The WPBA Tournament of Champions Recap

The championship of the league was awarded this past weekend after three days of play at the College of Alameda. While the season is over for most of the players now, representatives from the teams will be playing together in a pair of exhibitions against New Zealand’s national team, which is preparing for the upcoming World Cup qualifying tournament in Mexico.

Quarterfinals

Two games were played on Friday and the Royals edged the Titans 84-81 to start the playoffs. The Phoenix had the benefit of a full lineup to help win easily 96-66 while the Swish only fielded six players, but did get 17 points each from Lauren Toler and Jasmine Rubin. In the win, Delia Moore had 18 points and Erica McCall returned with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Semifinals

The two teams that had byes in the first round started play on Saturday, facing the winners from the day before. The Phoenix started their strongest lineup, but the combination that had been effective all season for the Wolves was the difference one more time in an 85-73 win as IImar’I Thomas had 34 points and Rebecca Harris had 33 points and 13 rebounds. Kiara Brown led the way in the loss with 17 points while Erica McCall had one last double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The top seed Blaze got a challenge from the Royals, but prevailed 102-92 with 33 points from Doris Jones, 20 points from the returning Valerie Higgins, and 18 points and 11 assists from Ameela Li. Rokia Doumbia had 28 points in the loss and Jasmine Guinn had 19 points and 15 rebounds while Mariah Cooks had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Final

The championship came down to one game on Sunday between the two teams that had played consistently well over the course of the entire season. The stars on both teams had good games, but the Blaze completed a perfect season with the 87-75 win behind 30 points from Ameela Li and 27 points from Doris Jones. Rebecca Harris led the Wolves with 24 points and 14 rebounds and Kamilah Jackson had 15 points and 12 rebounds.