WNBL1 Playoff Final 2022: Cola Southwark Pride Vs Team Solent Kestrels

Sunday’s schedule begins with the WNBL Division One Playoff final between league winners CoLA Southwark Pride and seventh seeds Team Solent Kestrels.
It’s offence v defence for the D1W crown, with Solent owning the regular-season’s most potent offence at 77.2PPG and CoLA sporting the meanest defence, giving up just 49.1PPG on average.
That lockdown mentality served the London side well as they put together a near-perfect 20-2 record, winning their first D1W league title since 2015/16.
Playoff success has eluded coach Gibbons’ team going back to 2016/17, including defeat in last year’s final to eventual winners Ipswich.
Still, CoLA have the star power to get the job done this year. In Isi Ozzy-Momodu, Pride have a Team of the Year selection, plus the Defensive Player of the Year. Gibbons himself was a landslide selection for Coach of the Year, his second award is as many years, whilst Molly Lavin, Emily O’Connell, Emilie Black and Ana-Isabel Andersson all earned votes across a variety of accolades.
Solent are a team that have blown hot and cold this season, though most importantly they have been able to come good when it mattered. Going 4-1 to end the regular season set the WNBL National Cup finalists up with a road game with second seeds Loughborough, winning 63-59 against the Riders before once again coming up trumps on the road, this time knocking off third seeds Thames Valley 74-67.
Both wins were built on impressive performances from American guard Taylor Gaffney. Dropping 24 points against Loughborough and 27 against the Cavs, both game highs, the talented guard has put the South coast club on her back this post season in a bid to win their first title since 2014/15.
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