Garbin sets sights on taming Taylor
TOWNSVILLE Fire forward Darcee Garbin admits she’s still finding her feet as a starter, but she’s confident she can lock down Perth Lynx star Asia Taylor at Townsville Stadium on Saturday night.
Taylor is coming off a massive round that saw her earn player- of- the- week honours as she averaged 24.5 points and 8.5 rebounds across Perth’s wins over Bendigo and Dandenong.
The American import also torched the Fire in Perth less than a fortnight ago, dropping 21 points including 4/ 6 from outside the arc as the visitors conceded a season- high 98 points.
Garbin is averaging a career- best 10.5 points and five rebounds since earning a starting role this season, but the 24year- old felt she still needed to find more consistency in her performances.
Defence has been a huge focus for the Fire on the training court this week and Garbin hoped the match- up on Taylor would force her lift on both sides of the ball.
“I wouldn’t say that I’ve had a consistent start to the season, but I’m just trying to find my feet and adjust to that role,” Garbin said.
“I’ve got the match- up on Asia Taylor this week so if I can focus on that and lock down defensively then hopefully the offensive side of things will come.
“She ( Taylor) is a tough player. She gave us buckets the other week in Perth and we want to rectify that on our home court.
“She hit a couple of threes on us so it’s just closing the gap and maybe making her put it to the floor a little bit more into our help rotations.”
Acting Fire coach Mark Wrobel said it was crucial that the Fire back their defensive rotations against Perth and he felt Garbin was up to the challenge on Taylor.
“We need to make sure that we do a great job restricting her and we’re not tempted to come in and over help on her, which then leaves our perimeter open,” Wrobel said.
“That’ll be a job that’ll lie with someone like Darcee to try and make sure that she does a great job accounting for Asia to try and help the whole team out.
“She’s still trying to find that role completely and it is a very different role … ( but) every player goes through some sort of adjustment when they come into a new team or a new rotation.
“She had probably one of her better games that she’s played in Perth a couple of weeks ago and we’ll just look for her to continue to build.”