Keilor Thunder has defended its home court to take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-three Big V basketball women’s division 1 grand final series.
The Thunder powered to a 72-61 game one win over Chelsea Gulls at the Keilor Basketball Stadium on Sunday to pile all the pressure on to their opponents as the series moves to Patterson River Stadium this weekend.
A second-quarter Keilor blitz was the difference between the two sides in the series opener.
The Thunder out-scored the visitors 28-12 in that period to lead by 16 at half-time.
Keilor kept Chelsea at an arm’s length in the second half to complete a solid victory.
Aneta Bandilovski was spectacular for Keilor.
She scored 16 points to go with 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals.
Three other Thunder players reached double figures – Amy Smith (13), Genna Anderson (13) and Alexandra McKellar (12).
McKellar was deadly from long range, draining three of four three-point attempts.
Anderson registered a double-double and collected a team-high 14 rebounds.
Having finished the regular season four games behind Chelsea in the standings, Keilor went into the grand final as underdog.
But the Thunder would fancy their chances of clinching the title now, given they have won five games in a row and have two opportunities to wrap up the series.
