More irons in the Fire
THE Townsville Fire are confident they’ll have more scoring punch across the floor this season as they ramp up their WNBL pre- season campaign.
The Fire hit the court for the first time as a unit on Thursday night as they clinched a hard- fought 81- 80 victory over the Townsville Heat Academy.
Both sides turned up their offence as the game went to overtime, with Darcee Garbin, Mia Murray and new import Laurin Mincy among the better performers for the Fire.
Townsville’s scoring spread was an issue last season, with Suzy Batkovic ( 20.92 points per game) and Mia Murray ( 14.08) forced to shoulder most of the workload on the offensive end.
Coach Claudia Brassard said the Fire still had some work to do during the preseason, particularly with their defence, but she was impressed with the squad’s offensive weapons so far.
“It was pleasing to see things are coming together,” Brassard said.
“We’re still missing two quality players ( Cayla George and Sydney Wiese) to come in yet, but I think one of the takeaways from the game is we’ve added some scoring depth.
“When we did the review at the end of last year, something that stuck out was that we lacked that scoring depth.
“We were definitely too reliant on Mia and Suzy all the time.
“I think now players like Laurin can light it up, along with Sydney and Cayla.
“There’s certainly a lot more scoring punch in our roster and that’s something we actively recruited for.”
Mincy was recruited as more of a defensive stopper and someone who could get to the rim, but Brassard said she was pleasantly surprised by the American import’s shooting ability.
“She’s a very good threepoint shooter and she has a really nice shot technique,” Brassard said.
“We recruited her for her length and her defensive intensity, but I think she’s going to open up the floor again as well.
“She’s probably not at the fitness level she needs to be yet and I think that showed.
“She had a really great first half, but she slowed down when the conditioning caught up with her.
“But I think we’ve got a really good player and she’s a great person as well. She’s all in to the team and I think she’s really going to help us.”
WNBL rookie Zitina Aokuso also showed some stunning patches and vicecaptain Mia Murray said the athletically gifted forward was an exciting prospect.
“Zitina’s not backing down as an 18- year- old, which is a really good sign,” Murray said.
“She’s super athletic and there’s some times when she comes off a pick and roll where you actually think ‘ she’s going to dunk this’.”
The Fire will get their first look at a WNBL opponent next weekend when they face the Perth Lynx in two preseason matches for the Burdekin Blitz.