KNOX Raiders women will get the chance to take down two-time champion Dandenong Rangers in the South East Australian Basketball League championship game at the State Basketball Centre, Wantirna South, this Saturday.
The game will be a rematch of last year's decider which the Rangers won.
The Raiders bounced back from an opening-round play-off loss to Kilsyth to beat the Cobras 71-58 at Kilsyth Sports Centre on Saturday night to claim the SEABL south conference title in their first season under coach Cheryl Chambers.
The Rangers beat Geelong Supercats 88-47 and will start as heavy favourites based on their dominant win over the Supercats in the east conference final.
But the Raiders have taken the game up to the Rangers this season and will be far from a pushover. With an athletic and defensive oriented line-up the Raiders will look to get in the Rangers' faces and will certainly not allow them the mix of lay-ups and open three-pointers they got against Geelong.
The Raiders powered over the Cobras in the third quarter of their clash behind aggressive defence and a substantial rebounding advantage, a statistic the Raiders won 37-26.
Despite the Cobras getting within 11 points in the final term, the Raiders held strong to get the win with import forward Amy Denson leading the way with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Kelly Wilson added 15 and seven assists and Odette Andrew had 14 points and three steals. The Raiders gave up 19 turnovers in the win over the Cobras.
The Raiders women play Dandenong Rangers at the State Basketball Centre this Saturday at 1pm.