Sowah’s hot shooting not quite enough for Lynx
Miela Sowah produced an impressive shooting display and the Perth Lynx did find themselves back in front in the dying minutes at home on Wednesday night, but the Townsville Fire finished strongly for the 84-80 victory.
Both teams came into the match at Bendat Basketball Centre on the back of impressive first up wins to start the season against the Southside Flyers and Geelong United respectively, and produced an entertaining battle to open Round 2.
There’s a nice rivalry built between the two teams too having met in each of the last two semi finals with one win apiece in those battles, and in the end it was the Fire scoring the four-point road win to improve to 2-0 with the Lynx now 1-1.
Where the game was won
In the end, Townsville outscored Perth nine points to four in the last two minutes to go from being a point behind after a 7-0 Lynx run to claim the four-point victory.
The Lynx gave themselves a late chance with 30 seconds left with a three-point play to Ally Wilson and then forcing a turnover, but they couldn’t quite capitalise and the Fire closed out the game at the free-throw line.
While the Lynx went 13/26 from behind the three-point line in an impressive display, going 9/18 at the foul line in comparison did hurt in a tight contest while they did have another 15 turnovers while pulling down just 29 rebounds to 48 from the Fire.
Townsville also shot the ball at 49 per cent from the field to the 43 from Perth and the Fire overcame going 5/17 from deep with 17 offensive rebounds for 19 second chance points along with the 56 points inside the paint.
Who the standout performers were
Miela Sowah had a tremendous shooting night for the Lynx knocking down 4/7 from behind the three-point arc on the way to 21 points and five assists for the game.
She was also the only Lynx starter with a positive plus-minus with the Lynx outscoring the Fire by five points in her 31 minutes.
New import Laeticia Amihere also showed exciting signs in her second WNBL game with 19 points, five rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two steals while even knocking down a three-point shot to show her range.
Ally Wilson ended up with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals as well for the Lynx with Anneli Maley providing 13 points, five boards, four assists and three steals, Steph Gorman six points on 2/4 three-point shooting, Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard four points, and Alex Ciabattoni two points, six assists and four rebounds.
Alicia Froling finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds for Townsville with Courtney Woods adding 25 points and Lauren Cox 18.
How the game panned out
Laeticia Amihere started strongly in her second WNBL game with the first four points for the Lynx but the home team was playing catch up for a lot of the opening period.
Townsville scored eight straight points to end up leading by as much as nine but the Lynx did finish the period with a three-pointer to Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard and then three free-throws to Miela Sowah to be still within five at quarter-time.
Sowah then opened the second quarter by landing one from downtown, but again the Fire went on a 6-0 scoring run of their own to open up an 11-point advantage.
Perth replied with a couple of three long bombs from Anneli Maley in the space of a couple of minutes, and Steph Gorman also made one from beyond the arc to help the Lynx limit the Townsville lead to 51-46 at the half-time break.
Sowah was then on fire to open the second half hitting back-to-back three-pointers for the Lynx to put the home team in front, and she soon made another minutes later.
Gorman and Ally Wilson also connected from long-range in the third quarter with 15 of the team’s 17 points in the period coming from downtown, but the Fire also managed 16 points to be leading 67-63 after three.
Townsville then scored the first four points of the final period to be back up eight but again Perth hit back and when Alex Ciabattoni, Amihere and Maley combined for a 7-0 run, the Lynx were back in front at 76-75 with just over two minutes on the clock.
The Fire responded with the next four points before a free-throw from Amihere to keep the margin at two before Lauren Cox pushed the visitors back out to a four-point advantage.
With 30 seconds to play, Wilson kept the Lynx in the contest with a three-point play and then with it a one-point game, Perth forced the back court turnover but couldn’t quite convert and the Fire closed out the win at the foul line.
What’s next for the Lynx
After the first two games of the season at home, the Lynx now hit the road for the first time in the 2024/25 campaign beginning with a clash with the Adelaide Lightning on Saturday night.
The Lynx remain on the road to then play the UC Capitals in Canberra next Thursday before returning home to play the Sydney Flames on Saturday November 23 at Bendat Basketball Centre.
CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25
PERTH LYNX 80 (Sowah 21, Amihere 19, Wilson 15)
TOWNSVILLE FIRE 84 (Woods 25, Froling 25, Cox 18)