By Marcus Uhe
It’s win-or-go-home for the Southside Flyers on Wednesday night in their WNBL grand final series against Townsville Fire after suffering a thumping defeat in game one on Saturday night.
Having qualified for the series by the barest of margins, with a thrilling one-point win over the Melbourne Boomers in game three of last week’s semi final series, the Flyers were burned by the Fire to the tune of 31 points, going down 94-63.
The atmosphere of a fever-pitch orange-laden crowd of more than 3700 at the Townsville Entertainment Centre helped the Fire open a commanding lead early in the game, finding the basket with ease to quickly double the Flyers’ score at the first break, 28-14.
Where the Flyers looked hesitant and sloppy with the ball in hand, Townsville had no such trouble in executing their offence, doing much of their work in the paint.
Such was their dominance that it forced Southside into a zone defence in order to stem the tide.
Maddison Rocci and Rebecca Cole were able to make inroads with a series of layups for the Flyers, but Townsville had an answer for everything, as they begun to let fly from beyond the three point line to nullify the effectiveness of the zone.
24 points in the second term was their highest scoring period of the game, but even then, they were still outscored 29-24 for a 57-38 scoreline at the half.
A lift in defensive intensity in the third quarter will be something that coach Cheryl Chambers and her staff can hang their hat on coming-in to the second contest.
Nyadiew Pouch dived for a loose ball to provide a steal and Rocci intercepted some Townsville passing lanes as the Flyers went on an 8-0 run during the third term.
But despite their resurgence, they could only cut the margin to 20 points, and whatever ground they had made was quickly returned as they trailed by 26 after three quarters.
The final period was more of the same, with the Fire cruising to their 31-point win.
Townsville led the contest from start to finish and achieved bruising advantages in a number of key statistics, such as rebounds (+12), assists (+7) and three-point percentage (+24 per cent).
Cole (20 points) led the Flyers in scoring, as she and Sara Blicavs (11) were the only players to score in double figures.
Kayla Thornton was kept to just five points and three rebounds in 26 minutes.
Game two will tip-off at 6.30 on Wednesday night at Rowville’s State Basketball Centre as Southside look to keep their dreams of a championship alive.
