By ROY WARD
DANDENONG Rangers men and women will both be playing for home grand finals in the first week of the South East Australian Basketball League playoffs this Saturday.
The Rangers men and women both face Geelong Supercats at Dandenong Stadium with the winner of each match to host their respective east conference grand finals on September 8 or 9.
The women’s match will start at 5.30pm this Saturday with the men to play at 7.30pm.
The loser of each match will play in the conference preliminary final next Saturday night.
On Saturday night Rangers’ womens star Steph Cumming scored the match-winning three-pointer in her side’s final round 51-50 win over Ballarat Rush.
Cumming (17 points) made a three-pointer with 27 seconds left as the Rangers fought back from a nine-point deficit at three-quarter time to win.
The Rush couldn’t convert two chances in the final seconds including Natalie Taylor’s (21 points) jump-shot with a second remaining.
The Rangers will fight for a home SEABL east conference grand final when they host Geelong Supercats at Dandenong Stadium this weekend in the major semi final.
The loser of that clash will play in the elimination preliminary final the following weekend.
Rangers coach Larissa Anderson said she was happy to get a game into Cumming ahead of the post-season with the star guard just back from an overseas trip.
Anderson said her side didn’t shoot well nor defend Taylor well.
‘‘We probably made too many rotations in the first half but I wanted to try a few things before the playoffs,’’ she said.
‘‘I should be able to do that without our play suffering.’’
Anderson said she expected the Supercats game to be a physical one.
‘‘There is a lot to play for because a home final is a big thing,’’ she said.
‘‘We have beaten them both times this season but they will use that for motivation so we will have to be ready to play.’’
Both the Rangers men and women lost their final matches of the regular season against Bendigo on Sunday but both had already secured their playoff places.
