Chris Garry | 29th July 2011| The Queensland Times

THE Ipswich Force men’s and women’s teams have officially made the Queensland Basketball League playoffs this year.

With three games remaining in the QBL regular season, both teams are entrenched in the top two of their pool and neither can be relegated to third, no matter the results in the remaining three games.

The women are first in their pool while the men are second and can not be overtaken by the Toowoomba Mountaineers.

The achievement is a great credit to the Force club who dealt with enormous setbacks when their stadium was ruined in January’s flood.

It will be the first time both Force outfits have seen finals action in more than a decade.

But Force men’s coach Chris Clarkson said unless his team makes the second week of the finals, they would have under-achieved this season.

“We want to make the grand final obviously, but realistically the semi-final would be a good achievement for us,” Clarkson said.

“I’m very confident we can win the quarter-final no matter who we play.

“I’ve told the guys if we make the semi-final we would have over-achieved, if we lose our quarter-final we would have under-achieved.”

The men have won eight games and lost seven while the women have won 10 games and lost five this year.

The Force men and women play Rockhampton tonight in what is the perfect finals tune-up.

Unfortunately, the men have been hit with key injuries that could curtail their momentum into the finals.

Giant centre Tim Behrendorff and in-form point guard Luke Cann are both out injured for at least this week while Ryan Stolberg will see limited minutes as he is carrying several niggling injuries.

“We are not having any luck with injuries,” Clarkson said.

“Rockhampton could win the QBL this season, they would be among the favourites for the title,” Clarkson said.

“For this game we are probably three-to-one outsiders but hopefully Rockhampton thinks it will be a walk in the park and we can catch them out.”

Clarkson said this year’s squad was superior to last year’s team that finished one win away from a finals’ berth.

“Last year was a great learning curve for some of these players and then with the guys we have added, we have created an excellent team,” Clarkson said.

“There is no doubt this year’s team is better, especially with our roster healthy.”

Tonight’s matches at Cotton On Foundation Stadium from 6.30pm will be used as a charity drive to help those with serious medical conditions.

The objective of the night is to raise as much money as possible for The Developing Foundation and The Leukaemia Foundation.

All profits raised that night will be shared evenly between the two foundations.

The Developing Foundation is a not-for profit organisation that supports families who have a family member with a brain injury or developmental disability.

There will be raffles throughout the night to raise money. Prizes include signed memorabilia from the Gold Coast Titans (NRL), North Queensland Cowboys (NRL), the Gold Coast Blaze (NBL) and Olympic basketball players Lauren Jackson, Matt Nielsen, Tony Ronaldson.

GAME DAY

Tonight: Ipswich v Rockhampton in charity double-header at Booval. The women play at 6.30pm with the men at 8.30pm.