Flames, Heat secure vital wins Attack sets court alight
TOWNSVILLE’S QBL teams took care of business over the weekend with both the Heat and the Flames recording crucial home victories.
The Flames kicked off the action at Murray Stadium with an emphatic 92- 66 victory over the Cyclones on Saturday before the Heat outlasted the Rockets 80- 73.
Former Townsville Fire teammates Rachael McCully and Darcee Garbin were the chief destroyers in the Flames’ rout of Rockhampton, with the duo combining for 55 points.
Point guard McCully was red- hot from the field on her way to a game- high 23 points on nine of 14 shooting to go with eight rebounds while Gar- bin managed 22 points, seven boards, two steals and a block in the runaway victory.
“I’ve been a bit disappointed with my output in the last couple of games and it was such a huge game for the team on Saturday so I tried to be a bit more aggressive on the offensive end,” McCully said.
“As a team we’ve been struggling a little bit to find our groove, find our roles in the team but I thought Saturday night showed what we can do when we’re at our best.
“We rotated players through quickly to keep pressure on Rockhampton all game and that’s the way we need to play if we want to be there at the end of the season.”
The win improves the Flames side to a 5- 3 record on the year and sees them hold on to sixth spot on the ladder.
In the men’s game, Townsville Crocodiles legend Peter Crawford went off for 31 points to steer the Heat past Rockhampton and stretch Townsville’s winning streak to five.
Crawford was well supported by point guard Josh Wilcher ( 18 points, six assists) and American import Justin Baker ( 18 points, six rebounds) but Heat coach Rodney Anderson was more impressed with his side’s defensive work.
“For the last few weeks we have been working quite hard on our defence and it really paid off for us,” he said.
“The guys were scrambling well, our help defence was great and that helps us in our offensive game by getting us easy looks in transition.
“My little motto … is that our defence fuels our offence and if we work hard on the defensive end, the offence will take care of itself.”
Townsville host Gold Coast on Friday, with the women tipping off at 6.30pm before the men’s fixture at 8.30pm.