Geraldton women’s basketball round 14: Stateside take down Olympians for minor premiership

The Stateside Scorpions have claimed the women’s division one minor premiership for another year after taking down the Olympians on Monday.

Coming off their championship run from last year where they claimed the major and minor premiership, Stateside had a slower start this year.

But their win in the grand final rematch against the Olympians proved they are still in championship form as the win secures them first spot on the ladder.

It was a close game in the first, with sides trading buckets for a 39-point quarter.

Olympians were let down by their second and third quarters, where they couldn’t match the Scorpions’ scoring output.

Stateside held a 21-point lead going into the fourth quarter and continued to run the score up, walking away with a 77-50 win to seal their spot on top of the ladder.

Abbie McDonald (19) and Charlotte Kennedy (14) led the way for Stateside, while Gemma Dix (30) and Kylie MacDonald (15) both accounted for a majority of the Olympians’ total.

The other game saw Pumas, who were in the hunt for the top spot as well, fall again in an upset to Chapman Valley.

Aside from a forfeit, Chapman Valley have won just two games all season and both have come against the second side Pumas.

The game was tied going into the fourth quarter, as Michelle Taylor hit a shot for Chapman Valley to put them ahead.

Valley however, were able to outscore the Pumas 20-8 in the final quarter, as Taylor scored 10 points to help end the game.

Chapman Valley claimed their third win on the season with the 51-39 upset over the Pumas and knocked off their chances of claiming the minor premiership.

Taylor ended the game with 20 points while Natalie Caruana had 12 for the Valley. Kahlia Morgan (10) was the only Pumas player to score double-digit points.

In the division two matches, Stateside got a close 38-35 win over Olympians, Trades took down the Hawks 44-23 and Valley got up 38-36 over Pumas.