Battle for playoffs to go down to the wire
ONE team has already secured a home final, another is fighting for one, and the third must win to feature in playoffs.
That’s the state of play ahead of the 15th and final round of QBL action which tips off tonight as the Gold Coast Rollers and North Gold Coast Seahawks fly the flag for the Gold Coast on the state basketball stage.
The stakes are highest for the Lady Hawks who need to win their final game against USC Rip City to maintain eighth spot on the ladder and feature in playoffs. The Seahawks men are already out of finals contention.
Rip City are ninth on the ladder, meaning the winner of tonight’s match will secure the last remaining finals spot.
“We’re fully aware that playoffs have come a week early for us because it’s do or die,” coach Robert Sleaford said. It’s a case of deja vu for the Seahawks, who last year defeated Rip City in the second last round to secure their maiden QBL finals berth.
“We’ve trained really well this week,” Sleaford said.
“It’s our last home game and we play well at home.”
Despite already securing finals, the Rollers women must similarly win their final game against Gladstone and hope that Townsville lose in order to sneak into the top four and lock in a home final.
“We’ve put a couple of good games together so we want to do well going into finals,” said co-captain Susannah Walmsley. “I think we’ve got such a deep team and we can really run with most teams so if we play our best basketball we should be fine.”
With the Rollers men already having locked in a home final, veteran Rhys Martin said the team would spend their final regular season game refining their game style.
“There’s not as much pressure on us like other games,” he said.
The Seahawks play USC Rip City tonight at Runaway Bay Indoor Stadium with the women starting at 5pm followed by the men at 7pm.
The Rollers head up to Kev Broome Stadium to take on Gladstone with the women starting at 6pm followed by the men at 8pm.