hardly bare to watch the dying seconds.
“I don’t want to go through that again, I’ll tell you,” he said with a laugh.
On winning a premiership, a coach goes through a combination of emotions from relief and joy to satisfaction.
Paps had an element of sympathy for the Cavaliers, who had to
watch on as his side performed the cutting of the net, a ritual of
title-winning basketball teams.
“They had to see the net get pulled down two years in a row [the Cavaliers lost to Coburg Giants last season],” Paps said.
“I sort of felt sorry for them, but it’s a good feeling for us.”
The Thunder’s winning team was: Nala Tubb, Lauren Kehagias,
Maddison Savvidis, Katherine Black, Jodi Impey, Sally Braybon, Michelle
Reid, Amy Smith, Hayley Lloyd, Jessica Francke and Ashleigh Gunn.
