FIRE SLOW STARTERS BUT IGNITE CLASSY CAPITALS RUN DOWN
THE Townsville Fire are now the only unbeaten team in the WNBL this season after taking down the Canberra Capitals 76- 66 in their first home game at Townsville Stadium last night.
The Capitals showed they are the real deal with a strong first half, but the Fire’s class shone through with an impressive all- round team performance to run them down.
Canberra’s defence was rock solid in the opening exchanges and the Fire struggled to get their shots away, giving the visitors the chance to claim an early lead.
Mia Murray, playing her 150th game in Fire colours, sparked a 7- 0 run to put the home side in front, but the Capitals hit right back with a scoring spree of their own.
Neither team could break away as the unforgiving rims at Townsville Stadium made shooting tough, but Canberra finished the first term stronger for a 20- 17 lead.
The Fire threatened to take control as they twice drew back level in the second quarter, but the Capitals always had an answer as they held on for a 37- 35 halftime lead.
It finally came together for Townsville after the main break, with import Laurin Mincy ( 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and captain Suzy Batkovic ( 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists) leading a much- improved shooting performance.
The Fire had failed to land a three- pointer from seven attempts in the first half, but they exploded with three in the third term to go up 56- 52.
Townsville had all the momentum in the final quarter as Cayla George ( 14 points, 9 rebounds) enjoyed a late flurry to close out a hard- fought win.
Fire coach Claudia Brassard brushed off suggestions about any inspirational halftime speech, believing that it was her side’s playing depth and fitness that saw them through.
“We just spoke about things that we needed to get better at, on the offensive end particularly,” Brassard said.
“We were scoring in transition and we knew that we could always get those scores, but it was the half- court stuff that we wanted to improve.
“We did a much better job in that second half of, not just moving the ball, but exploiting the mismatches and getting scores over their ballscoring defence.
“We are a deeper team and we’re a fit team and I think that showed in the second half.
“If you looked at the Canberra players, they were down on their knees and huffing and panting and our players were ready to keep running over them.”
Canberra were the surprise packets of the opening round with two wins at home, but coach Paul Gorris wasn’t too disheartened by his team’s slip- up on the road against the powerhouse Fire.
“We were in the game so it’s not a reality check in any way or form,” Gorris said. “We came in with good form and Townsville are always going to be tough at home.”