Palmerston, Lightning put on power shows in final spots bid

THE two challengers for fourth spot fell agonisingly short of grabbing an edge over the other as Palmerston and Lightning as good as locked in Darwin basketball finals berths.

Second-placed Palmerston twice rallied from 11 points down – in both the second and third quarters – to post a 71-64 League Women win over Eagles on Friday night.

The recovery was impressive and timely, given the Power entered the contest off back-to-back losses and were run off their feet early.

Captain Brittany Ward (18 points) was the star, but Palmerston had a good spread of scorers, with Sam Wilson and Haven Hohipa-Wilson each chipping in 10.

“It was huge and we needed it, after coming off Razzle and being down,” Wilson said.

“They were running straight past us (at the start), but we just needed to play our own game and slow it down.

“Instead of always looking for outside shots, we had to look for paint shots as well.

“I think that was our main focus, and rebounds – we weren’t very good (initially) on the boards on going out and meeting them.”

The Eagles’ hopes were not helped when centre Faye Armstrong fouled out with 5:28 to go, when the scores were locked at 56. Armstrong provided a great inside presence to complement her teammates’ speed, but her exit left Eagles with only six players and Sam Sanders fouled out with 17 seconds left.

The Power’s comeback sent panic and stress through the Eagles’ line-up and they slowly unravelled.

Veteran guard Trish Graham (17) even verbally abused stand-in coaches Christian Sarmiento and Michael Preece for pulling her from the game in the third period at 47-47. The 40-year-old was back on court a minute later.

“We all played well tonight and really stepped up ... and having Britt on the court leading us and Edie (Boundry) back was really great,” Wilson said.

“We need to be in the two top spots for finals to get all the chances we can.”

Lightning walked away with a 65-60 overtime success over Razzle thanks to American Hayley Hendricksen’s late intervention.

Hendricksen (18) scored six of the last seven points after Razzle held a 60-58 lead. Genelle Bridge racked up 20 points for fifth-ranked Razzle.

Unbeaten TV Jets trounced Ansett 118-41 as Tikesa Docherty-Cole went off for 41 points.