WNBL Round 2 wrap-up

Tuesday 14 October 2003

News:

* Michelle Brogan has apparently departed for the States for three weeks.

* In a post-game interview with Michelle Timms, Belinda Snell revealed that she rejected an offer from an Italian club to focus on making the Olympics team. Snelly's moving up in the world and it looks like she probably won't be in the WNBL next season...

Game results:

Canberra 84 def AIS 53

In their last game before the World Club Championship, the Caps had a pretty comfortable win over the youngsters. LJ had a 'quiet' game with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Team-mates Kellie Abrams had 17 points. The AIS was led by Gabrielle Richards who had 14 points and 6 rebounds but was held to 5/14 shooting. Rookie Caitlin Cunningham was the only other AIS player in double figures with 10 points. She also pulled down 9 rebounds.

Bulleen 98 def Perth 53

Perth are going to lose every game till Bevilaqua and McClure are back and even then, they will struggle. Bulleen bigs Hollie Grima and Larissa Cavanagh combined for 52 points (Grima with 28, Cavanagh with 24). Katrina Hibbert had a solid all-round game with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The game was sloppy though with 34 turnovers from Perth (led by point guard Kerie Hughes' 10) and 23 from Bulleen.

Sydney 80 def Townsville 60

This was the televised game of the week and I was expecting it to a bit closer. The first quarter was fairly even but the rest of the game was Sydney slaughtering Townsville. The Fire looked quite unfocused for the whole game with point guard Jodie Datson being the only Fire player to actually look awake for the whole game. Carla Boyd was MIA and Natalie Porter was erratic. Their offensive execution was poor and they looked asleep at the defensive end. I'm sure Townsville will play better later on in the season but they better wake up soon or they'll find themselves in too deep a hole to get out of.

Sydney on the other hand looked brilliant. Belinda Snell is making a strong push to be the starting Opals 2 guard. She's now 10/12 from three pointers in the first two games and is averaging 24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.5 steals a game. The thing I like about Snell is that she doesn't need much space to get off her shot (knocked down a couple with Carla Boyd all over her), she works hard on the boards and her D has improved a lot. If she continues in this form and is not a starter in Athens, it will be a travesty. WNBA teams better keep an eye on her as well.

I like this Sydney team a lot and Michelle Timms is right - it could be one of the best they've had in years. Michelle Musselwhite showed herself to be a more than capable replacement for Natalie Hughes. She's stronger, more athletic and is a better slasher. Her D has improved a lot as well and she could find herself in the Opals training squad over the next couple of years. Kelly Wilson brings some much needed youthful energy to the point guard position though I wish she'd take it to the hole a bit more. Shelley Hammonds was her usual solid self with 20 and 8. Sydney smashed Townsville on the boards 54-36 and just looked *on* for the whole game.

Sydney's next home game should be the first one I will attend and what better game to see than Sydney take on Lauren Jackson and the Canberra Capitals.

Townsville 78 def AIS 63

AIS point guard Kathleen McLeod got herself concussed early in this game so ball-handling duties fell to Eva Afeaki. Inexperienced ball handlers + Jodie Datson = trouble. Afeaki became the second player this weekend to rack up double digit turnovers and the AIS lost by 15. Gabrielle Richards had another monster game for the AIS though with 28 points (11/17 FG) and 15 rebounds. Gina Stevens led the Fire with 22 points while point guard Jodie Datson had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

Adelaide 66 def Bulleen 58

It's typical that I praise a team for getting a bunch of perimeter shooters (in my FCP WNBL preview) and they all start the season cold (showing up against Perth doesn't count). Also when Sharin Milner finally puts up some more shots - she goes 2/11! Hmm there might be something to her usually stingy shot selection.

Bulleen's cold shooting and lack of interior D harpooned their attempt to win the Doomsday Double (road trip to Adelaide and Perth in the same weekend). And it's not as if they didn't have their chances - Adelaide committed 24 turnovers (compared to Bulleen's 12) and Bulleen took six more field goal attempts than Perth (though shooting 31% from the field compared to 47% will always kill you). Adelaide will be happy with Laura Summerton's game of 19 points (9/15 FG) and the return of guards Jenni Screen and Deanna Smith though they will still have point guard problems. Jan may have to resort to point guard by committee which will be amusing and interesting to say the least.

Player of the week: Belinda Snell. 24 points, 11 rebounds, 6/7 three pointers. She's started hot unlike last season where she was cold for the whole regular season and warmed up in the finals. Let's hope she can keep the flames burning this season (pun intended).