The St. Louis Surge women’s professional basketball franchise aims for their third national title this weekend and they’ll have the opportunity to do it on their home court.
And in a late-breaking development, they will only have to win one game to achieve that goal.
The Surge is the top seed for the four-team Global Women’s Basketball Association (GWBA) finale held at Fontbonne University’s Mabee Gymnasium.
In the bracketed tournament, St. Louis was originally slotted to face fourth-seeded Detroit Dodgers in a Saturday afternoon semifinal.
However, it was revealed Wednesday that due to unforeseen injuries and a team exposure to COVID-19, the Dodgers would not be able to compete Saturday, resulting in a forfeit that results in the Surge automatically reaching Sunday’s 3:05 p.m. GWBA Championship game.
Saturday’s other scheduled semifinal between second-seeded Wisconsin GLO, the defending GWBA champions, and third-seeded Detroit Monarchs will still take place and the winner faces the Surge Sunday for the trophy.
With circumstances now playing in their favor, the locals’ chances have improved dramatically.
Founded in 2011, the Surge won a pair of national championships in the Women’s Blue-Chip Basketball League (2014, 2016) before moving to the GWBA in 2019, where they finished third in the league’s tourney finale that season.
That third-place game setback marked the first time that the team had not competed for a championship trophy after five straight campaigns, so the squad was certainly hungry for a comeback following a 2020 season suspended due to pandemic.
The Surge finished their regular season unblemished in sanctioned play (8-0) with last Sunday’s 120-43 thumping of the aforementioned Dodgers.
The squad possesses the veteran firepower to claim a third trophy. Longtime Surge starters Rebecca Harris, Brittany Carter, Kristi Bellock and Leah Cotton are averaging double-digits on the season while 2021 newcomers Alisia Jenkins, Alexa Hart, Brianna Rollerson and Erin Bollman have provided additional spark with solid play.
Prior to the mid-week Dodger forfeiture, all roads realistically projected a Surge vs. GLO finale.
Altogether, the pairs’ fours games against each other have resulted in a 2-2 finish with the Surge posting GWBA-sanctioned wins (88-81, 87-78) while the GLO (6-2 in sanctioned play) claimed non-sanctioned exhibition victories (103-82, 86-82).
Predicting a favorite will be difficult as both talented teams plan to use their controlled play, depth at bench and hoops IQ for a Sunday trophy hoist.
The action should be nail-biting as the defending champs seek back-to-backs while the Surge craves their first GWBA title and third national championship overall.
Tickets for the event are $20 for adults and $15 for students.
For more info, go to the team’s official website.
Arch City Media will have a recap of Sunday’s championship game posted later that night.
