QUARTER FINAL PREVIEWS
losing this one at home.
Prediction: Mackay by 7
TOWNSVILLE HEAT (3) V SOUTH
WEST METRO PIRATES (6)
Last time they met: Round 2
– Townsville 98 (Wilcher 25) def
South West Metro 79 (Vines 28)
Townsville were unable to se-
cure top spot on the QBL ladder
suffering two losses in Round
15. The Heat were able to defeat
USC, before being blown out by
22 to Sunshine Coast the follow-
ing night, which ended all hope of
receiving home court advantage
for the entire Playoffs. Although
they will have gained confidence
with an extremely competitive hit
out against Brisbane on Sunday,
only going down by 7.
South West Metro will be ex-
tremely disappointed after drop-
ping Sunday’s match against
the Spartans despite a 9-point
half time lead. A Pirate’s victory
would have given them the fourth
seed and a home match against
USC, rather than having to make
the trek up to Townsville.
It is best to ignore the Round
2 contest between these two
sides, as South West now boast
a completely different squad.
Starters Kendle, Allen and Bair-
stow did not feature for the Pi-
rate’s throughout the early stag-
es of the season, and this being
a big reason for their 0-4 start.
After bringing in Daniel Kickert
to replace the injured Brendan
Teys, the squad went 5-0, before
losing Kickert and replacing him
with Jeremy Kendle. South West
finished the season on a 11-2 run
and are the hottest team entering
the Playoffs. Townsville only suf-
fered one loss at 106.3FM Sta-
dium all season, a loss to Gold
Coast without Josh Wilcher. The
Heat also managed to close the
season winning 11 of 12 before
dropping their final two.
Considering Townsville’s in-
credible home record, it is diffi-
cult to back against them. They
are coming off three huge games
in Round 15 and could potential-
ly enter the Playoffs battered and
bruised. South West will be rar-
ing to go after only having them-
selves to blame for being in this
position. The Pirates are more
than capable of causing an up-
set here, but we believe that the
Townsville home court advantage
will get them over the line.
Prediction: Townsville by 8
CAIRNS MARLINS (4)
V USC RIP CITY (5)
Last time they met: Round 5 –
USC 95 (Ilton 23) def Cairns 84
(Heuir 23)
Both sides have somewhat
limped into the Playoffs and will
be looking to turn around their
recent form and that most im-
portant time of the year. Cairns
have only managed to win 3 of
their past 7 games, whilst USC
has only won 2 of 7. The Mar-
lins made changes to their ros-
ter at the beginning of July and
since losing Alex Loughton have
not been the same team since.
USC has had a much tougher
fixture compared to their first two
months, including three games
North in the month of July.
Cairns will be counting their
blessings for the Spartans get-
ting over the top of South West
Metro on Sunday, giving Cairns
the 4th seed and pushing USC
to 5th on a three-way head to
head tiebreaker. A Pirates victory
would have resulted in both the
Marlins and USC finishing out-
side the Top 4 and both being on
the road this weekend.
Despite Cairns average form of
late, they have still been able to
dominate at Early Setter Stadium
and being one of many sides who
suffered only one loss at home
all season. This loss came to
Mackay in overtime in Round 12.
THE WRAP 2017 Official Game Program
USC on the other hand managed
a solid 5-3 record on the road
throughout 2017, although losing
3 of their past 4.
Cairns are QBL reigning Cham-
pions and can keep their dream
of going back-to-back alive in
front of their home crowd this
coming weekend. Consider-
ing their dominance at home all
season, it is difficult to see them
losing against a USC side which
has struggled to get W’s of late.
Since losing Loughton, Cairns
have been forced to play more
‘small ball’ which is a similar style
of play to USC. Both teams are
strong at guard and with Heuir
and Tueta both averaging more
than 22 points per game, we
are looking forward to watch-
ing these guys go at it Saturday
n ight. Home court gets Cairns
over the line in a close one.
Prediction: Cairns by 4
WOMEN
BRISBANE SPARTANS (1)
VS SOUTH WEST METRO
PIRATES (8)
Last time they met: Round 15
– Brisbane Spartans 82 (Allen 19)
def South West Metro 64 (Bair-
stow 23)
The Brisbane Spartans have
finished the regular season unde-
feated and have home court ad-
vantage throughout the playoffs.
The Spartans have dominated
all year long leading the league
in assists, blocks, steals, offen-
sive and defensive rebounds and
points per game. They have also
given away the least number of
turnovers and committed the
second lowest number of fouls.
Ashleigh Karaitiana has led the
team in points per game aver-
aging over 20 for season 2017.
Kalani Purcell and Maddie Allen
finished the regular season av-
eraging over 9 rebounds a game
with Allen also registering over 40
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