Nothing could separate the Goldminers and Suns when the full-time whistle sounded in the decider at Maitland, with both sides on 60 points. 

After a tense five minutes of overtime the Goldminers had completed a stirring comeback performance.

Bathurst fell behind to their largest deficit of 13 points shortly after the half-time break but the Goldminers found patience in their offence, and soon reaped the rewards.

Making the win all the more satisfying was the fact Goldminers had managed to overcome Maitland Mustangs 60-52 in front of their home crowd for Saturday’s semi-final.

Bathurst’s Haylee Lepaio was off her game during the Mustangs clash but found her groove in the decider to sink 20 points and claim the grand final’s Most Valuable Player award.

Women’s division one coach of the year Paul Masters was thrilled to see a year of hard work and dedication from his Goldminers team pay off.

“It’s so exciting to have this group come together and win. These are girls that I’ve coached since I’ve started working at Bathurst about 11 years ago. I’m seen them develop both as players and as people,” he said.

“Rachel Murray have been to this stage before and she’s managed to get her first win from three attempts.

“Coffs Harbour were on a mission, just like us, but our girls stuck to their guns and never gave up when they were down.

“Our problem was that we were trying to rush everything. I said to the girls at half-time that they just needed to grind things out and take their time to move the ball around.”

Things were looking bleak for the Goldminers when down 35-24 at half-time.

However, Suns baskets weren’t falling in the next period thanks to Bathurst’s defensive hustle and the Goldminers were able to convert on their efforts at the other end of the court.

Coffs’ lead was reduced to just four points going into the last quarter.

Nerves were evident in both squads as the final whistle drew nearer.

Goldminers missed several defensive rebounds but the Suns defence was also proving hard for Bathurst to break through.

A Matilda Flood baseline drive from Matilda Flood with 12 seconds to go brought the score to 60-all and pushed the game into overtime.

Some clutch free throws from Lepaio helped the Goldminers gain the edge over the Suns and complete a season to remember.

“Defensively we were working very hard on the ball. Fatigue was a major point for both sides,” Masters said

“The atmosphere was electric and it was one of those games where the girls just didn’t want to lose.

“We were trying out different combinations and eventually we found the group who looked the most confident out there.”