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A second half surge has seen the Sydney University Flames pick up their second win of the round, downing the Townsville Fire 69-68 at Bryden’s Stadium last night.
Despite trailing by as much as 13 points in the second quarter, the Flames staged a spirited comeback, led by guard Leilani Mitchell and import Asia Taylor.
Mitchell finished the game with 20 points to go along with five rebounds and six steals, while Taylor had 19 points and 13 rebounds.
The victory was the second in as many nights for the Flames, as they defeated Bendigo on the road on Friday.
Despite conceding 48 points in the first half, the side responded defensively in the second, holding Townsville to just 20 points, something Fire coach Claudia Brassard saw as a key to their loss.
“In the second half we went back in our shell.
“In the third quarter, they held us to eight points which is a great defensive effort, but we really weren’t executing and we were taking early shots that probably weren’t great shots and shots that we want.”
The defeat was the second in consecutive nights for the Fire, who went down in Dandenong by 92-65, an uncharacteristically off night in defence from the Townsville side.
Despite going down, Brassard praised her side on their ability to respond to their effort on Friday night.
“We take a lot of pride in our defence and we spend a lot of time on it.
“All of us were a little bit embarrassed with the way we defended last night (against Dandenong) so it’s nice to see us respond and defend much better tonight, and to keep a good offensive team to 69 is a good effort.
“The only thing we’re not happy with defensively is allowing 18 offensive rebounds.
“I don’t think we adjusted to Asia Taylor who certainly hurt us on the boards, and for some reason we weren’t able to keep her off.”
Eight offensive boards to Taylor capped off a superb night for the American, who made a habit of following up her shots and earning the rebound.
“I think this was just me fighting through the fact that I’m constantly getting a lot of contact, so my mindset is to forget about the first shot, just go after the second one and score that one,” said Taylor.
“The defence is kind of relaxing a little bit and I know usually when the shot is off and I’m going to miss it, so I just tried to be relentless on the glass.”
In addition to the improved effort on the glass, the Flames improved enormously on their defence, conceding just 68.5 points per game over the weekend, compared to 91 points over their first two matches.
Coach Cheryl Chambers was happy with the amount of fight her team showed.
“It was an area (defence) that we thought we could fix pretty quickly, but I think the girls to their credit, there’s lots of great individuals in that group and we just locked down, played together and kept them to a good score.”
This weekend also saw the return of guard Lauren Nicholson, who played 14 minutes on both nights.
“We’re hoping injuries are behind us, but Lauren has done a fantastic job in rehabilitating herself and getting back as quickly as she has.
“I was surprised. I didn’t think we’d get her back until after the bye weekend. She’s experienced, she’s smart, she’s tenacious and she gets the ball, so it was a
fantastic addition to have her back.”
It was Townsville that controlled the early running, with centre Suzy Batkovic dominating the paint and Micaela Cocks hitting a pair of triples to give the fire an 11-point buffer with under a minute to play in the first quarter, before a Nicholson three and half-court buzzer beater from Sarah Graham reduced the deficit to just five, with Townsville leading 24-19.
A back and forth start to the second saw Leilani Mitchell score her first eight points of the night, and Batkovic climbing up to 12, a tally that she wouldn’t improve on for the remainder of the game.
It wasn’t until late in the second term that Townsville really put the pressure on, with a five-second inbounds violation compounded by a Darcee Garbin three-point play handing the Fire a 48-38 lead at halftime.
The Flames came out re-invigorated to start the second half, going on a 16-2 run highlighted by increased defensive pressure and frustrating their opponents into making mistakes, so much so that Batkovic was called for a technical foul for dissent midway through the term.
A triple to Mitchell saw the Flames lead stretch out to four, before five points to Mia Murray in the last 40 seconds gave the Fire a share of the spoils heading into the final quarter, with scores locked at 58.
The fourth quarter was in the balance when Carly Boags hit a massive shot from long range to give the Flames a slender advantage.
Natasha Cloud nailed a pair of threes to cut the lead back to one, before Taylor’s persistence on the glass payed off again, collecting her own miss to stretch the lead back to three with under two minutes to play.
Cocks hit another jumper with a minute to play, cutting the lead back to one. The Fire managed to make a stop when it counted, giving them the chance to win the game with just six seconds left.
From the timeout, Cocks drove to the basket, but couldn’t get it to drop, with Belinda Snell collecting the rebound to ensure her side victory.
Outside of Mitchell and Taylor, Belinda Snell was among the best for the Flames, scoring nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and a steal.
Mia Murray was terrific for the visitors with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Suzy Batkovic had an off-night in terms of shooting, hitting just 3-16 from the field to give her 12 points, although she came up with 10 rebounds, six blocks, two assists and two steals in a stellar defensive effort.
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