Southern Flames use weight of experience to hold off Herons in final

By JACK AMI
SOUTHERN Flames were too strong for the Herons, beating the Waigani side 37-28 in the National Capital District Amateur Basketball Association women’s A grade grand final at the Hohola courts yesterday.
Flames’ Papua New Guinea internationals Emily Koivi, Elina Yala and Lydia Gotuno set the pace for the Reds, forcing the opposition into playing catch-up.
The Flames never looked back when they hit the front from the start.
They were much more organised than the opposition, and their attack and defence got them through to remain unbeaten.
Hitting the hoops were Koivi (nine) and Yala (eight).
The Flames and Herons played fast and without much control, errors robbed the crowd of a good game of basketball.
Both sides had big and heavy players on court but the Flames’ experience was too much, with the Herons eventually going down by nine points.
However, the Herons should be congratulated for making the finals as competition rookies.