Defence lets down Fire

TOWNSVILLE Fire coach Shannon Seebohm wants to see a greater sense of urgency on the defensive end after the side fell short in their WNBL season opener against the Southside Flyers.

The undersized Fire battled hard in their 81-72 loss to the Flyers in Dandenong on Saturday night after losing star centre Abby Bishop to concussion following a training incident just 48 hours before the game.

Southside controlled the game on their home floor, but the Fire had their moments as the visitors fought back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to slash the margin to six inside the final minute.

However, a defensive breakdown allowed Flyers star Leilani Mitchell to nail a threepointer that snuffed out the comeback and Seebohm said that would be the Fire’s biggest focus at training this week.

“I think we had enough there to win that game with or without Abby and there were positives, but I was really disappointed that we probably shot ourselves in the foot and let a great opportunity to get our first win slip away,” he said.

“A lot of them are on the defensive side. We’re a new group so obviously there’s going to be some growing pains and things like that along the way, but we’re going to need a greater sense of urgency.

“I think the trick for us is defensively we all have to improve and once we have a bit more time together, I’m sure we’ll jell and do that.”

Canadian import Bridget Carleton (20 points, 7 rebounds) topped the scoring for the Fire despite only having three training sessions with her new team before taking the floor.

Darcee Garbin (16 points, 7 rebounds) was also strong while vice-captain Tess Madgen (17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) pumped out a 40-minute performance to try to spark the Fire. “I could’ve rotated some other players through and given her some breathers at times, but she’s one of the leaders of our group and one of our star players so we’re going to rely on her to play heavy minutes from time to time and I thought she did a great job considering that,” Seebohm said.

Fire captain Micaela Cocks was confident the first-up loss wasn’t a sign of things to come as they prepare to host the Adelaide Lightning at Townsville Stadium on Friday night. “It’s a long season. We would’ve liked to have got the win, but we didn’t and we’re not going to dwell on it or have our heads down or anything – it’s too early for that,” Cocks said.

“We are confident that we could’ve got that win with the players we did have (but) just our ‘D’ trans wasn’t great and let them score a bit too many points.

“Adelaide also like to push the ball, so we’ll be working on that.”