Sport
5 December, 2025
Lady Blazers eye second CBL premiership
Only one obstacle separates the Maryborough Lady Blazers from immortality, a date with destiny with the Bendigo Braves tomorrow night at Cobblebank Stadium to decide who will be crowned CBL North West Women champions.
While the Braves will be aiming to extend their incredible dynasty with their fifth premiership in six seasons, they will have to do so against the team that denied them six straight titles.
Maryborough won their first CBL North West Women’s crown in the 2021/22 campaign at the Braves’ expense 74-70, led by some clutch buckets from Millie Cracknell, who scored a game-high 25 points and was named Grand Final MVP.
Three years later, Cracknell is now player-coach of the Lady Blazers and said her undefeated squad is ready for the challenge of winning a championship.
“It’s an amazing thing to see these girls progress through a season, it’s such a short season, but there’s been so much progression over the eight weeks,” she said.
“I think we’re just all really excited to see if we can go the whole way through undefeated, and that would just be amazing. We all know we can do this, we have the whole season, and we only need to pull through for one more game.”
Despite entering the finals with an unblemished regular season record, Maryborough was under immense pressure early in their semi-final against the Bacchus Marsh Lions, trailing by three at quarter time.
“We obviously had a bit of a shaky start, but I kind of knew that we were going to be fine,” Cracknell said.
“I know that we had a lot of nerves in the team. I asked the girls at the start who were feeling a little nervous, and I’m pretty sure everyone put two hands up.
“I gave a little bit of a pep up, and I just said we know that we can play better than that, we need to grab every loose ball, they are getting too many offensive rebounds, too many boxouts, we need to work harder.
“We kind of just switched into a different gear after that. I think we kind of all looked at each other and were like this is not how we are going to go out.”
After a late 10-0 run in the second quarter powered the Lady Blazers to a four-point lead at half time, Maryborough never looked back, doubling up the Lions 28-14 in the third period.
Aislinn McCarthy was close to being given a military danger grade for the amount of offensive firepower she showcased last weekend, scoring a season-high 36 points, including 14 in the pivotal third term.
“There were definitely some open shots, and Aislinn nailed them all, which was great, and she really stepped up,” Cracknell said.
“For our favour, we were lucky they didn’t adjust and that allowed Aislinn to keep going and make some really tough shots, so Aislinn was a really big part in our win last week for sure.”
While McCarthy was causing problems on offence, the dependable duo of Brandy Santon and Maggie Tranter were just as vital on the other side of the floor, according to Cracknell.
“I definitely think that Brandy and Maggie were a huge part in us winning,” she said.
“Obviously, the stats don’t show defence and they don’t show the behind-the-scenes stuff but Brandy and Maggie are a very big reason as to why we are winning at the moment.”
The Braves joined the Lady Blazers in the season finale thanks to an 11-point win away from home against the Melton Thoroughbreds, with league-leading scorer Jessica Smith finishing with 34 points and Amelia Grist adding a season-high 31.
These two teams met once during the regular season, with the Lady Blazers opening a home triple-header with a hard-fought win over the Braves by 13 points after two consecutive byes.
Cracknell said that result gives Maryborough the confidence they can once again topple the Bendigo juggernaut on the grandest stage.
“We definitely are going to be targeting their two main scorers, Jessica Smith and Amelia Grist. They are looking to score every time, so definitely Maggie and Brandy are going to play a huge role in shutting those two down,” she said.
“In regards to that Thursday game, we struggled coming off that two-week break, so that’s why we didn’t really start well in that game, but I definitely think we are capable of playing a lot better.
“I think going into it, we are a lot more excited than nervous. I think our mindset going into training is we know what we have to do, but it’s just refining little things that are going to help us.”