Heat wary of road triple
COACH Rodney Anderson insists the Townsville Heat are keeping their focus squarely on the task at hand for this weekend’s QBL road triple-header as a showdown with the unbeaten Brisbane Capitals looms large on Sunday afternoon.
The Heat take on USC Rip City on the Sunshine Coast tonight followed by the Sunshine Coast Phoenix tomorrow before rounding out the gruelling three-game stretch with the top-of-the-table clash in Brisbane.
Both Sunshine Coast outfits are scrambling for a finals berth, with the eighth-placed Rip City (6-6) having won three of their past four games, and Anderson said the Heat could not afford to make their preparation all about the Capitals.
“We want to try to get that top spot and if you just focus on the third game and drop the first two it’s going to be useTOWNSVILLE sisters Alicia and Keely Froling have helped the Emerging Opals to an unbeaten gold medal at the World University Games in Naples, Italy, after taking down USA 80-72 in the final.
Keely was outstanding throughout the finals and finished with 12 points and five rebounds in the gold less,” he said. “USC Rip are playing really well at the moment. They’re starting to find some form and they’re a really physical, tough team so we’ve got to get through that first one.
“We’ve walked through some plays for the Rip getting ready for them, but we haven’t done anything for Phoenix or Brisbane yet.
“Those ones are going to be on the fly.
“Fitness isn’t going to be a problem, confidence isn’t kind of going to be a problem, and if we’ve got the right game plan then I think we should be OK each game going forward.”
The Heat will take 11 players on the road this weekend and Anderson described their roster this season as the deepest of their back-to-back championship reign.
“The good thing about it is all 11 guys are really good quality. Eddie Warrington – our 11th guy – could make any other QBL roster,” he said.
“He’s a local kid, studying to medal match while Alicia chipped in with four points with some solid free-throw shooting.
The Emerging Opals, coached by new Townsville Fire mentor Shannon Seebohm, came out firing with a 14-4 run to start the contest, but USA fought back to get within four points late in the third term.
Keely and captain Abbey Wehrung sparked a be a doctor, but he can actually come out and play and has been on fire in training.
“Last year especially we were really top heavy, but the guys that were training all year long they were getting more experience and they were getting better as well.
“Guys have just stepped up all over the place now.
“The roster’s really deep and it’s so good to look down the bench and not know who to put in because everyone’s playing really well.” 15-2 run to halt the comeback as they backed up Australia’s gold medal win from the 2017 tournament in Chinese Taipei, which Keely also played in.
“I am super proud, super proud of the girls, of the whole team,” Wehrung told the World University Games website. “It is really exciting. We knew the game was going to be tough, but we were super fired up and determined.”