Cambage, O’Hea in the finals spotlight
OPALS stars Liz Cambage and Jenna O’Hea have designs on repeating their WNBL titlewinning success of seven years ago but a formidable Perth outfit stands in their way.
Centre Cambage and guard- forward O’Hea were part of the Bulleen Boomers title team back in 2011.
With the pair reunited and leading the way, the club, which almost folded two years ago and was rebranded Melbourne Boomers, has finished the regular season in fourth position.
They host minor premiers Perth Lynx today in game one of their best- of- three semi- finals series.
Coaxing low post colossus Cambage back to the WNBL had the Boomers pegged as title favourites by many people before the season started, but they had injury issues early in the campaign.
“This season has been a real rollercoaster ride, with some amazing victories and hardfought losses,” Cambage said.
Cambage leads the league in points per game ( 23.74) and rebounds ( 10,47).
Boomers coach Guy Molloy emphasised his team’s guards need to take their share of the scoring load, rather than leave the majority of it to Cambage against a Perth team who enjoyed a 14- game win streak before dropping their last two.
“Lizzie is a dominant force in the league, she’s an MVP candidate and she’s clearly a big strength for us,” Molloy said.
“In games this year where our guards have shot really well, we’ve been brilliant and we’ve had a few games where the guards haven’t shot well and it creates extra pressure.”
Perth won two of their three regular season games with the Boomers, though Cambage missed the most recent clash just before Christmas due to a groin issue.
She notched 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Boomers’ final regular season fixture against local rivals Dandenong last Saturday. Both teams have injuries. Lynx co- captain Sami Whitcomb, ( wrist) and import centre Amanda Dowe ( knee) and Melbourne’s Rebecca Cole ( knee) are all battling to be fit for game one. Molloy rated Perth’s high scoring duo of Whitcomb and Courtney Williams as good a back- court as he’s seen in the WNBL.