Lightning blues let unbeaten Jets off hook

TV JETS are still unbeaten. But they’re “gettable”, according to Lightning coach Jason Ivinson.

Ivinson’s team did everything but win against the Jets on Friday, only for turnovers, lapses, at-times poor finishing around the hoop and an inability to prevent repeat shots to haunt them.

Double-digit giveaways in the fourth quarter alone – many of them from inbound passes – cruelled Lightning’s upset bid as they went down 62-55.

You could mount a case that Lightning played better for longer than Tania Dhu’s squad, but what the Jets achieved in brief patches was damaging.

There was the 8-0 start. The 15-3 run overlapping the second and third quarters.

And the eight-point Jets stretch at the beginning of the fourth period after Lightning closed within two at threequarter time.

“We’re pissed, but we’re happy, because we didn’t switch off and get a 35-point blowout,” Ivinson said.

“We played well enough to win, but I don’t think that’s our big chance. They’re gettable.

“Our defence was great, then when we switched off at times we gave up easy points.

“Our biggest problem was we just could never bridge that gap ... I think if we ever got to the front, I don’t think they win. I think we run over the top of them.”

Hayley Hendricksen (17 points) was terrific at both ends of the court for Lightning, and Hannah Turnbull came up big on the defensive boards, but 15-year-old playmaker Dom Carbone was the shining light.

Carbone (12) has always been a big talent and is increasingly asserting herself against the Territory’s best women this season.

“She’s taking the team and wanting to make it her side,” Ivinson said of Carbone.

“It comes down to all the extra training she’s doing with the elite stuff and what she’s doing on her own … she wants to be better and has a dream.”

Another teenager, pintsized 14-year-old Leah Seden, impressed for the Jets with 12 points to complement Tikesa Dochery-Cole’s 14.

The season’s other narrative – beyond Mission: Beat the TV Jets – is Razzle’s transformation from easybeats to finals contenders.

Genelle Bridge’s basket in the final minute snapped a deadlock for a 57-55 triumph over Brittany Ward-less Palmerston, but it was Rebecca Murray’s 33 points that stood alone.

Eagles extended Ansett’s battles with a 62-50 success thanks to Molly Althouse’s 19 points and despite Ansett centre Erin Boyd’s 25.