Rd 4 – Lightning vs Fire Match Report
With Adelaide’s second home game in a row, fans were ready for another exciting night against the reigning champions of 2022, the Townsville Fire.
FIRST HALF
The Fire’s Zitina Aokuso won the tap and from this they were up and running. Creating some great looks on the basket, Sami Whitcomb dropped their first 2 points, building the Fires intensity. With a focus around ball movement, back cuts and effective pick and roll action, the Fire were on a roll. As their defence continued to frazzle the Lightning, the Fire gained a comfortable lead in the first quarter.
As the Lightning continued to fight back, Isobel Borlase and Lauren Mansfield displayed some disciplined defence, causing some difficulty for the Fire’s guards. Jocelyn Willoughby then stepped up on the offensive end, hitting some tough shots, aiming to close the gap on the score board.
SECOND HALF
In the second half, the Lightning continued their hunt for the lead, creating some great pick and roll actions from Brianna Turner and Lauren Mansfield. From these plays and some aggressive attacks on the basket, Mansfield had the Lightning’s first 6-points of the quarter. Building on this, Turner gathered some big rebounds for second chance opportunities and defensive stops.
finishing the game with 15-rebounds to her name. Willoughby ended the game with 20-points, working tirelessly to close the gap the Fire had created early in the game.
Even with Lightnings continued effort on the offensive and defensive ends, the Fire held strong. Hitting some tough three pointers, it seemed like the Fire could not miss. With an array of players hitting their shots, the away team were extremely hard to guard. Great ball movement and leadership from Sami Whitcomb and Alice Kunek left a significant mark on the scoreboard. Kunek finished with a big 19-points, Mikaela Ruef contributing with a double-double of 10-points and 13-rebounds. These stats gave the Fire a convincing win over the Lightning.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Heading into the rooms after the game, a press conference was held with Fire’s coach Shannon Seebohm and standout player Mikaela Ruef about the game and their thoughts on their efforts for the night. Overall, Shannon was very happy with the effort his team put in and was impressed with the way they contained the talented Lightning roster.
“Our focus on the game was purely defensive tonight and I was really happy with our effort. I thought for the first time all season we put together a consistent four quarters of physical and aggressive defence”.
We then talked to Nat Hurst and top scorer for Lightning, Jocellyn Willoughby about what they thought of the game. Nat discussed their game strategies and how these did not go exactly to plan, leaving the Lightning in a bit of a ‘snowball in the first half’ as Nat explained.
‘Townsville are a good team that are hard to guard’ – a quote from Nat explaining that even with the Lightnings focus on defensive intensity and seeing really good patches of it throughout the game, Townsville made it tough.
“Every game and every practice we focus on getting a little bit better so improving that little bit more is the goal”. Jocellyn Willoughby states that she looks forward to taking on this loss and using it to improve all the little things in their game. Even after a loss, the Lightning squad look forward to training and preparing for their next tough match.
For all the Adelaide Lightning fans, our next game is on the 29th of November against the Townsville Fire once again. Be sure to stream this away game live on 9NOW to watch the talented squad fight for a victory.