Flames keep firing
A DARCEE Garbin- led Townsville Flames delivered another offensive clinic in disposing of Gladstone Port City Power 104- 68 at Townsville Stadium last night.
The top- of- the- table Flames secured a tenth win in 11 matches this year with relative ease, the secondlast visitors unable to contain Townsville’s attacking firepower.
It was Townsville’s biggest points tally of the season as they sent another warning to the rest of the Queensland Basketball League.
The Townsville Heat also had a winning night by finishing the men’s game with a 102- 71 win over their Gladstone opponents.
Garbin finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists after sitting out most of the final term after the Flames had built a 22- point lead at the final break.
Alex Fowler, recently selected for the Australian Sapphire’s under- 17 world cup campaign in Belarus next month, racked up 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Townsville, while Miela Goodchild finished with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Amanda Frost ( 27 points) was the leading light for the Power as the Flames further stamped themselves as a major championship threat.
“When I looked at the schedule and mapped out the first ten games, this is a better start than I mapped out realistically,” Flames coach Mike StMaurice said.
“Early on we talked about them ( Gladstone) being a good three- point shooting team and it was a process of playing up tempo on offence, and getting into them on defence.”
Townsville dominated the back end of every quarter and it was revenge for the side after they lost both their clashes with the Power last year.
Flames point guard Haylee Andrews contributed five points, 10 rebounds and four assists in her final game for the club before she heads to University school. QBL ROUND NINE TOWNSVILLE Flames 104 ( D Garbin 22pts, M Goodchild 20, A Fowler 17) bt GLADSTONE PORT CITY POWER 68 ( A Frost 27pts, T Atkinson 14, M Nanai 11) of Portland for summer