Perth Lynx Preview – Away to Adelaide Lightning
The Perth Lynx hit the road for the first time this WNBL season to play a third game in a week to open proceedings in 2024/25 when they take on the Adelaide Lightning on Saturday evening.
The Lynx started the season with two home matches at the Bendat Basketball Centre with a first up win against the Southside Flyers in a Grand Final rematch and then a tight loss to the Townsville Fire in a semi-final rematch from the past two seasons.
Perth will also be looking to continue their strong recent form against Adelaide with the Lynx having won the last eight meetings between the two teams.
Those eight wins have come at an average of 13 points which has included winning all three clashes over the past two WNBL seasons, and the last two of the 2021/22 campaign.
Adelaide’s last win against Perth was in the first encounter of that 2021/22 season on January 2, 2022, when they won at home against the Lynx in a thriller by two points.
The Lynx will be attempting to make it nine straight wins against the Lightning on Saturday night while also attempting to bounce back from the Wednesday night home loss to Townsville.
Perth have been without co-captain Amy Atwell for the first two games with a knee injury and she again won’t play against Adelaide, but there was a lot to like in the first up win against Southside.
The Lynx shot 52 per cent from the field for the game, knocked down 12/29 from three-point range and pushed the pace for 19 fast break points, and led by as much as 31 points on the way to the 15-point win.
Perth weren’t able to get things on their own terms against Townsville on Wednesday and finished up shooting 43 per cent despite still going 13/26 from downtown, but they were outrebounded 48 to 29 and had another 15 turnovers.
Despite all that, it was still a tight ball game with just the four-point result with coach Ryan Petrik now looking for a bounce back performance while he’s also done what he can to keep his players as fresh as possible.
“We’ve tried to use our rotations in this stretch and you saw against Southside we rotated really heavily early, and we were trying to keep Anneli and Ally both below 25 minutes if we could,” Petrik said.
“Then they kept their starters on for most of the fourth so we had to bring them back on, but we kept them under 30 which was nice.
“Then even in this game, we played Laeticia a bit more because she only played 14 in the first game, and kept Ally down to 32 and Anneli to 32. So we’re doing everything we can right now whilst we’re a pretty important soldier down.”
The reality is that without Atwell out there for the Lynx, everyone’s minutes has to go up but Petrik will look for that to continue to be an effort committee across the board.
“In the back of my head, right or wrong, I’ve got that emergency break glass option of playing Anneli 35 or 36 minutes, and Atwell is similar, so if they are going how you hope, you have 35 or 36 minutes in the bank with them,” Petrik said.
“But even on a bad night, you still can play the two of them 30 each so let’s just pretend Atwell is playing poorly and you have to find 30 minutes somewhere.
“That means everyone has an extra five or six minutes on top of what they would play normally, and then it’s the three games in a week to juggle around. Everyone does it and everyone will lose a soldier at some point, but to start the season that way is not as much fun as it sounds.”
The recently married Miela Sowah (nee Goodchild) has had a strong start to the season for the Lynx with 37 points across the two games and then also five assists on Wednesday against Townsville.
Not only is she now a married woman as of this season, but is also free of the face mask and is feeling good early in the piece for the Lynx.
“Gosh, it’s good without the mask I’m not going to lie and it definitely had a few blindsides in there. Then there was the sweat too so it was not a vibe, and it’s really good to be without the mask,” Sowah said.
“I’m around such great teammates like Ally Wilson who is an incredible facilitator, and I think all five of us that are on the floor at any one time are always a threat so that opens up opportunities for the person who is open to knock down their shots.”
CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25
Round 2 – Perth Lynx v Adelaide Lightning
Venue – Adelaide 36ers Arena
Tip-off – Saturday November 9, 5pm AWST
How to watch – Live, free and on demand on 9Now