No let up for Fire on road to redemption
REDEMPTION will be the focus for the Townsville Fire as they hit the road for a challenging eight- day stretch against Perth, Dandenong, and Sydney.
Confidence is high in the Fire camp after notching their fourth straight win against Melbourne on Thursday night to cement top spot on the ladder with an 8- 3 record.
Townsville’s only losses have come against their next three opponents and they are determined to make amends, starting with Perth in Melbourne tomorrow for the WNBL’s cluster round.
They will then face Dandenong on Wednesday night before coming up against defending champions Sydney next Saturday afternoon in the televised Fox Sports game.
The Fire have been in sensational form in recent weeks, but forward Darcee Garbin said keeping their series against Perth, Dandenong, and Sydney alive would be crucial to their playoff hopes.
“It’s put our confidence right up there, but we don’t want to get too confident knowing that we’re playing three teams that have beat us, so it’s a bit of a revenge round,” Garbin said. “We want to get one back on all of them because we don’t want to drop any of those series, especially towards the end of the season.
“Suzy ( Batkovic) went down to Melbourne before the season started and said that we should be the favourites. I’d like to think that we’ve put a team together that could be up there contending.”
Garbin notched 1000 career points as she exploded against the Boomers with a game- high 18 points along with nine rebounds and four assists.
The 23- year- old still wasn’t happy with three turnovers, but after a slow start to the season, Garbin felt she finally had her confidence back.
Coach Claudia Brassard sang Garbin’s praises as part of the Fire’s deep bench alongside Mia Murray and Micaela Cocks, which gave them the spark to beat Melbourne.
“I thought Darcee had a phenomenal game,” Brassard said. “We know she’s a highenergy player, but she came out and she was super- efficient, just ripping it at the basket and they couldn’t contain her.
“I thought she had some nice moves, nice finishes, and her rebounding is key for us.
“That’s the strength of this team is that everyone’s going to come in and it’s going to lift again. That’s why we have this team and why we’ve put it together.”
Brassard knows the Fire won’t have it easy with their extended road trip, but she thought they showed against the Boomers that they can overcome adversity and close out tight games.
“We know that the next two weeks for us are going to be really challenging so I think to come out with a grinding win is good,” Brassard said.
“It’s nice to know that we’re a smart team and we executed well when we needed to.”