WNBL Round 10 wrap-up

Monday 08 December 2003

Sorry for the hiatus. Busy with other more important things (like exams!).

Sydney Uni 84 def Adelaide 59

My first attended WNBL game of the season and the televised ABC game. If you look close enough, there are a few snapshots of me in the crowd in the broadcast.

I was expecting a comfortable win from the Flames but not the demolishing Adelaide got. The Flames could have won by 40 but they did the right thing and put in the deepest of the bench players in the last couple of minutes. To put it succinctly, Adelaide sucked. They were missing a lot of shots they should have made, were lacklustre on defence and asides from Michelle Brogan, their famed rebounding prowess was absent. Teams wishing to beat Adelaide should take note that they have almost no perimeter game whatsoever. They like to pound the ball inside or attack off the dribble. Deanna Smith and Jenni Screen have 3 point range but haven't exhibited consistency this season. So a zone might very well work against Adelaide (or possibly make their long range bombers find form). Summerton was MIA while Sporn had flashes of form but couldn't put together a full game. Brogan had a good first half with 9 points and 9 rebounds but was rested thoroughly in the second half.

Also Adelaide looked plain unfocused for a lot of the game and I think they do miss a good pure point guard. With Kingi and Mahony out, they're pretty much playing point guard by committee and playing at home has hidden their deficiencies so far. However as we will find out later, they were revealed in a big way this weekend.

Sydney on the other hand were almost flawless. They were knocking down their perimeter shots, attacking the basket and feeding the post well. After an atrocious Melbourne road trip, Belinda Snell hit the "good part" of her inconsistent shooting cycle and torched Adelaide from the outside. She also played some good help D and showed some good court vision with her six assists. Shelley Hammonds was unstoppable inside and more than once snuck behind the Adelaide D for the easy basket. The Flames as a team passed crisply and played brilliant interior D. They also blocked out well and outrebounded Adelaide who is one of the top rebounding teams in the competition.

Highlight of the game has to be Michelle Musselwhite's half court prayer attempt at the end of the first quarter. Firstly, she almost made it and secondly, she was fouled! She only made one out of three free throw attempts but fortunately, this did not matter.

Whether Sydney can continue this good form is another story as they have displayed brilliant inconsistency throughout the season so far. They have a good home stretch ahead of them though and should consolidate.

Townsville 77 def Bulleen 65

Bulleen have looked a bit flat at home all season (despite their tight win at home against Sydney last week) while Townsville have played better away this season despite being almost unbeatable at the Fire Station last year. This trend continued as Townsville won the first game of their Melbourne road trip by 12. Natalie Porter and Gina Stevens both had decent shooting games at the same time for once and finished with 17 and 15 points respectively. Tania Heritage also put in a solid game with 17 points. For Bulleen, Hollie Grima had a double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Deanne Butler also had 16 points.

AIS 76 def Adelaide 68

Biggest upset of the season so far. Sure Adelaide were in the second game of a tough three games in three days road trip but they led at half time and have significantly more experience than the youngsters. However the AIS had a huge third quarter (23-11) and beat Adelaide down the stretch by staying composed and responding to Adelaide's attempted challenges.

Player of the game has to go to AIS point guard Kathleen McLeod who had 19 points (7/10 FG), 11 rebounds, 4 assists (only 1 turnover), 3 steals and led the AIS during their big comeback. Gabrielle Richards had 20 points and 9 rebounds. Altogether, there were five AIS players in double figures. Adelaide were led by Laura Summerton who had 18 points and Deanna Smith who had 16.

Dandenong 65 def Townsville 59

Are Townsville back? It's probably too soon to say but they are definitely improving as seen in this respectable away loss to the hottest team in the league. Both teams only had one player each in double figures (Ryan for the Rangers with 22, Stevens for the Fire with 18) but the key difference was field goal accuracy with the Rangers shooting 39% while the Fire shot an abysmal 28%.

Canberra 54 def Adelaide 53

So ends Adelaide's horror road trip with a tight one point loss in Canberra. No doubt Jan Stirling will complain loudly to the WNBL about this three games in three days roadtrip but she really can't complain considering Adelaide often gets teams on the second leg of the Doomsday Double (Perth-Adelaide roadtrip) and the first half of the season was heavily stacked with home games. However it is probably true that fatigue did catch up to Adelaide as after leading 46-40 with 7 mins to go, Canberra went on a 10-0 run (with Kristen Veal scoring 8 points in the run) to go up by four and they held off Adelaide in the last couple of minutes to claim an unlikely victory. Canberra were led by Veal who had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Jo Hill was the only other Capital in double figures with 16. Deanna Smith was the only Lightning player in double figures with 19.

Reportedly, Rachel Sporn went down in the final minutes of the game with an injured ankle. No word on how serious it is yet but it could exacerbate Adelaide's fall from grace if it puts her out for an extended period of time.

Bulleen 71 def Perth 66

A surprisingly competitive game from Perth and they had their chances in the last minute but couldn't get it done in the crunch. Kerie Hughes shot the ball well at a scorching 7/9 clip (total of 20 points) but still needs to learn how to take care of the ball (6 turnovers). Melissa Marsh scored 14 points off 6/10 shooting while Narelle Henry played a few more minutes this week and scored 10 points in 14 minutes. Bulleen had five players in double figures and were led again by Hollie Grima who had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

hellcat reports that Katrina Hibbert wants to try out for the WNBA again. Hibbert's a hard worker and I love her game though I'm not sure whether she's quick enough to stick on a WNBA team but good luck to her!

Player of the week:

Snell and Hammonds had superb games but the award should go to Kathleen McLeod. She led the AIS to a shock win over Adelaide and showed that she may be the next great Australian point guard (yes, I am aware I gave that title to Kelly Wilson last season but they can both be great! As a sidenote, Kelly's been a bit quiet this season but the potential's still there).

Next round preview: Coming later on in the week!