Lynx season ends in Townsville
Ally Wilson finished the best WNBL season of her career with another standout performance but it wasn’t quite enough as the Townsville Fire wrapped up the semi-final series beating the Perth Lynx at home 106-76.
The Lynx needed to win at Townsville Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night after a tight Game 1 loss at Bendat Basketball Centre back on Saturday.
A 13-2 start was the perfect way to open proceedings but the Fire outscored the Lynx the rest of the way 104-63 to win and advance to the Grand Final despite the 24 points, seven assists and six steals for Perth from Wilson.
Where the game was won
It was a stunning start from the Lynx in the must-win game racing out to a 13-2 lead on an attempt to make it three straight wins in Townsville, but the game took a turn once Laeticia Amihere picked up a second foul in that first quarter.
Townsville took control to outscore Perth 24-8 the rest of the quarter and kept that momentum going the rest of the evening to be the first team to book in a spot in this season’s Grand Final series.
The Fire added another 28 points to 19 in the second quarter to be leading 54-40 by half-time with their shooting of 58 per cent from the field with 8/14 from deep key while the Lynx went at 40 per cent with 3/11.
Townsville were sharing the ball too with 17 assists and then there was no stopping them throughout the second half with the Fire ending up winning by 30 points as the third straight semi-final series between these two teams ended in another sweep.
The Fire had too many weapons in the end and shot 56 per cent for the game, made 15/30 from behind the three-point line and outrebounded the Lynx 44-29 including scoring 17 second chance points and sharing the ball well with 32 assists.
The Lynx ended up shooting just 37 per cent as a team, went only 7/31 from three-point range and despite attempting 10 extra field goals, lost the game by 30 points.
Who the standout performers were
Ally Wilson has already had the best season of her near 250-game WNBL career and while her team didn’t win on Wednesday night, she did all she could once again finishing with 24 points, seven assists, six steals and three rebounds.
Co-captain Anneli Maley also ended up with 17 points and six rebounds with Miela Sowah providing 14 points and three assists, Alex Ciabattoni 11 points and three rebounds, and Amy Atwell five points.
Steph Gorman hit the first shot of the game and ended up with three points and two rebounds while it was a tough night with foul trouble for Laeticia Amihere who was limited to 11 minutes as a result for two points and four rebounds.
Townsville finished the game with six players scoring in double-figures highlighting their depth with Abbey Ellis finishing with 18 points and Courtney Woods 18 with that back court pair combining to go 8/14 from three-point land.
Alex Fowler added 16 points, Lauren Cox 15, Nia Coffey 13 and Alicia Froling 12.
How the game panned out
The Lynx got off to the best possible start beginning with a three ball to Steph Gorman before Miela Sowah added to the scoring and Anneli Maley knocked down another triple to make it 8-0.
Then after two Townsville free throws, Maley scored down low and then on the next possession the Lynx forced the turnover and Sowah was waiting unchecked out on the wing and hit a third three-pointer for the team in the opening three minutes.
Perth were leading 13-2 and Shannon Seebohm had to call an early timeout for the home team but unfortunately for the Lynx, it did the trick for the Fire who turned things around starting with a long ball of their own from Abbey Ellis.
Townsville would end up scoring 11 straight points and by quarter-time had turned that early 11-point deficit into a 26-21 advantage.
Ally Wilson was doing all she could to keep Perth in the contest in the second quarter where she scored 13 of the team’s 19 points to give her 17 going into half-time, but the Fire had too many weapons across the board.
Three fouls in the first half to Laeticia Amihere didn’t help the Lynx cause either and the Fire went into the long break leading 54-40 while shooting 58 per cent to 40 and making 8/14 from three-point range to 3/11.
The going was tough again in the third quarter for the Lynx with Townsville coming out to start the second half with a 12-2 run to see the lead for the home team balloon to 24 points.
The Fire were still on top 78-53 by three quarter-time but the Lynx showed some signs of life to start the final period with three-pointers to Sowah and Wilson.
There would be no miracle comeback, though, with the Lynx’s season ending in frustrating fashion with the eventual 30-point defeat.
CYGNETT WNBL FINALS 2025 – SEMI FINALS GAME 2
PERTH LYNX 76 (Wilson 24, Maley 17, Sowah 14)
TOWNSVILLE FIRE 106 (Ellis 18, Woods 18, Fowler 16)