Sport
28 November, 2025
Lady Blazers ready for semi-final
Following a two-year sabbatical, the Maryborough Lady Blazers will return to the CBL North West Women’s playoffs tomorrow with a crucial semi-final versus the Bacchus Marsh Lions.
The Lady Blazers enter the finals as arguably the odds-on premiership favourites, earning a home semi-final after taking the one seed following an undefeated regular season.
While their 9-0 record speaks for itself, Maryborough frankly dominated their competition, posting a startling percentage of 170.64, 36.21 percent higher than their closest adversary.
That level of supremacy is an astounding feat for a team that went 3-7 in 2024, and caught Millie Cracknell, who was appointed player-coach less than a month before the season started, somewhat by surprise.
“The girls have done an amazing job. We have just worked so hard, we have stuck together throughout the season and we definitely deserve to be in this final,” she said.
“I think at the start of the season, we had low expectations going in and we thought we would improve throughout the season.
“Round one, we really surprised ourselves. We had half the team and we won by a good margin, so I think that opened our eyes to the fact that we were going to be a lot better than what we had first anticipated.
“From there we took one game at a time and just moved through the season and realised that we are a pretty handy side that can hopefully go all the way through.”
‘A pretty handy side’ is certainly underselling what the Lady Blazers have accomplished in 2025, ranking first in points scored and points allowed during the regular season.
The return of Cracknell, who played a crucial role in the Lady Blazers’ inaugural CBL championship back in 2022 with some clutch buckets in the Grand Final, gave Maryborough some serious offensive firepower.
Cracknell is currently the second-highest scorer in the league, averaging 21.8 points and 3.2 threes a game to spearhead a Maryborough artillery full of weapons.
After her breakout campaign in 2024, Aislinn McCarthy has given Maryborough a deadly one-two punch, sitting just behind Cracknell in third for league scoring.
Outside of that dynamic duo, the trio of Brodie Hillier, Heidi Plim, and Azalea Wighton has also averaged more than 10 points a game this season, while Brandy Santon and Maddy Egan have made valued contributions when available.
On defence, Cracknell’s premier-ship teammate Maggie Tranter is the standout of a well-balanced unit that concedes on average 50.3 points per game, with Cracknell and McCarthy surveying the perimeter while players like Plim, Wighton and Rhylie Jones guard the paint.
“We just have each other’s backs, we all get along really well and we just play for each other and I think that’s the main reason why we stand out above most of the other teams,” Cracknell said.
“I think we have a good balance of both experienced and younger players that kind of just works for us.
“Every person has a particular situation that we are going to be playing them in if we need to, and I don’t feel like we are lacking much in offence or defence.”
Despite all the Lady Blazers’ regular season success, the playoffs are an entirely different ball game, playing the Bacchus Marsh Lions in a do-or-die final.
Maryborough opened its 2025 campaign with a 21-point victory over Bacchus Marsh, led by a 28-point barrage from McCarthy. However, the Lions have sharpened their teeth since their round one defeat.
After starting the season 0-3, the Lions rallied with a six-game winning streak to roar into the finals as the four seed, with their exceptional defence stifling teams in the second half of the season.
With extensive preparations ahead of the finals, Cracknell said she remains confident her team can tame the in-form Lions.
“We are definitely going to do a lot more of an extensive scout on individual players so we know how to guard them,” she said.
“It’s obviously a mental game as well. Finals can spook a lot of people.
“Getting the experienced girls who, when we did win that championship, just to talk to the younger girls and just let them know that it’s just like any other game.
“They have got a couple more players that they have added to the mix since we played them last, but as do we, so it will be a really good game.”
The Maryborough Lady Blazers will host their semi-final against the Bacchus Marsh Lions this Saturday at the Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre, with the game tipping off at 5.30 pm.