WNBL Action

WNBL Prelim Final on tap

The hotly contested WNBL season is nearing a crescendo as Canberra Capitals face off against the Bendigo Spirit for a chance to play Bulleen’s Boomers for the 2010-2011 WNBL Championship on 13 March 2011. To get to this point, Bendigo disposed of the Logan Thunder 74-53 last weekend while Canberra dropped a 71-67 heartbreaker to Bulleen.

On paper, Canberra should breeze through this one after 64-53 and 87-59 romps over the Spirit in the regular season. Suzy Batkovic, Marianna Tolo and Carly Wilson have led from the front for the Capitals all season and should do so again in this game. Bendigo will need a boost from key players Tess Madgen, Kristi Harrower and Gabrielle Richards to be competitive.

The action can be viewed live from 1500 (AEST) Saturday on the ABC network.

The rest of the WNBL wrap thus far.

Here are match reports from the rest of the WNBL weekend with todays Adelaide Link/ Sydney Flames match yet to come.

Match reports courtesy of: wnbl.com.au

Bendigo/Dandenong

Kristi's return lifts Bendigo over Dandenong

With Kristi Harrower fresh off a plane from the WNBA playoffs, the 2008/09 WNBL All-Star led the Bendigo Bank Spirit over Victorian rival Dandenong Jayco Rangers 70-55 in their season opener on Friday night in Dandenong.

Harrower, playing with Bendigo on a short-term contract, led all scorers with 23 points, supported by Kelly Wilson with 20 points and eight rebounds. Great Britain international Megan Moody led the Rangers with 18 points and seven rebounds.

It was a nervous start to the season for both teams with defence ruling in the opening quarter as Bendigo established a three point lead at the first break, 9-6.

A 22-12 second quarter gave the Spirit some breathing space and they managed to hold off Dandenong in an otherwise close match.

Fresh Bendigo recruits Marita Payne made five blocks and posted eight points for her new team, while Canadian Chelsea Aubry grabbed seven rebounds but failed to score. Dandenong’s American import Casey Nash added nine points and eight rebounds.

While the Spirit endeavour to secure Kristi Harrower on a season-long contract, Bendigo will face Adelaide Lightning next week before Dandenong travels to Sydney to take on the Flames.

BENDIGO SPIRIT 70 (Kristi Harrower 23, Kelly Wilson 20, Louise McLean 8, Marita Payne 8) bt
DANDENONG RANGERS 55 (Megan Moody 18, Alison Downie 10, Casey Nash 10)

Sydney/Perth

Sydney Uni hold off Perth

The ACUVUE Sydney Uni Flames have held off a second half onslaught from the Go for 2 & 5 Perth Lynx to record a 12-point triumph at Perry Lakes Stadium on Friday night.

Back on her old stomping ground, former Lynx MVP winner Deanna Smith top-scored for her new club in a glittering start to the new season. 2007/08 WNBL MVP Nat Porter also made a triumphant return to the league for Sydney Uni, matching Smith for 17 points. Texas A&M graduate Takia Starks posted a team high 15 points for the Lynx.

In the end, the home team were left to rue a poor first term that had them playing catch-up basketball for the remainder of the night against their much more fancied opponents.

A 22-7 first quarter appeared to set the scene for what looked to be a very bad night for the home side as they struggled in both offence and defence, allowing the Flames to control the key at both ends of the court.

Not helping their cause, Perth’s field shooting looked terrible at just 11% for the first quarter, landing just one basket from within the key.

Regaining some composure in the second term, the home side managed to get their defensive zone working and finally put some pressure on the Sydney shooters, but at the half time break a big deficit still lay ahead.

Trailing by 19 points, the nervous Lynx rallied to finally settle into their grove, heavily outscoring their opposition and pegging the margin back 50 - 54 at the last change. Their charge lead by new import Takia Starks who racked up ten points for the period.

But all their good work in the third term became unravelled early in the last period. With the Flames reverting to a zone defence, the Lynx were again forced to shoot from outside the key, lacking the composure that held them together in the third term.

Managing just two baskets for the first half of the final period, the Lynx also got into foul trouble early in the quarter losing Kate Malpass and Rebecca Mercer who both racked up five personal fouls.

The veteran heads of Sydney then took over to steady the ship to eventually claim a deserved victory.

Perth now have 9 day break to lick their wounds before hosting Bendigo at Perry Lakes Sunday 17th Oct from 3:30pm while Sydney finish their road double header with a game against Adelaide this weekend.

SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 73 (Deanna Smith 17, Natalie Porter 17, Mikaela Dombkins 15) bt
PERTH LYNX 61 (Takia Starks 15, Danielle Campbell 14, Melissa Marsh 11)

Courtesy of David MacRae for www.lmsc.com.au

Oh yes it's Ladies night....WNBL season kicks off tonight.

The 2009-2010 WNBL season gets underway tonight with Dandenong hosting Bendigo, Logan hosting the AIS and Sydney visiting Perth.

At Dandenong captain Caitlyn Ryan returns from shoulder problems to lead the charge for the Rangers when they match up with the visiting Spirit. These two always play intense matches with each other so prediction wise, I'll go with the home team in a close one by 3.

The Logan thunder will debut a good sized "Thunder Stick" tonight when Marta Dydek from Poland takes the court against the AIS. All-Rounder Kirsten Veal will be there to keep the lightning in the Tunder attack. I'll go with the Thunder by say 18+ in this one.

In the nights final match up, Perth host the Sydney Flames. The Lynx are looking for improvement this season and are ready to pounce on any visitors who see them as an easy road win. That said, I don't think the Flames will be the first victims this week, Sydney by 8.

The always exciting Saturday afternoon match has the Canberra Capitals defending the home turf against Bulleen. Carrie Graf's squad will be hungry for a positive start to their title defense and features one of the deepest teams in the comp. Bullen will have to settle for using the game to gauge how much work they need to do. I see the title holders winning by 12 or more.

The Ais and Sydney are the weeks "double" teams as the students travel to Townsville where Rohanee Cox and the Fire lie in wait. No happy endings for the AIS here, Townsville by 25 or more. Sydney's Flames will complete their double at Adelaide where they will be in for a tussle with the Link. These teams are fierce rivals and always bring out the best in one another. Can't split them so I'll go with the home standing Link by 2.

If you are near any of the home coursts this weekend, get out and watch some entertianing and exciting basketball action.

While we are on the womens game, here is a story from http://www.basketball.net.au featuring a couple of Aussie ladies going well in the USA.

Opals star as Mercury top Fever

Australia's Penny Taylor played a starring role as her Phoenix Mercury secured a crucial 1-0 lead in the best-of-five WNBA Finals series against Indiana on Wednesday, writes James Dampney for AAP.

In the highest-scoring game in WNBA history, Opals stand-out Taylor scored an equal team-high 23 points in the Mercury's 120-116 overtime victory at the US Airways Center in Phoenix.

Phoenix and Taylor are chasing their second WNBA championship in three seasons and host game two on Friday before the series shifts to Indiana.

Starting Fever point guard and Taylor's Opals teammate Tully Bevilaqua also had a solid night, scoring 14 points and dishing out four assists, but Indiana fell just short of stealing home court advantage in the series.

In a see-sawing encounter that featured 19 lead changes and 13 ties, Indiana's Katie Douglas hit a three-pointer with 7.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

But Mercury guard Cappie Pondexter, who matched Taylor's 23-point haul, scored seven points in the extra period to guide Phoenix home.

Douglas led all scorers with 30 points, while teammate Ebony Hoffman stepped up big time with a career-high 27 points.

But they couldn't contain the deep Phoenix line-up, with six Mercury players finishing with double-figure scoring.

Diana Taurasi, who was named league MVP before the game, tallied 22 points and nine boards for the Mercury.

And Taylor kept them in it midway through the game when her teammates had gone cold, hitting 7-of-10 shots from the field overall, including 2-of-3 from three-point territory and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

The 2006 world championships MVP also added two boards, two assists and two steals in just over 27 minutes on court.

"I know with Cappie, (Taurasi) and Penny, there is no such thing as pressure," Mercury coach Corey Gaines said.

"They've played in big games their whole life."

The match-up was supposed to be a contrast between Phoenix's high-octane offence and Indiana's vaunted defence, but that didn't eventuate in game one.

"It wasn't the defensive-versus-offensive game people were expecting, clearly," Taylor said.

"Anyone who saw this game could tell you that.

"It was just amazing displays of talent, especially down the stretch."

Prior to this game the league's highest-scoring contest was Phoenix's 111-110 victory over Houston in triple overtime in a regular-season contest back in 2006.

The Mercury and Fever both scored more points than any team previously in league history, with the previous best Phoenix's 115 in an overtime win over Sacramento on June 13 this season.

PHOENIX 120 (Penny Taylor 23, Cappie Pondexter 23, Diana Taurasi 22) btINDIANA 116 (Katie Douglas 30, Ebony Hoffman 27, Tammy Sutton-Brown 19)in overtime at US Airways Arena, Phoenix, Arizona, USA Phoenix leads best-of-five series 1-0. Image courtesy wnba.com