Firepower not a problem
THE return of Melbourne Boomers captain Jenna O’Hea has the Townsville Fire on high alert ahead of tomorrow night’s top- of- the- table WNBL clash at Townsville Stadium.
The Fire have already clinched the series against the pre- season title favourites and they are eager to make it a 3- 0 clean sweep.
O’Hea missed last month’s 64- 57 loss in Townsville with a calf injury, but the London Olympian has made a strong return to help Melbourne to a four- game winning streak.
The Boomers have some concerns ahead of their road trip, with superstar centre Liz Cambage facing a two- game ban following an on- court incident from last weekend where she appeared to knee Canberra’s Mistie Bass.
But Brassard believed O’Hea’s presence would make all the difference for Melbourne as they come up against the in- form Fire.
“She’s a great player – Opals, WNBA – and she’s super efficient so we need to make sure we get the scout right on her,” Brassard said.
“I think she changes that team. She’s a really smart player. She’ll shoot the shots when she needs to and she shoots at a really high percentage.
“She’s really smart defensively. She gets in the right position and gets a couple of cheeky deflections and that type of stuff. We need to be aware of her.
“I do think we’ve got the size to match up to them compared to some other teams, so if our guards can win the battle over their guards, then we’re probably in good form.”
The Fire are in blistering touch, with both Suzy Batkovic ( 23 points, 14 rebounds) and Micaela Cocks ( 17 points) named in the team of the week after their 101- 78 road win over Adelaide.
Townsville’s bench has been their biggest strength during their three- game winning streak as Cocks, Mia Murray and Darcee Garbin keep the points flowing. Brassard said the bench players were bringing that same intensity on the training court and that competitiveness was helping to drive their surge up the ladder.
“Going back a week, the white team, which is the bench team, demolished the starters the night before a game so that speaks to how competitive they can be,” she said.
“Some of those players on that white team could be starting on other teams and I think it makes training very competitive and the players are super competitive anyway.
“They don’t get to this level if they’re not competitive so training gets very competitive and I think it’s good for us.”