Stateside tee up Olympians rematch in quest to go back-to-back after outclassing Trades

Stateside Scorpions are through to another Geraldton Amateur Basketball Association grand final after outclassing Trades in Monday night’s preliminary final.

The Scorpions controlled the match after a slow start to take the win 64-48 on the back of Abbie McDonald’s 21 points.

Trades were the underdogs by some margin such has been the dominance of the top two sides this season and would need to play almost perfectly to have any chance against the reigning premiers.

Stateside lost Maddy Graham in the warm-up with an ankle complaint as Trades made the better start.

Jessica Guidice-Nairn found plenty of the early ball as Stateside could not find their range, missing their shots.

Despite their height disadvantage, Trades were rebounding well to keep the Scorpions’ defence under pressure.

A frustrated-looking Scorpions were also giving away a fair share of fouls, however Trades left more than a few points out on the court with poor shooting from the line.

The game entered a bit of a holding pattern as both sides defended well and swapped baskets before Trades fell apart in the closing minutes.

They could not hold onto the ball, committing multiple turnovers as Stateside began to run in the points, with Charlotte Kennedy grabbing 11 in the first half.

A close game had suddenly ballooned to a 31-17 margin at half-time with Trades looking all at sea both on offence and defence.

If Trades were to have any hope of a win Kayley King would need to do a fair amount of lifting but she was kept scoreless in the first half.

Things did not improve much in the second with Stateside able to manage the gap and Trades never able to string a run of baskets together to challenge them.

Guidce-Nairn was still the most dangerous while King did eventually get on the scoreboard with 11 second-half points but it was little more than window dressing.

Trades did not seem to be on the same wavelength in attack with multiple passes being thrown out to no one in particular on the wings.

Stateside had no such problems, finishing the game with a swagger as McDonald posted her fifth 20-plus-point game for the season with Kennedy finishing on 17.

The only sour note was Kennedy going down with an ankle injury late in the contest but it did not look serious enough to keep her out of Friday’s final.

It was a valiant effort from Trades but they were outgunned on the night as Stateside set up a grand final with Olympians at 6.30pm Friday March 3.