WAULGROVIAN Bullets and Unique Ballers will contest the final of the Megamart/JBNA Women’s Super League after best-off-three semi-final victories at the National Stadium Basketball Courts last Sunday.

The Bullets defeated Lady Panthers, 69-65, while Unique Ballers got past Homestead Cougars 38-34, for identical 2-1 series victories.

Game one of the best-of-three finals is set to start this evening at 7:00 p.m.

Bullets coach Marlon Nattie said it was a very tough game against a Panthers side superior in height.

While, Everton Travers, Unique’s coach, said their narrow win over Cougars was one of the toughest matches his team has played this season.

“The girls played extremely well and they stepped up on the defensive work,” he said.

However, he believe they will have a more difficult match in the final. “I’m looking for a tough match in the final against Bullets and I think that Lady Panthers have a very good chance of pulling off victory, but it won’t be that easy,” he added.

The Bullets and Panthers traded baskets in the first quarter mainly through Oberon Pitterson for Bullets and Simone Jackson of the Panthers as after the latter led 3-1 in the early minutes after the scores were tied on three occasions. The Bullets closed out the first quarter with a slim 13-12 lead.

Bullets stepped up the pace in the second quarter and raced to a 23-16 lead as the Panthers were missing their lay-up shots, especially from close range.

Pitterson, who was at the helm of the Bullets’ scoring, along with Shadiann Hemmings, surged into a10-point lead, 31-21, and seemed headed for a runaway win. But two three-pointers from Panthers cut the lead to 36-27 at half-time.

Bullets maintained their 10-point lead in the third quarter as the Panthers found it hard to keep up with the scoring of their opponents, who went up, 52-35 before the losers gained gradually, but still trailed 57-42 at the final break.

The fourth quarter was a breath-taking one for both teams as the Panthers came with a late burst and lifted their game to eventually cut the lead to five points, 63-58, with 3:22 minutes remaining.

The Bullets came under pressure in the closing minutes as the Panthers were now in striking distance and were getting the better of their opponents at 66-62 with 53.3 seconds left in the match.

Panthers cut the lead to two points, 66-64, with 35 second left. The Bullets then scored one of two free throws to move ahead, 67-64, with 16.7 seconds remaining.

Panthers attempted a three-pointer which hit the rim, resulting in a foul, which gave the winners two free-throws to pull away for an exciting 69-65 win.

Pitterson had a game-high 27 points and Hemmings 16 for Bullets, while Jackson scored 23 points and Smith 18 points for the Panthers.

In the first game, it was a touch-and-go between Unique Ballers and Homestead Cougars. The game was so close it could have gone either away.

For Unique Ballers, Zanoria Dell scored 10 points, while for the Cougars, Sasha Dixon had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, including three steals, and Stacia Cassells 10 points.