Perth Lynx Preview – Away to Adelaide Lightning (R14)

February 1, 2025 | Perth Lynx news

The Perth Lynx look to keep their momentum going on the road against the Adelaide Lightning on Saturday night and need to keep winning to maintain second position in the WNBL.

Top spot might be now out of reach for the Lynx this WNBL season with the Bendigo Spirit having now moved three games clear with the Lynx only having three games remaining, and with Bendigo holding that series split.

However, there is still home court advantage for the semi finals and second spot there for Perth to secure but with the Townsville Fire hot on their heels, they do need to keep winning starting in Adelaide on Saturday night.

The game will take place at the Adelaide 36ers Arena with tip-off set for 2:30pm Perth time on Saturday night with the Lynx having to win to maintain their one-game edge over the Fire.

The Lynx currently sit on a 14-4 record on the back of beating the Southside Flyers at the Perth High Performance Centre and then the Flames in Sydney last Saturday following a tough loss in Bendigo against the Spirit back on January 15.

But with Townsville just behind with a 13-5 record and with the Lynx and Fire to meet in the last game of the regular season, Perth can’t afford a slip up on Saturday night against the Lightning.

There’s plenty for Adelaide to play for as well even though they come into the game on a six-game winning streak with coach Scott Ninnis still trying to figure things out since he replaced Nat Hurst mid-season.

Despite having lost their past six matches, the Lightning are still a chance to make the finals should they go on a winning run over their last four games but that would need to start against the Lynx on Saturday night.

Adelaide currently holds a 5-12 record with Sydney sitting in fourth position at 7-11 so not only would the Lightning need to win over their last four games, but also need the Flames to drop some games along the way to make up that gap.

The two teams have already met twice this season with the Lynx winning in Adelaide back on November 9 by 14 points and then backing it up on January 5 of this year with the 18-point victory at the Perth HPC.

Going back further and the Lynx have now won the last 10 encounters against the Lightning by an average of 13.4 points. The last win for Adelaide against Perth was on their home floor back on January 2, 2022.

The Lynx only narrowly missed their season-high points with 105 last Saturday in Sydney against the Flames.

Petrik was quick to point out that it could have been their season high with a cheeky jab at Alex Ciabattoni who did miss a shot at the end, but what he’s also known about the group he’s put together with the style he wants to play, is that scoring is not an issue.

It’s all about whether they can defend well enough to breakthrough for that championship and he has seen improvement over this season, and wants to see it continue on Saturday in Adelaide.

“Chibba did miss that layup at the very end which was for our season, we had 106 on Townsville, so she owes me but we do know we can score points,” Petrik said.

“Our defence can be questionable at times but we were ranked second defensively efficiency wise before the Southside game.

“We generally have bigger scores against us because there’s more possessions in our games, but we know we can score and it’s just if we can guard well enough to win a championship.”

CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25

Round 14 – Perth Lynx v Adelaide Lightning

Venue – Adelaide 36ers Arena

Tip-off – Saturday February 1, 2:30pm AWST

How to watch – Live, free and on demand on 9Now