Bell is ringing in the city of churches: Its taken a little time to settle but we are now seeing the exciting and impact that Kierstan Bell has brought to Nat Hurst's fast lane Lightning - Photo credit to WNBL
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7-Minute Read
The Cross-Over-Dribble Dossier
Southside Flyers vs Adelaide Lightning
The Rundown
The debut night threw out the most unexpected of “debuts” – but it wasn’t an actual debut. Isobel “Izzy” Borlase in her second game gave the highly fancied Flyers an almighty scare with 25 points at 83 percent, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. The Lightning rolled out a new looking lineup to 2021 with Mansfield heading up the point, Whittle getting the start after a scintillating off-season – Talbot and the imports.
The Flyers got away from the Lightning in a short burst to lead 57-50 at the main break but through Borlase pushed it right back to a close finish.
What the numbers said
The Lightning’s mid-range game was on song in this one shooting 52 percent whilst also beating the Flyers on the glass 36-39 – in the end the Flyers hit a few more outside shots which proved to be the difference in the game with 50 percent (15/30) compared to 30 (7/23).
What they said (Nat Hurst)
Coach Nat Hurst wasn’t too disappointed in the loss but hopes that her team continues to get better as the games go on.
Southside Flyers (Thornton 21, Cole 18, M Rocci 17, Blicavs 14, Ernst 12, Jackson 10) defeated Adelaide Lightning 99 (Borlase 25, Bell, Mansfield 14, Talbot 13, Whittle 9, Monroe 8) at State Basketball Centre Victoria
Townsville Fire vs Adelaide Lightning
The Rundown
The script followed a similar story to their previous game for the Lightning. Both teams traded blows across the opening quarter but the Fire took over in the second quarter 24-14 to trail 47-37 at halftime. The Fire through star import Tiana Hawkins had looked to have secure the win leading by 19 points with half a quarter to go. That was till Lauren Mansfield caught a light with 13 points in the final term including four of five from the land of plenty to get the Lightning back within six points and a run of 2-15.
Borlase and Whittle closed it to 80-79 before Karlie Samuelson was fouled and made both free throws. The Lightning tried to execute out of the timeout but were pinged for a 5 second inbound violation and were forced to foul Hawkins where she made both from the stripe to seal the game.
What the numbers said
The Fire shot 53 percent from the field and were consistently difficult to stop through the full game. The rebounds were however the most telling stat in this one with the Fire dominating the first half with 19-15 but the Lightning hitting back to even it up 14 a piece. The Lightning shot a healthy 44 percent from the field, 9/23 from beyond the arc but got to the free throw line and took advantage with 14/16 – Mansfield helped the Lightning shoot 60 percent in the final quarter comeback of 20-27.
What they said (Lauren Mansfield)
“Losing is never fun but there are definitely some things we can take away from that game, obviously we stayed in the game and we fought back so credit to the girls for staying in it”
“We need to build on the momentum and try not to have so many lapses”
Townsville Fire 84 (Hawkins 33, Samuelson 20, Reid 12, Ruef 7) defeated Adelaide Lightning 79 (Mansfield, Talbot 18, Bell, Borlase, Whittle 10, Monroe 8) at the Townsville Entertainment Centre
Melbourne Boomers vs Adelaide Lightning
The Rundown
The third road game and second of the weekend was always going to be a tough gig as well as the emotional matchup against former coach Chris Lucas – and to add to that playing last seasons champions. The Lightning stuck with the champions through three quarters before George, Mitchell and Wallace put a gap between them.
The Lightning did fightback late once again but missed some crucial shots late that would’ve snuck them closer – again opportunities slipped to grab the first win but once again showed plenty taking it right up to the top teams.
What the numbers said
Again the Lightning’s second quarter forced them to play catchup 20-14 – the lack of assists and rebounds telling. The Lightning were smashed on the glass 48-32 by the Boomers and allowed the Boomers to shoot the ball at 64.7 percent from beyond the arc.
They did however capitalise on the Boomers 22 turnovers scoring 25 points from them – something to use as an edge against them in the home game in December.
What they said (Jacinta Monroe)
“The first three games the effort has been there but we’ve lost them with a couple of mis-communications here and there. It’s not pressure that I’m one of the new faces as an import for the Lightning – its about gelling coming in doing my job and play hard.”
Melbourne Boomers 85 (Mitchell 23, George, Murray, Wallace 16) defeated Adelaide Lightning 81 (Talbot 23, Borlase 17, Monroe, Whittle 13, Mansfield 8) at Parkville Sports Centre
Adelaide Lightning vs Sydney Flames
The Rundown
It was over 1003 days since the Lightning played at the “Lighthouse” (now known as Adelaide 36ers Arena) – and the home team weren’t mucking around. With Monroe setting some on-ball picks to free up the shooters including the Lightning stroke of Mansfield – the Lightning led 24-15 off a Borlase buzzer beater. Monroe introduced herself to Adelaide fans with a Mon”no” rejection and Whittle was hustling hard for rebounds and scores.
The night belonged to Mansfield though as she shot 7/7 from beyond the arc for a perfect night and home victory.
What the numbers said
The Lightning shot 80 percent from the field in the first seven minutes to open the game and that trend continued. They had 54 percent at the half and dominated rebounds 22-16 – that produced an 11-0 run that put them in the box seat.
With Mansfield’s help they shot 9 of 18 from the perimeter up to three quarter time.
What they said (Kierstan Bell)
“It felt really good (playing in front of the home crowd) – this is just the beginning we played really well but now we got to keep rolling. You know what it takes to win (coming from a winning culture from a WNBA championship team) and this first one felt really good and we just got to keep feeding off this.”
Adelaide Lightning 87 (Mansfield 23, Bell 22, Whittle 12, Borlase 11, Monroe 7) defeated Sydney Flames 67 (Froling 21, Mangakahia 15, Heal 13) at Adelaide 36ers Arena
Adelaide Lightning vs UC Capitals
The Rundown
Two in a row on paper was always a likely outcome but with Jade Melbourne back in the lineup for the Caps and two rookie coaches going head to head in Hurst and Veal – it ended up being much closer till the key moment of the match. The Lightning started strong before the Caps found a way to fight back into it.
Thats when the Bronze medallists Talbot and Whittle stepped up as they engineered a 12-0 run and finished the second half with 20 between them help the Lightning take out their second in a row.
To add to that Borlase put in another performance beyond her years to drop nine final quarter points and Monroe got rolling for 11 in the final term to seal the win.
What the numbers said
The Lightning got off to another great start shooting 61 percent from the field and dished eight assists.
The key moment in the game was when the Lightning were down 41-47 – the assist count dropped from the first quarter to four assists in 15 minutes showing the Caps stepping up the defence and seizing the lead.
Thats when the home side flicked the switch and went on a 33-16 run which included that 12-0 run – it was laden with 10 assists, a rebound count of 17-18 evening up the boards and an increase of 10 percent in shooting percentage from the half. The Lightning finished with 19 points from turnovers, 14 second chance points and 11 fast break points.
What they said (Izzy Borlase)
“I just got out and ran in the last quarter – we had the energy from staying at home during the week. It really set us up to play as we love playing here at home.”
Adelaide Lightning 90 (Monroe 19, Whittle 18, Borlase, Talbot 13, Bell 9, Mansfield 8) defeated UC Capitals 80 (Burrell 20, Bunton 13, Swain 11, Melbourne 10, Munger 9, Whittle-Harmon 7) at Adelaide 36ers Arena
Adelaide Lightning vs Southside Flyers
The Rundown
There was plenty of anticipation for this one with a couple of superstars in Lauren Jackson and WNBA Dallas Wings Kayla Thornton and the rest of star-studded Flyers team in town. But it wasn’t to be…
Jackson was struck down by gastro on the Thursday and Thornton picked up a minor groin injury that kept her out but nevertheless the Flyers stood in the way of the Lightning gaining three in a row.
The Lightning got off to its usual fast start before the Flyers assumed control in the second half of the first term 17-26. It was the two imports that stepped up their game to bring the homeside back into it at the half 38-40- as they both registered double figures.
They continued on from there in the third as Bell and Monroe dropped 17 points between them to give the Lightning a 28-15 quarter and a handy buffer 66-55 at three quarter time – that included a 16-0 run. Bells’ work on the offensive glass needs to be noted too as she collected five of the Lightning’s 10 offensive rebounds for the term to create 8 second chance points.
They combined for 45 points together in the game including 34 after quarter time to give the Lightning an undefeated home record of 3-0 to win 91-72 in front of a big Saturday night crowd at the arena.
What the numbers said
The Lightning were down 20-34 in the second quarter when they turned the corner in this one. They first of all started to look after the ball – to that point they had 9 turnovers. They only gave up 11 more after that for the remainder of the game.
Secondly they started to move the ball better – they had 23 assists to finish with 29 for the match.
Thirdly – after being 0/12 from the three point line – they shot 50 percent for the remainder of the match to finish 8/28.
That resulted in an 18-6 turnaround in the second quarter and a run of 16 unanswered points. The Lightning were 71-38 from that point…
What they said (Marena Whittle)
“They got us in the opening game of the season so this was definitely redemption and we were really happy with getting them in this one. KB (Bell) really came out of her shell in this one so we just kept giving her the ball. We turned around our physicality just prior to half-time and that changed the match.”
Adelaide Lightning 91 (Bell 23, Monroe 22, Talbot 12, Mansfield 11, Borlase 9) defeated Southside Flyers 72 (M Rocci 26, Blicavs 16, Cole, Ernst 9, Bishop 8) at Adelaide 36ers Arena
Bendigo Spirit vs Adelaide Lightning
The Rundown
Knocking off the unbeaten Spirit who have had their best start to a season since their 2012-2013 one would’ve been a very good scalp to claim.
Alas the script followed a similar pattern for the Lightning on the road – close but not quite.
There wasn’t much in it with both teams trading blows but the Spirit seemed to hold the three-four basket lead continuously. Eventually it was Kelsey Griffin of the Spirit who put the game away as she led her team to a 50 percent from the field final quarter. The Lightning did shoot 42 percent but a couple of late errors gave the Spirit the opportunities to close the match.
One huge plus for the Lightning was Chelsea Brook. She had her best game of the season so far showing great signs in her adjusted role off the pine with 9 points at 80 percent, 3 rebounds and an assist.
What the numbers said
The Lightning’s three point percentage was a little down dropping 27.3 percent for the game while from the Spirit’s turnovers of 14 the Lightning grabbed 13 points compared to the Spirit’s 29 points off the Lightning’s 19 turnovers.
Spirit’s Kelsey Griffin’s stat line of 30 points at 61 percent, 10 rebounds, 6 steals and 3 assists was the difference in the game earning her player of the week honours in the process.
Bendigo Spirit 84 (Griffin 30, Maley 19, A Wilson 16, Froling 11) defeated Adelaide Lightning 75 (Monroe 16, Bell 15, Talbot 12, Borlase 11, Brook 9) at Mildura Sports and Entertainment Centre
Catch all the basketball action Sunday afternoon Dec 18 at 3:00pm at the Arena when the Adelaide Lightning play the Melbourne Boomers
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 