CAPS CLAIM NARROW WIN OVER FIRE
Having started the season 2 and 0 the Fire has slipped to 2 and 2 after going down in the Nation’s Capital 81-80. Townsville had a chance to escape with a win when Courtney Woods rebounded the ball with 9 seconds remaining in the contest but Abbey Ellis stumbled in possession, before scrambling a shot which didn’t trouble the hoop. The scrappy play was a microcosm of the visitors evening at the AIS Arena.
The Fire actually began the game reasonably well with the players responding to the challenge laid down t them by coach Shannon Seebohm, after last round’s slow start against Bendigo. All 5 starters scored in the opening period, with Zia Cooke landing a pair of perimeter arrows.
Nya Lok lit it up early in the second quarter knocking down back to back triples, but the hosts returned serve through their star point guard. Jade Melbourne inspired a 9-2 Capitals run which resulted in their first lead. The Fire sparked back into life late in the period though and scored the last 4 points of it through determined defence. Back to back fast break buckets coming from forcing turnovers.
Townsville’s 42-48 half time advantage evaporated quickly in a third quarter, which frankly, the less said about it the better from the visitors’ perspective. A Lauren Cox corner 3 and another maximum to Cooke were the highlights but soft defence, poor possessions and low percentage panic plays plagued the Fire throughout. By the time the teams turned for home the Caps had their noses in front.
The final quarter was chaotic and engrossing at the same time. It see-sawed early, with a handful of quickfire lead changes. Cox looked to have provided breathing space when she backed up a bucket with a big block, leading to a transition 3 for the hot hand Cooke. But to the Capitals credit they refused to be beaten. They scored 10 points to the Fire’s 4 in the final 5 minutes, to resign Townsville to consecutive defeats.
Player Stats
Zia Cooke scored a game high 22 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc, and the import didn’t miss too many from deep finishing with a 62% three-point success rate. The walking wall was at it again… Lauren Cox conjured up 5 blocks. She managed at least 1 in each quarter. The forward finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds as well. Courtney Woods led her side on the glass with 9 boards. She also hit double digits on the scoreboard with half of her 12 points coming from the foul line. The co-captain wouldn’t like seeing 5 turnovers next to her name though. And despite ending the game with a play she’d like to have over, Abbey Ellis was solid in offence. She also scored 12 points, while the guard delivered an equal game high 7 assists.
Coach’s comments
Shannon Seebohm praised the Capitals tenacity but couldn’t help but feel Townsville threw away the win. He lamented the visitors giving up multiple double digit leads, which helped grow Canberra’s confidence.
“And in the end we just weren’t able to string stops together and grind out enough consecutive stops and consecutive score to put the game away and we let them hang in too much and found ourselves in a dog fight.”
The coach conceded his youthful squad became flustered and couldn’t quite break the cycle.
“We’re a young team trying to figure out that consistent brand of basketball but I love this team I think we’re playing hard and the effort’s there we’ve just got to get better.”