24 Jun WNWBL Round 1 Wrap
In a humble Lidcombe basketball gym that hosts everyone from casual hoopers through to the Sydney Kings, you’d be hard pressed to find a better one on one battle than the one that played out between Annabelle Lindsay and Georgia Munro-Cook on Sunday afternoon.
In game three of their Round 1 WNWBL clash, Sydney Uni’s Lindsay and the Blues’ Munro-Cook dropped 43 points each as they looked to give their respective teams the ascendancy.
After trailing at halftime in both Saturday games, the Blues were determined not to let the Flames take control in game three, using a 24-17 second quarter to turn a 1 point quarter time lead into an 8 point advantage at the main break.
Munro-Cook and Lindsay traded baskets to start the game, before the Blues’ run in the second was fueled by 18 points from Munro-Cook.
Lindsay’s 43 points included back to back three pointers in the fourth quarter and while the Flames got within five with a minute to go, the Blues held on with Munro-Cook finishing with the final basket to give the Blues a 72-64 win and something to take away from the weekend after Sydney Uni secured two wins on Saturday.
“We know the Blues are a fantastic team with a lot of great players, a lot of ex-Australian players so you’ve got to try and respect everyone. We just talked about tightening up our ‘D’ and focusing on the threats first and making sure the threat hierarchy is where we needed it to be and making sure everyone had someone,” said Hannah Dodd.
The Blues’ Kylie Gauci says with some new players in the team, the side still needs time to get used to one another in order to not let games like the Saturday contests slip away.
“I feel disappointed because I felt like we had the edge over them and they just got away from us and we couldn’t get it back,” said Gauci.
“It was more so us with our turnovers and getting stops on defence. I think it was more our errors rather than anything than what they were doing.”
Over in Perth the Wheelcats were too strong in their opening three games, accounting for the Queensland Comets.
Returning to the game after a brief hiatus, Amber Merritt dominated the scoreboard averaging 30.1 ppg and 7.7 rpg while Georgie Inglis played a pivotal role in her return.
“It was so good to see Georgia Inglis and Amber Merritt getting up and down the court again. Still being competitive, enjoying their time on court, and looking like they had never left the game,” said Wheelcats’ coach Michelle Swain at the conclusion of the weekend.
“Having three games in under 48 hours is a big effort for anyone. Both teams gave their all and competed right till the end.”
“However, they were not alone, Taisha Ovens, Sarah Vinci, and junior player Ebony Stevenson had an amazing start to the season. Not only in their own games, but also with the ability to motivate and guide others. I am very invested and interested in the development of Ebony. As she is one to watch, for the future of women’s wheelchair basketball.“
The WNWBL resumes on 13th & 14th July with Sydney Uni hosting Perth and Queensland hosting the Blues.