LIVE STREAM: Ipswich vs CoLA – D1 Women’s Final (1pm)
Watch live from 1pm as two of the most successful teams in the women’s game go at it to start Sunday’s schedule, as Endeavour Ipswich Basketball and CoLA Southwark Pride clash at Manchester’s NBPC in the WNBL Division 1 final.
These teams have met a number of times across multiple competitions in recent years, with contests never failing to captivate the attention for one reason or another.
With a youthful slant to both their rosters, the contest will involve players who have played each other across D1W, but also the WEABL and U18s competitions.
This season it has been Ipswich who have held the upper hand, taking their first regular-season title since 2020/21, a year when they also won the playoff title with a 60-42 victory against (you guessed it) CoLA Southwark Pride.
Last month’s WEABL Playoff final went the way of CoLA, winning an 89-84 thriller,
But there are some important pieces for both teams to add to their regular academy line-ups.
None come bigger than Ipswich’s Harriet Welham, who averaged a stunning 26.3PPG, 9.3RPG, 4.4APG and 3.2SPG across a lights out campaign.
Welham collected MVP honours at January’s WNBL National Cup Final when the Suffolk side triumphed against Thames Valley, further highlighting the former guard’s big-game calibre when it matters most.
CoLA can also turn to 24-year-old Chandera Jones-Aryeh, with the talented guard dishing a league second-best 5.0APG to go with 10.4PPG. Her availability this season has been somewhat limited due injury but she remains a key piece of the CoLA puzzle.
To reach Manchester, Ipswich beat Bristol Academy Flyers 81-60 and Brent Bulls 74-53, with CoLA defeating Reading Rockets 72-56 and Thames Valley Cavaliers 79-66.
Both these teams match up so well, but only one can secure the victory needed to finish their season with playoff success.
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