It took till three quarter time for the Lightning to shake the embers off the Fire with Adelaide doing it by committee for the night - Photo by WNBL
THE WRAP Q BY Q
Captain Nicole Seekamp lead the way early in the match with a steal off the Fire’s defensive rebound to setup Lauren Nicholson for a deuce but the Fire were lit up early on. On the back of Tess Madgen who had not averaged more than 5ppg against the Lightning this season, she dropped 12pts in the first quarter to spark her team into action. Lightning import Brianna Turner was controlling air traffic through the paint once again with the highlight of her defensive end of the floor a massive block which literally started a fast break finish as she spiked the ball to Nicholson then flicked it wide to Seekamp who then found Turner for the floater finish in a spectacular end to end play. Through Madgen and Darcee Garbin the Fire tied things away 22-22 a piece after one.
In the second quarter the Fire hit the front through Garbin but that is the last time they’d hold the lead in the match as off the pine Chelsea Brook peeled off back to back triples for a 10-4 run. Nothing was going right for the Fire defensively with Bridget Carleton even blocking Turner who still turned it into points off the block collect. Garbin gave the Fire some hope with a couple of crucial buckets to bring it back to 40-33 at half-time. The Fire had shot 35 percent from the 3pt line and Madgen had dropped, but you wondered if the 7th placed team could sustain it for a full game.
The Lightning opened the third with a 11-2 run on the back of some pocket twos off a 2-3 zone which Seekamp really enjoyed but a Julie Vanloo “rainbow” 3 pointer and then a “Rondo” fake bucket capped off a 7-0 run to the Fire with Chris Lucas burning timeout. Talbot a thorn in the Fire’s side this WNBL season went to work on the block with Turner to finish the quarter with a 10-5 run capped by a Nicholson sweet left head fake then finish with her non preferred right to setup a solid 61-47 at three quarter time.
The fourth quarter saw Seekamp and Natalie Hurst breaking down defence through dribble and import Kathryn Westbeld continue an accumulating night points wise. Madgen hit back with another big bucket but with only three points in the second half was largely ineffectual as the Lightning tightened their defence on her denying her space and getting over the top off the off-balls screens that were being run for her the first half. A huge skip pass from Seekamp to Talbot with the dribble and finish was one of the nails in the coffin and despite some late fireworks to Vanloo and Talbot launching triples, this one was done with the Lightning holding their opponents to 27 points in the second half and cruising to a 87-60 victory to book their place in the post season.
COACH SPEAK (Written from WNBL Website)
Lightning coach Chris Lucas admitted it was a bit of grind for the night but was pleased with the defensive effort after quarter time “It wasn’t pretty but we got the result and held them to 60 points. I think that’s a pretty good defensive effort after they scored 185 points last weekend in their two games” Lucas said.
Fire coach Shannon Seebohm while disappointed with the result was also pleased with the effort from his girls in the first quarters to keep them in the game, “It’s certainly better than the first quarters we’ve had against them the last two times we played,” Seebohm explained.“That was our goal obviously, to ensure we were in the game at quarter time.”
DO THE STATS LIE?
The Lightning had 6 players score eight points or more but had less impact from the bench with only 10 points for the match (8 of which to Chelsea Brook). The flow after half-time in the Lightning offence was evident as they produced 10 fast-break points and dominated the rebounding with 6 second chance points, 40 points in the paint and won the rebounds 46-38.
The Fire thanks to Madgen shot 35 percent from the perimeter to stay in the game but only had 20 points in the paint, 2 second chance points and 0 fast-break points so once those perimeter shots dried up scoring became a huge headache. The Fire only won two of the 15 statistical categories which were steals and free throw percentage but only went there for 7/8 from the charity stripe (Lightning had 13/17 attempts). The Fire did not lead in the game after the 8:29 mark in the second quarter.
WHEN THE NEXT STRIKE COMES
The Lightning now prepare for their final games of the regular season with match-ups against the Southside Flyers (1st), home against the Perth Lynx (5th) and finish against the Canberra Capitals (3rd) on the road. While third is still open if results go their way, it is most likely they will be on the road for their semi-final series against either the Flyers or the Melbourne Boomers. The Lightning can now set themselves for the post-season now four games clear of the Lynx and prepare to bring the rain for the WNBL finals.
ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 77 (TALBOT 16, TURNER 15, NICHOLSON 14, SEEKAMP 12, WESTBELD 10) DEFEATED TOWNSVILLE FIRE 60 (MADGEN 19, GARBIN 16, VANLOO 10)
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 