FIRE SECURES SEVENTH STRAIGHT WIN
The Fire completed a fantastic hat-trick on the road, rounding out a tough treble of games with a third win a week. The visitors showed little signs of tiredness extinguishing the Flames in Sydney .
Townsville’s seventh straight victory was once again a blow out, on the back of blitzing the Flyers on their court and the Capitals in Canberra. Much like the scrooge at Christmas the Coach can be pretty stingy, when it comes to allowing the opposition points and Shannon Seebohm was happier than a kid unwrapping presents, with his side’s dominant defensive display in the 70-48 triumph.
“You’re not always going to hit shots and you’re not always going to have the flow offensively but because we guarded them well and we did such a good job at that end we were able to win the game. So it’s something we’ve been working and we want to hang out hat on for sure.”
He’s already heaped plenty of praise on Courtney Woods this year, highlighting her impact off the bench, but his glowing assessment of her performance against Sydney doesn’t get any better.
“To be honest, both sides of the ball, her best game as a pro. And you know she’s probably a star of the league in the future as well, so you know really really proud of her.”
Woods who’s been promoted to the starting team following Alice Kunek’s wrist injury, top scored for the second time in Townsville’s triple header, hitting 19 points. She also finished with a game high 5 assists and seven rebounds.
“When a player Like Alice gets hurt I kind of see it as not just me having to do more, I think all of us have to do more and provide more. But obviously playing more minutes is nice and I’m just kind of taking advantage of that. But I kind of see that fifth player role as just more tyring to facilitate for Sami and Steph and even our bigs, but and then taking open shots when they’re there.”
Sami Whitcomb also dragged down 7 rebounds to go along with 3 three assists and 18 points, while Mikaela Ruef racked up 15 boards and posted 11 points to register her third double double of the season.
The ladder leaders somewhat spoiled a special occasion for former Fire fan favourite Lara McSpadden. The centre made her 100th WNBL appearance against the club she spent 3 campaigns playing for and of course claimed the most recent WNBL championship with.
“It’s so special, its’ a real honour. Not many people get to make a roster let alone rack up 100 games, so I just consider myself really lucky to be in that position. And playing it in front of my family really escalated that.”
The Fire would like to congratulate Lara on the Fantastic achievement
Townsville’s meets Melbourne next, on December 23, at the Fire Pit. Tickets to the Boomers Battle can be purchased here. While wearing orange is always encouraged, spectators rocking Christmas colours will certainly add to what will be a festive atmosphere.