Perth Lynx Preview – Away to Townsville Fire
The very last game of the WNBL regular season sees the Perth Lynx have the chance to secure second position and home court advantage for the semi finals against the Townsville Fire.
The Lynx and Fire are guaranteed to be playing one another in the WNBL semi finals for the third straight season no matter the result for Sunday afternoon’s match up at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.
With both teams on identical 15-5 records coming into the match up and also having had one win apiece over the other so far this season, second position will be decided with the very last game of the WNBL regular season.
That will mean that for the semi-final series starting next weekend, the winner of Sunday’s game will be playing host to that opening match. Then if the series goes to a third game, that will either be in Townsville or Perth depending on who wins on Sunday.
Just to add to it all and it will be the third straight season that Perth and Townsville have played one another in a semi-final series with the Fire winning back in 2023 on the way to a championship, and the Lynx winning in 2024 ahead of making a second Grand Final series in three years.
For all intents and purposes, Sunday’s game is the start of a best of a potential four-game series between the two teams over the next couple of weeks.
Given home court advantage goes on the line in Sunday’s game, it’s not just a preview of the semi finals but a game with significance given what is at stake.
The Lynx come into match up having returned to the winner’s list last Friday night with the 95-77 win against Geelong United at Bendat Basketball Centre.
Meanwhile, the Fire have now won eight straight matches with their last loss against the regular season champion Bendigo Spirit on New Year’s Eve.
Townsville did hand Perth its first loss of the season back on November 6 at Bendat Basketball Centre by four points while the Lynx hit back at the same venue with the 26-point victory on November 27.
Plenty has happened in the months for both teams since that last meeting and it will also be their first clash of the season at the Townsville Entertainment Centre but they both arrive at 15-5 records.
Lynx guard Steph Gorman is looking forward to the challenge knowing the importance of home court advantage that is up for grabs.
“We’re definitely excited about heading up there and we know what a big challenge it is,” Gorman said.
“Having four games potentially back-to-back-to-back is crazy and isn’t something that happens too often so it is going to be something a bit new for all of us.
“You always have to put your best foot forward, though, and it’s such a big advantage having that first game at home, and then that Game 3 as well, so there’s a lot on the line with that home court advantage going into this game.”
Sunday’s game does start what is potentially the first of four straight games between the teams and while it’s a third straight semi-final series the sides will take part in, Gorman doesn’t necessarily think there’s all that much familiarity between the playing groups.
“It does feel like we’re basically playing a four-game series now and both teams obviously know how impactful travel is especially when we are literally the two furthest teams apart from each other,” Gorman said.
“It is such a big advantage to stay at home and not have to do that extra travel so it absolutely is something that’s important.
“I think their roster has changed quite a lot from last year and they might have only had a couple of returning players so from a playing point of view it doesn’t really feel like we’re that familiar with each other.
“But from a coaching point of view, I think Ryan (Petrik) knows Shannon (Seebohm) very well and we’ve played against his game style a lot so there’s a lot of similarities from last year but not so much player-wise.”
CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25
Round 16 – Perth Lynx v Townsville Fire
Venue – Townsville Entertainment Centre
Tip-off – Sunday February 16, 12pm AWST
How to watch – Live, free and on demand on 9Now