Round 6: UC Capitals back at home to take on Flames
After a month away from home, the UC Capitals are finally making their return to the NCCC to face off against the Sydney Flames.
It’s been a tough few weeks on the road but co-captain, Alex Sharp, says it’ll be a different team on display than the last time they played in Canberra.
“We’re definitely looking forward to getting in front of the home crowd and showing them how we’ve developed in the last few weeks away, it’s going to be very exciting for us.”
The Caps last met the Flames in round 3 which played out to be a heated battle as the scoreline remained close across all four quarters.
There was just one basket difference with 20 seconds to go in the match, before two successful free-throws from Paige Bradley gave the Flames the extra push they needed to secure a five-point win.
Lauren Nicholson led the scoring against the Caps, finishing with 25 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, while American import, Didi Richards, put up 18 points, 2 assists and 10 rebounds, and both will be two to watch out for again.
Sharp said her team took a lot out of the match and have reflected on where they can do better the second time around.
“It’s just some little things that we need to adjust and that’ll get us closer to the win. We’re really excited about this matchup on Friday to fix some of those things that we learnt from the first game and show some development there.”
Despite the disappointment of such a close loss to Sydney, the Caps still had some huge individual performances of their own, with WNBL career highs from Jade Melbourne on 31 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and Monica Okoye with 17 points, and 2 rebounds.
Sydney have only played two games since their match up with the Caps, suffering a 16-point loss to the Bendigo Spirit and a narrow two-point win against Adelaide Lightning earlier this week.
Despite getting close on multiple occasions, the Caps are still searching for their first win but Sharp is confident they’re on the right track.
“We’ve learnt a lot of things, the key things are that the games are in our hands we just fix some controllables to get on the other side of that win column.
Doors to the NCCC open at 6pm for a 7pm tip off and will be broadcast on 9now.