Fire says Bishop will start
THE Townsville Fire are confident star centre Abby Bishop will be cleared to make her club debut against the Adelaide Lightning on Friday night after a concussion ruled her out of their WNBL season opener.
Bishop was the Fire’s star recruit this season, but she was a late withdrawal from their trip to Dandenong last weekend after suffering a head knock at training on Thursday.
The Fire refused to use Bishop’s absence as an excuse for their 81-72 loss to the Southside Flyers, but they sorely missed her 191cm post presence as the home side exploited their height advantage.
Bishop trained with her team mates yesterday and Fire coach Shannon Seebohm said it was now a case of following the concussion protocols to ensure she’s fit to take the floor at Townsville Stadium.
“She’s doing well. Her symptoms and everything from her concussion have improved so she’s on now a fivestep recovery process,” Seebohm said. “(Yesterday) was the first step and we’re hoping that step five will be Friday when she’s able to play in the game for us. I still think we had opportunities to win that game (against the Flyers), but we’re looking forward to hopefully having her back and I’m sure she’s going to have a big impact for us.
“She’s highly skilled, brings a lot of offensive firepower, leadership — all those things.
“She’s played all over the world so when you can add a player like that to what we’ve already got I think we’ve got a good chance to get a win on Friday.” The Fire lost no admirers for their performance against the Flyers with Canadian import Bridget Carleton (20 points) leading a late fightback as they trailed by just six points inside the final minute.
Seebohm felt the Fire weren’t far off their best despite the injury setback with Bishop and he believed they would come out strong in their first home game of the season against Adelaide.
“I think at times on Saturday we just lacked the right mindset and probably some effort in certain areas and we’re about to talk about that,” Seebohm said. “I’m sure that when they see the film and some of the areas that we were maybe lacking in they’re going to be easily fixed. It’s always tough when you play your first game away and I know they’re excited to get back in our gym and show how good we are and try and defend our home court.
“Adelaide are a really talented group. They get up and down the floor really quickly so our defensive transition is an area we’re going to focus on and if we get that right we give ourselves a chance to get a win.”