Top of the table clash
The JCU Fire has received a major boost ahead of Wednesday night’s top of the table clash. Steph Reid’s recovered from a back injury that forced her to miss games and play restricted minutes recently. Coach Shannon Seebohm believes the point guard’s primed for a strong performance.
“Steph’s great, she’s back full training, no issues, so we fully expect her to be ready to go.
He’s not sure how much court time the captain will see. Lauren Nicholson’s still dealing with a foot problem that sidelined her for the last three games.
“We’d love her to be able to play as we’re accustomed to her playing but I think that’s the beauty of our team now we’ve got legitimately probably 8 players that can score 20 to 25 points in a WNBL game, So, if Loz is playing limited minutes we’ve got enough people that can step up to help us win.”
Courtney Woods falls into that category. The sharp shooter upped her offence during Townsville’s Perth double header, dropping 42 points, with the visitors attacking options reduced. Seebohm’s challenged the guard to continue to be aggressive no matter what stints she has on the floor, for the remainder of the season.
“I think that now that she’s had a couple of really solid games, I’ve seen it at training she’s carried that confidence through from last week and hopefully again this week, and that’s what we expect of her.”
“Mikaela Ruef’s anticipating a tough battle between both sets of bigs.
“Obviously Cayla George is playing really well so it’ll be good to go up against her and Olivia Nelson-Ododa is like one of the tallest players in the league. She’s super long, so I think we’ll have our hands full with them, but I rate our posts too so it’ll be a good match up.”
She insists the hosts have learned how to close out tight encounters as their campaign’s progressed, having fallen short in multiple close contests before the turn of the year, including both losses to Melbourne.
“Yeah at the beginning of the season we were losing the tight ones, but recently the tight ones against Canberra, Sydney and Perth, where we won, gives us a lot of confidence. And hopefully if it is tight we can bring it across the line.”
The Fire will be shooting for an eighth straight win. Tip off at the Fire Pit is at 5.30pm. Tickets for the blockbuster clash are still available here