Round 5: UC Capitals ready for rematch
The UC Capitals are refocused and ready for another huge game on the road as they take on the Southside Flyers for the second time this season.
This will be the Caps second trip to Victoria in as many weeks after their heart-breaking overtime loss to the Melbourne Boomers in the previous round.
Head coach, Kristen Veal, says despite coming off the back of the disappointing result, a spark has been lit in the team.
“It’s woken them up to the fact we have to be confident, and we have to back ourselves; when we do the work, there’s some talent here. Just because we haven’t had the reps in those end of game situations, doesn’t mean we can’t do it,” she said.
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The last time the Caps met the Flyers was back in round 2 where the Flyers flexed their experience and claimed a 25-point win.
For the Flyers, it was Maddi Rocci who had the most impact against the Caps when she posted 28 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. American import, Mercedes Russell, also had her share of the action contributing 20 points, 4 assists and 11 rebounds.
Since that match up, the Caps have only gone upwards with their improvement as a team and are more than ready to take on the challenge they pose.
“We anticipate that we’ll be ten times better than in that game… Given the contradictory style of play and size [against Flyers], we’ll get super creative and really play with this game,” Veal said.
The Caps are sending the same squad from round 4, with Alex Bunton and Gemma Potter still omitted as they continue to rest and recover.
Several Caps players will look to continue their fine form from recent weeks. Jade Melbourne sits second in the league for average points and average assists per game, while Alex Sharp and Alex Fowler also feature in the top seven for average point scorers.
After the Caps bold performance last week against the ladder leaders, Veal is still confident her undersized team can put up a performance.
“We don’t really have to change a lot from what we’ve been doing the last game, but we’d always planned on having Bunts for this game. We’ll do what we did last year, and we’ll go super junky and play with how to be disruptive and continue to be fast,” she said.
Their Saturday night clash with the Flyers marks the start of a string of matches against teams the Caps have versed before. The rematches will be an important opportunity for the Caps to grow their game and measure how far they’ve come.
“It’s beneficial and exciting from the standpoint of we can consolidate on what we did well and improve on what we didn’t do so well,” Veal said.
Tune in to the match on Saturday 2nd December at 5pm on 9Now.