BURNING DESIRE
TOWNSVILLE Fire rising star Darcee Garbin plans to make every moment count when she hits the floor during the WNBL grand final series.
The Fire’s super sub has been in blistering form heading into tonight’s opening clash against the Melbourne Boomers at Townsville Stadium, helping her club to be just two wins away from a third championship in the last four years.
TOWNSVILLE Fire rising star Darcee Garbin plans to make every moment count when she hits the floor during the WNBL grand final series.
The Fire’s super sub has been in blistering touch heading into tonight’s opening clash against the Melbourne Boomers at Townsville Stadium, with her teammates even calling her ‘ The Microwave’ because she heats up quickly.
Garbin is third for points and rebounds at the Fire – behind only superstars Suzy Batkovic and Cayla George – but it is her most recent performances which will have put Melbourne on notice.
The 188cm power forward is averaging 17.5 points in her past six games and shooting at an impressive 66.67 per cent to give the Fire the most fearsome frontcourt rotation in the league.
Garbin was expected to have a breakout season after captaining Australia to the gold medal at the World University Games, but she struggled to match those lofty standards upon returning to the Fire.
She took some time to adjust to being more of a role player after dominating in the green and gold, but Garbin felt that depth had also helped her explode into form during the playoffs.
The West Australian product insisted her only goal was to help the Fire to win a third WNBL crown, even when that means playing a shorter stint behind Batkovic and George.
“I’m not too concerned about how many minutes I’m playing. As long as the team’s playing well and we’re getting wins and through to a championship,” Garbin said.
“It’s given me a lot of confidence the way I’ve been playing the last couple of weeks. I’m just looking to take that into the game, but I think on any night anyone on our team could play really well.
“Like I say every week, everyone’s concerned about what Suzy and Cayla are doing so it takes the pressure a bit off me and makes my life a whole lot easier.”
The humble 23- year- old may do her best to avoid the spotlight, but Boomers coach Guy Molloy has labelled Garbin the “danger player” ahead of tonight’s game one.
Molloy felt Garbin’s contributions were underrated among the Fire’s star- studded line- up, with her energy and athleticism making her just as effective as veterans like Batkovic and George.
“People look at the Fire line- up and say look at all these great players, but for me the danger player has probably been Darcee Garbin,” Molloy said.
“She’s their third leading scorer now and goes under the radar a bit because of all the other experienced players they’ve got, but make no mistake we’ll be ready to play her.
“Her energy and rebounding ( impresses me). When we last played them in late November she just dominated the rebounding in the fourth quarter and was athletic, got herself into space and jumped over people with her long arms and got second chances. In playoff level basketball, we don’t want to give her that much space to rebound.”
WNBL championship- winner and Fox Sports basketball commentator Carly Wilson described Garbin as the Fire’s “X- factor” with her ability to turn the game in her side’s favour.
“What I love about Darcee is she comes on and does all the little things and does them quietly but really effectively,” Wilson said.
“There’s so many scores by her that often break the back of the opposition. It will be when the opposition has played 20 seconds of good defence and there’s Darcee cutting through the key and getting a wide open layup, getting herself in the right position so someone can dump it off to her.
“Sometimes it goes unnoticed because it just seems she was in the right place at the right time, but that’s not the case. She does her work early to make sure she’s in the right spot.”