Fire enter finals with big win
The JCU Townsville Fire have claimed a huge scalp on the eve of the WNBL finals after recording an 83-51 victory over Perth.
In front of a large New Year’s Eve crowd, the Fire faithful were provided with a Suzy Batkovic masterclass as she posted 31 points and 13 rebounds en route to being named the First Things First MVP.
The Fire will now face the Sydney Uni Flames in a best-of-three semi-final series, with game one at Townsville Stadium on Thursday night from 7pm.
The Flames will then host game two of the series on Saturday, January 6 from 2pm (QLD time) at Bryden’s Stadium with the match broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Sports 503.
https://twitter.com/TownsvilleFire/status/947345950883717121
Having produced a disappointing showing against the Flames on Friday night, the Fire were desperate to atone against the Lynx and delivered a wire-to-wire victory.
Batkovic was simply brilliant in the opening half as she dominated the paint and found a running mate in Cayla George, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
While the Lynx had top-spot secured, the sight of skipper Sami Whitcomb being helped from the court clutching her wrist would have sent shivers down their spine.
The two-time WNBL All-Star failed to return and will now face a race against the clock to be healthy for the play-offs.
“It’s nice to come back here a start the game with a lot more intensity than what we did in Sydney,” Fire coach Claudia Brassard said.
“We’ve been focusing on that and we haven’t been happy with our starts, but I’m really happy with the way we started today.
“I think everyone was on the same page and we weren’t reactive defensively. We were probably on the front foot and dictating a little bit more with our defence which is important for us.”
Having seen their three-point lead at quarter-time extended to five at the main break, the Fire split the game open in the third term in Whitcomb’s absence.
Veteran Kelly Wilson proved instrumental in the win, finishing with seven points, six assists and five rebounds in the win, and in the process, becoming just the sixth player in WNBL history to record 1000 assists.
Congratulations to Kelly Wilson on becoming just the second Fire player & sixth all-time to register 1000 @WNBL assists. Kelly joins Kristen Veal (1617), Kristi Harrower (1503), Michele Timms (1070), Robyn Maher (1044) & Rachael McCully (1015) in the exclusive club! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/fOgu4Smo4I
— Townsville Fire (@TownsvilleFire) December 31, 2017
The Fire were able to clear their bench in the final quarter as they clinched a 32-point win to enter the semi-finals full of confidence.
Click here to see box scores between the Fire and the Lynx.