Sydney Spirit continued their unbeaten run by beating Stud Muffins 51-46 in the grand final of the 4 on 4 competition last Tuesday night. The scoreline reflected the closeness of the contest with Stud Muffins having the advantage in height and Spirit holding the experience cards.

The Spirit were comprised of South African national representative Nick Taylor, Australian Glider Katie Hill and promising Australian junior Colin Smith. They were joined for the final by Beijing gold medallist Grant Mizens. This formidable outfit was up against the Stud Muffins led by Gliders and WheelKings guard Kylie Gauci who was teamed with NSW juniors CJ Grogan and David Moreira, retired WheelKings centre Michael King and Sydney League competitor Woody Quilla.

Stud Muffins got out to an early lead with some accurate shooting and were up 8 points before Spirit started to find their range. The Spirit also upped the defence and started to apply pressure in the half-court which kept inside threats King and Grogan away from the basket. Stud Muffins shooting cooled off and Spirit were very quick to get out in transition and make easy layups which saw them go into half-time with a 30-27 lead.

Early in the second half it looked like Spirit were going to run away with the game after a couple of big three-pointers from Nick Taylor and they led by 10 points with 9 minutes to go. 5 minutes later and it was a new ballgame with the scores locked 42-42 as Stud Muffins did a better job of guarding the perimeter and, on offence, got Kylie and CJ out on the fast break. However, Spirit shot incredibly well in the closing minutes, barely missing an opportunity, and the Muffins went cold. The 5 point victory was a fitting result for the clearly best team throughout the competition. Congratulations Sydney Spirit.

In the play-off for 3rd, Threesome overcame an improving MDS 40-26. It was the first competitive outing for the crew from MDS (Macarthur Disability Services) who provide a wide range of services to people with disabilities in the south-western region of Sydney. Former champion track athlete Paul Nunnari put the team together and it was great to see them improve throughout the competition. The WheelKings have established an ongoing relationship with MDS and look forward to their involvement in our 2009 NWBL season.

A big thanks goes to Gerry Hewson for implementing the competition, David Rose for assistance with equipment and promotion, Brian Delavere for volunteering to referee each week, Louis Richards for handling the scorebench duties, and all the players for making it such an enjoyable event. The Wheelkings NWBL players are to be complimented for splitting up across the 4-Play, Threesome, WheelKings and Stud Muffins teams to assist with the development of the junior and novice players that were placed in each squad.

The next competition is planned for October following the NWBL finals in September. The goal is to find more development players over the next 6 months and increase the number and depth of teams.