Sluggish starts the concern for Lynx

Another slow start this WNBL season came back to bite the Perth Lynx in the eventual Game 1 semi-final loss to the Townsville Fire and they are fully aware they can’t afford something similar on the road on Wednesday.

Starting games slowly has become somewhat of a concerning trend for the Lynx all throughout the WNBL season even though they ended up still finishing in second position on the table having won 16 of 21 matches.

There has been numerous times they’ve been able to shake off those sluggish starts and win. They did again give themselves a chance of that in Game 1 against Townsville on Saturday night at Bendat Basketball Centre.

After falling behind by 11 at quarter-time having conceded the last nine points of the opening period, and then still trailing by as much as 14 points midway through the third term, the Lynx were able to turn things around.

Then with two minutes to go in the contest, Ally Wilson hit a three-pointer on her way to 32 points to put the Lynx in front. They had all the momentum having outscored the Fire 17 points to five in the previous five minutes.

However, Townsville were able to close the deal despite being on the road with Nia Coffey hitting her sixth three-pointer of the game they ended up closing the deal to take the one-nil series lead.

That means that Perth now must win in Townsville on Wednesday to keep their season alive and coach Ryan Petrik knows another start like they had on Saturday could be fatal.

“They played really well and did a hell of a job taking us out of some stuff so looking at it glass half empty, again they killed us in the first quarter and we just didn’t get any of our coverages right in the first half,” Petrik said.

“That’s really annoying because it means we’re playing catch up from a coaching point of view and are flying through our defensive playbook trying to find something that will work when you don’t do what you have worked on.

“But glass half full, we won the second and third quarters, and only lost the fourth by two after giving up some free throws late.

“We know we’re right there and these are coin flip games and even though they led for 37 minutes, but we came back and hit the lead in the fourth. We’ve clearly got to be way better in the first half and actually execute our schemes better.”

While some of the Lynx players had tough offensive nights in Game 1 including Miela Sowah, Steph Gorman, Anneli Maley and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard only combining for 20 points on 8/30 shooting, there were some standout performers.

The two players from the All-First Team, Laeticia Amihere and Ally Wilson, were outstanding with the former finishing with 20 points, five rebounds and five blocks, and the latter 32 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals on 9/14 field goal shooting and 11/14 at the foul line.

Petrik was especially glad that he had Wilson on his team to give the Lynx a chance.

“Ally was elite, she was really good. She saved our backside multiple times for what feels like the 22nd time this year and showed everyone why we wanted her so badly in a Perth jersey,” Petrik said.

“Unfortunately she had to try and equal what Coffey was doing at the other end who was also spectacular for them. It was just two really big time players who loved this stage and she carried us enormously especially.”

While Wilson did have an outstanding individual performance, it was the result that was all she was worried about. It’s the start to the game from the Lynx that’s where she sees the work really needs to be done for Wednesday’s Game 2 in Townsville.

“Our starts are nowhere near good enough and we come out and play a little bit blaze to try and get a feel for the game, but we have to come out on the front foot from the start in the next game,” Wilson said.

“In the second quarter I felt like we got on a bit of a roll but there were instances of us doing that, but then would still give up an easy bucket which would deflate it a little bit.

“Then we would get on another roll and that seemed to be the theme until we got into the last quarter where we have players who are big game players.

“So when the game was on the line to win it, now we’ll kick into gear but we can’t rely on doing that at this time of the season.”