UC Capitals topple Fire in hard fought game

The University of Canberra Capitals have ended the Townsville Fire’s five game winning streak with a six point victory over the side that beat them by 33 points just eight days ago. It was an impressive performance by the home side, who never fell behind on the scoreboard after the halfway mark of the first quarter, eventually winning 73 to 67. UC Capitals head coach, Paul Goriss was said he was delighted with how his side performed against such a quality opposition. “It was always going to be a close game because they [Townsville] are a tough team, they’ve got depth, they’ve got size, they’ve got talent,” he said. In previous games, the UC Capitals had shown tendencies to lapse in phases throughout their games, but showed no sign of that in today’s match, something that Goriss was very pleased with. “I thought we handled the pressure when they made a run and we were more consistent with our effort and execution over four quarters.” The UC Capitals put together a solid first half performance in a tight game, going in to the main break with a seven point advantage. Things began to heat up in the third quarter. Just as the Fire appeared to be finding their groove, a cool three pointer from Lauren Mansfield steadied the ship, as her game began to climb to another level. The final quarter was a see-sawing affair, as the UC Capitals were unable to put the Fire away. However, a clutch three pointer from the unlikely source of, Marianna Tolo and a critical steal from Mikaela Ruef was enough to seal the victory for the home side. In her 300^th WNBL game, Townsville capitain, Suzy Batkovic put in another impressive performance with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. The UC Capitals will face the Bendigo Spirit in their next match which will take place at Southern Cross Stadium next Saturday night. By Aaron Palazzo   UC Capitals 73: Tolo (17 pts, 8 rebs, 2 as), Mansfield (15 pts, 7 rebs, 2 as), Ruef (9 pts, 6 rebs, 3 as) Townsville Fire 67: Batkovic (23 pts, 12 rebs, 5 as), Murray (16 pts, 6 rebs, 2 as), Standish (10 pts, 6 rebs, 2 as)   Photo credit: 5 Foot Photography