Fire head home with a win in the West
Two games, both on the road, and two Townsville wins…The latest over the Lynx was much closer than the season opening vs Geelong, with the Fire prevailing in Perth 80-84. The visitors showed little signs of travel weariness in the west, making a strong start to lead 26-21 at quarter time. The margin was still 5 at the main break after the sides couldn’t be split in the second period. Co-captains Alicia Froling and Courtney Woods continued to score with frequency in another evenly contested third period and both made early inroads in the fourth as the Fire’s lead grew.
Star Performers:
Courtney Woods was the joint the top scorer alongside Alicia. The sharp shooting guard who often goes up in threes, had just one. Driving to the rim and knocking down plenty of tough twos, in an aggressive showin
Alicia Froling was on a mission after falling 1 rebound short of a double double against Geelong, and she wouldn’t be denied this time. She collected to 10 boards, 4 on the offensive end, to go along with a game high 25 points.
Lauren Cox can probably refer to herself as an orange and white wall at this point. For the second game running the import produced 4 blocks before terrorising the Lynx late in the contest with a couple of crucial baskets. The Import scored half of her 18 point haul in the fourth quarter.
What Was Said:
While Cox was an ox in the paint, she also surprised Perth by draining a deep dagger, which possibly caught he own coach off guard as well.
“I do have the ability to shoot those threes Shannon wants me to roll a lot but I will step out occasionally and hit those.”
The American attributed Townsville’s win to disrupting the home side’s speedy shooting.
“Just controlling their pace, they like to run they like to get threes in transition we tried to take as many of those away that we could and in the end what we did worked and we got the win.”
Alicia Froling fouled out of the game with a minute to go.
“Yes yes I do love physical basketball bit silly of me to foul out but the girls got it done.”
The forward’s determination on the glass was a key factor to Townsville dominating the rebound count 48-29. And that gave the visitors extra scoring chances they took advantage of.
“I think that’s the brand that we’re kind of building a little bit. We probably didn’t execute our game plan perfectly but in saying that we still found a way to win so that’s pretty good.”
Looking Ahead:
After tough travel early in the season, the players have a few extra days to recover, for their next assignment and excitingly… First outing at the Fire Pit! They’ll carry plenty of momentum into their Bendigo battle and are hoping for a BIG loud crowd to cheer them on. Tickets for the game on Sunday November 16 are available here.