Flames a force in double duty
THE Townsville Flames have produced an explosive opening quarter to stun the previously unbeaten Ipswich Force 98- 82 and clinch a perfect QBL road double- header.
The Flames bounced back from their first loss of the season last weekend to beat the Logan Thunder 97- 72 on Saturday night before blowing Ipswich off the court with a 37- 9 start yesterday afternoon.
Flames coach Mike StMaurice described it as his side’s best start this season and said they might have caught the Force after backing up night before.
“The assumption is that we might be a bit tired, but we certainly didn’t play tired and we took them out of everything,” St- Maurice said.
“We were able to generate a bunch of turnovers and then get into the style of play that we like – open threes, lay- ups – and then reapply the pressure.
“We finished the first quarter up by almost 30 and that was pretty much ball game for them.”
Flames star Darcee Garbin led by example after being named to make her Australian Opals debut earlier this week, posting 52 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists across the two games. off guard from the
Micaela Cocks ( 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals) was also strong against Ipswich and St- Maurice felt they had struggled to contain that WNBL combination.
“Maybe it was a bit of a confidence boost for Darcee ( making the Opals team) and she was definitely the best player in both games,” he said.
“She was so aggressive in the first quarter. Ipswich have some good players themselves and Darcee really dominated them.
“Micaela Cocks was almost perfect in the first quarter and she was organising us and generating steals and hitting some big shots.
“The combination of the two was quite demoralising for Ipswich.”
The Townsville Heat split their road double- header with a 107- 95 loss to Logan on Saturday night before bouncing back to beat Ipswich 94- 71.
The Heat had the lead early in the second quarter against the Thunder, but they fell away to trail by eight points at halftime and a horror 31- 17 third term proved too much to overcome.
Townsville then reversed their fortunes against the Force yesterday afternoon, dominating the third quarter 25- 12 to clinch a strong win.
Harry Froling ( 19 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists) dominated on the boards in a losing side against Logan while Josh Wilcher ( 23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) led the way in their win over the Force.