9 Straight.
While Beating Bendigo secured the Fire’s return to the WNBL finals, they won’t be resting on their laurels in the remaining rounds of the regular season.
Coach Shannon Seebohm wants the league leaders to give themselves the best chance of claiming a championship, by finishing first on the ladder.
‘That’s it, yeah that’s the goal. And I think we’ve played well to this point, I think the key though is for the players not too look to far ahead and I’m really happy with how we’ve been approaching each game but yeah we’re definitely keen to try and finish top now.”
With the margin minimal at quarter time against the Spirit another tight tussle looked like playing out at the Fire Pit following a double overtime thriller just a few nights earlier. The hosts however had more gears to find, and when they responded to Seebohm’s demands for better defence, the gap between the teams grew.
“The first quarter our defence wasn’t anywhere close to where it needs to be. We were scoring really easily but I think after that opening quarter we held them to 37 points for the remainder of the game, so that was a great effort.”
88-62 it finished, a ninth straight victory, has club historians dusting off record books to see where the winning streak sits among Townsville’s best.
The best performance wasn’t hard to work out. Tianna Hawkins hit a game high 32 points. The import exploded out of the blocks, dropping back to back triples, providing a preview if what was to come.
“The approach has always been the same, just going in aggressive, I hit my first shot and that was a great sign. I was stressing a little bit because in warm up I missed every shot. But yeah, my team did a great job of just finding me in good spots and it was a great collective effort.”
The American’s effort all the more remarkable given she played every minute of the first game in the JCU Fire’s round 14 double header.
“It’s a crucial time of the season it’s easy to say we’re tired. We’ve got our eyes on the prize, you know we have goals and being tired, well that’s just something I’ve got to deal with.”
Fellow big Zitina Akouso also dominated in the paint posting 13 points, while the captain Lauren Nicholson scored 19.
Townsville takes on the Flames next, at home on Sunday.
Next Sunday’s final home game of the regular season is the annual Batkovic Winter Cup, With the annual curtain raiser between THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE and EMERGENCY SERVICES. The Curtain Raiser Tips off at 1:30pm with the main event at 3pm.
Get your tickets today