Olympians pinpoint their way to grand final after shooting down Stateside

Olympians are through to their first grand final since 2018 after a stunning performance against Stateside Scorpions on Tuesday night. The two sides have been the form sides of the competition all year but Stateside were the favourites heading into the clash to book their second grand final in a row. They had lost just one game all year and were comfortable winners in their past two meetings with Olympians by more than 20 points on both occasions. But the Olympians put on a shooting masterclass to take an easy 79-48 win. They grabbed hold of the game early as Sharnee Williamson was deadly from the field before Gemma Dix took over as a deluge of threes had Stateside on the backfoot early. Stateside seemed to be caught off-guard by Olympians’ hot start and in their rush to get the ball forward and regain the initiative were turning over the ball, often passing straight to defenders. The threes kept coming with Sophie Maines joining the party as they hit eight threes in the first half while Stateside could not manage a single point from beyond the arc, trailing 35-24 at halftime. Stateside had to fire up early in the second half but even as their passing marginally improved, their shooting was still well below standards. That was partly due to Olympians’ stifling defence but their spearheads of Charlotte Kennedy and Abbie McDonald were having relatively quiet nights and much like the Pumas the night before, many a lay-up was missed with shots floating over the rim. They did manage to find a couple of threes but the game was gone as Olympians hit another six in the second half to make it 14 for the night. Dix finished on 19 points with five threes, Zoe Allnutt and Williamson finished with 15 points and Maines 13 with four threes. Dix said it was an amazing feeling to be through to the final. “We haven’t won one since 2009, so it’ll be good to hopefully finish the season off with the big one,” she said. “Our team defence was key tonight and we shot well hitting those outside threes.” Stateside will face Trades next Monday but Dix said Olympians don’t have a preferred opponent. “Trades and Stateside are both great teams, Stateside are tough and Trades have a really good shooter like Kayley King, so we’ll just have to wait and see who we get,” Dix said.