Round 10 Game Preview: Flames take on Fire at home

February 4, 2022 | Sydney Flames news

ROUND 10 PREVIEW – FLAMES V FIRE. 

The Brydens Sydney Uni Flames will play their last double header at Qudos Bank Arena this Sunday against the Townsville Fire.

These two teams last played back in December where the Fire closed the game late. This game was Shyla Heal’s first game against for former team and she scored 12 points in her return.

The star of the game was Monique Billings, who scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds and had two blocks. She will on the top of the scouting report this week.

The Flames will be without Shyla Heal, she is headed to Serbia to play for the Opals in the World Cup Qualifiers.

The Flames will rely on Keely Froling to hold down the fort offensively and defensively, assuming Opal camp invites Lauren Nicholson and Zitina Aokuso play this will be a very tough match.

The team will need to lean on each other, coach Shane Heal spoke post-game against the Southside Flyers that the ‘next man up’ mentality is what will get the Flames wins this season.

“Different people are going to have to step up,” Heal said post-game.

Last game it was Funda Nakkasoglu who scored 17 points, and the Flames will need more players to step up like Funda did to beat the Fire.

The key players to watch out for is the import duo of Sug Sutton and Billings, both are WNBA players and are currently averaging a combined 26.2 points per game.

Kiera Rowe and Keely Froling while be the defensive stoppers for the Flames, the Fire are a talented team and it will take some serious defence and shooting to stop Shannon Seebohm’s usually high-octane offence.

Flames Assistant Coach Shelley Gorman spoke with Flames media about what needs to be done to get the win at home.

“It will be tough without Shyla,” she said.

“I think it comes down to our defence, we need to keep them down to a low score. We run a lot of pick and roll for Shyla and Loz [Lauren Mansfield], we have changed that a little bit to focus more on ball-movement offensively.

“At the end of the day it comes down to defensive stops and we’ve been working on that a lot this week.”

The Flames v Townsville Fire will take place Sunday, 6 at 3.30pm at Qudos Bank Arena. With the Kings taking on the New Zealand Breakers before, get your tickets here.