The Canberra Capitals won the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) grand final this afternoon, beating the Dandenong Rangers 68-55. Starring for the Caps was Lauren Jackson, with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Basically the Caps had too much size inside for Dandenong, with Jackson and Jenny Whittle just dominant. Congratulations to the Capitals - good to see a Canberra team winning something! (The Brumbies might do something in the Super 14 this year, they’ve had a good start, but the Raiders look like they’re in for a long, hard season.)

Unfortunately, this might be the end of a good few years for the Capitals, who have won 4 championships in the last 7 years. Basically this has coincided with Lauren Jackson joining the team from the AIS (who won in her final year there), and if she’s been fit at the business end of the season, they’ve won. Jackson is expected to not play in the WNBL for the foreseeable future, preferring to concentrate her efforts with the Seattle Storm in the WNBA in the US, and perhaps to chase the cash in the offseason by playing in Europe rather than Australia. With at least one player, captain Eleanor Sharp, retiring and others apparently considering their futures, and coach Carrie Graf contemplating her options, I suspect that this might be the last success in the WNBL we are going to see in Canberra for some time to come.