THE Collie women’s combined basketball team secured its third consecutive win at the WA Country Championships in Perth.

The team played on January 22 and 23 at Perry Lakes Stadium.

The women won all three games played on the Saturday by comfortable margins.

Under the leadership of Anthea Abbott and Kate Storen, the seven-player side combined effectively.

Roxanne Langoulant and Nicole Jones provided much-needed strength which resulted in strong rebounding and many intercepts.

Carly O’Brien played with her usual determination, intercepting and converting numerous fast breaks.

The two juniors, Blaire Bebbington and Shannen King, held their own amid tough competition, creating turnovers with aggressive defence and many scoring opportunities with timely assists.

Collie played against tough competition in Waroona on the second day of the championships. Waroona was the only other team without a loss.

Collie used this game in preparation for the grand final against the same team and came away with a nine-point loss.

After losing to Waroona, the women fired-up in the grand final, showing the notorious “Collie guts and determination”.

Kate Storen and Anthea Abbott combined brilliantly and controlled the game with minimal breaks.

The score see-sawed all game.

The largest break was four points. From the previous loss, Nicole Jones and Roxanne Langoulant had gained valuable insight into the Waroona towers, keeping them out of the game with good defence.

Carly, Anthea and Kate had a fantastic game in attack to score the majority of the points.

Blaire Bebbington scored valuable goals and caused turnovers to create scoring opportunities.

Shannen King kept a cool head in a tight and exciting game.

Collie had a four-point lead with two minutes left in the game, but Waroona would not give up.

It fought its way back to trail by two points with a minute left on the clock.

The Collie team held control of the ball and finished the game with an exciting and well-deserved two-point win.

Kate Storen was named most valuable player (MVP) for the tournament and the team coach, Jan Bebbington said all players should be proud of their fantastic effort over the weekend.

It was the third premiership team of which Abbott, O’Brien and Kingwere part of.

RESULTS: Collie 40 defeated Narrogin 12, Collie 28 def Yilgarn 18, Collie 34 def Albany 11, Waroona 31 def Collie 22, grand final Collie 28 def Waroona 26.