Geraldton women’s basketball round 9: Olympians upset Stateside while Pumas extend lead

Olympians pulled off a six-point upset over second-placed Stateside on Monday in women’s division one of the Geraldton Amateur Basketball Association. Olympians, who had just two wins going into the game, faced a tall task against Stateside in a rematch of last season’s grand final. The Scorpions put up the first score with Kalirra Tesling hitting a three, but Olympians turned it around and put up 12 unanswered points. Olympians had steady scoring going at the rim while Stateside were missing shots from deep, but found their rhythm late in the quarter, as they went into the break down by five. Stateside found their feet in the second, managing to outscore the Olympians but still couldn’t grab the lead, getting as close as one point. A Gemma Dix three from the logo kept them at arms length. In a low-scoring third quarter Scorpions took the lead and held it until a Dix three put Olympians back ahead. Olympians held on to close out the game and pull off the 56-50 upset over Stateside. Dix had a 20-point game in the win while Sharnee Williamson scored 16 points and Abbie McDonald 17 points for Stateside. But there was no upset this time around as the top side Pumas got their revenge against the bottom-placed Chapman Valley. It looked to be a close contest early as back-to-back shots from Grace Bowley tied up the scores for the Valley at the end of the first, but Pumas pulled away early in the second quarter, getting their lead up to 12 points. After only putting up six points in the third quarter, the Valley couldn’t get back into the game as Pumas ran away with a 66-45 win. The game’s top scorers came from Millie Gerreyn and Caitlin Wilson with 15 and 14 points for the Pumas, and Bowley with 15 for the Valley. Division two in the women’s saw Stateside win a nailbiter against Olympians 36-34, Trades got up 42-28 over Hawks and Chapman Valley beat Pumas 45-28.