Geez, I'm gobsmacked that the last post I made in the WNBL Round 5 Topic was modified/ & part deleted at the request of a paid employee of the TVille Fire! I stand by original post 100%, I was there at the game & there was a complete over reaction by the Fire Coach over a knee brace belonging to Swords! Perhaps the Fire organisation should put more effort in to correcting their shaky start to their WNBL season instead of asking for sanctions on factual comments on the Hoops Website. Perhaps their a little heat struck in North QLD or a little bit precious???

^ Is that you Michaela? Well if that's the case why did the Fire ask for the post to be modified in the first place? The Flames Coach also was letting his players know at half time that the Fire Coach was more pre-occupied in talking to the umpires about Swords knee brace than being in his own rooms talking with his own players? #KneeBraceGate

Water under the bridge folks, let's move on.:0)

I'm at the Lynx on Fri night - I'll post up a report here.

Must win game at home for Perth against Rangers, they have a tough stretch of road games coming up in Rd 8 & 9 against SEQ & Townsville then Boomers & Rangers.

Yep. And according to Roy Ward Rangers have Cunningham and Clydesdale back for the game. Rangers win last week snapped their 2 game 'wobble' and they would see this game as vital and 'winnable'. But the Lynx have here a golden opportunity to win a season series against a very strong side.

Whoa, what's that? Kayla Standish signed with the Lightning?

Great to see her back in the League! And yes, to the sponsors that made it possible, the League depends on people like them. A tradition continues.

"Rangers have Cunningham and Clydesdale back"

D'oh!

(I'm happy to have them back healthy, but they should have waited an extra game before returning, just to be extra safe ;)

On another note, I was disappointed to see last that last round, Sportsbet didn't offer any WNBL game betting, and it's the same this round.
I can bet on Kyoto Hannaryz v Osaka Evessa but not my own team :-/

Great to see Standish back, she was really impressive in her first year with the Fire but struggled a little in her second when Suzi came on board. She can create her own shot and has good mobility and size.

That's a big call. Back-to-back road games is a big ask at the best of times, but in tonight's close game Mitchell & Ruef both played 35+ minutes.
Hope you're right though. Sounds like a real gutsy effort tonight @ Sydney.

Thanks for the Sportsbet note, other anon. You're right - there are some odds up now.
Perth $2.00, Rangers a very generous $1.72. Jumping on that one.

Full credit to Adelaide for really contesting for 4 quarters. They were effective in disrupting the Flames offensive rhythm for almost the entire game. Adelaide's collapsing 'D' managed to minimize the Flames height advantage inside and with 5 players scoring in double figures the Lightning weren't going quietly. It was a pretty ugly win for the home team. A better effort in the second half got them across the line. Not sure what to put their flat first half down to. Anyway, more work required.

Well, if Mijovic plays like that a bit more often this team could really cause some trouble.
Real nice win tonight by the Lynx.

Congrats, a fantastic win for the Lynx. Changes the whole mood of the team for that trip to Bendigo I would think.

Bendigo seem to be a bogey team for us, but after winning this game it feels like a "free hit" of sorts travelling over there.

Was strange to see Cunningham not used all game until very late ... far too late.

Sami really seems to enjoy playing the Rangers. Was back to her disruptive best again tonight on defence to go with her 16 very efficient points.

Great to see Carley doing her damage in and around the paint for once. Best game I think I've ever seen her play.

Will this round be streamed on the Internet?

Wow - Sammy Whitcomb was sensational - her steals were an absolute highlight .
Good game but basically once Perth worked out their defence, it was almost flattering to the Rangers.

Perth really pushed the pace, and it told in the last quarter - though I do wonder if it is going to impact us on Sunday.

Blicavs and Kennedy were excellent for the Rangers however I thought Phillips was underplayed.

Perth however just kept coming. Tomlison has serious wing span and even though she is not the quickest she fought a good battle, both Laney and Lavey were almost trying too hard in the 1st half, but both got going.

Last point Rangers seemed overly concerned with the calls ....to the point where I think they distracted themselves at a critical point in the 3rd qtr. Refs missed a few calls but you lose cred when you are arguing about a travel when you literally tap danced.

However the night belongs to Whitcomb ...shot at 60%, and this really opened up the floor for Mijovic who was also excellent.

Not often you see a 0-7 team as $1.30 favourites but that's what the Caps are paying atm vs the $3.30 Lightning.

The question is whether the Lightning have enough left in the tank after last night. They did all share the load, but it is a quick turnaround. I'm leaning toward the Caps in this one.

Way to go, Lightning!! :D

Standish 20 & 10 off the bench.

Shame, Canberra, shame.

Montgomery is a chucker. Looks like Bibby was in full chucky mode as well. (which is not unusual for Bibby ... that's her game and it is often very effective) So I guess there weren't too many shots left over for Talbot.
Her low shot count certainly jumped out at me too when I looked over the boxscore. She should not be taking only 6 shots a game unless the D is really trying to force the ball out of her hands (and even then, her team should have counters for that)

Jarry is faster than Talbot? Did Talbot break both her legs today or something??

Jarry is not fast, never has been. Great basketball IQ but not fast, no way.

I knew it would take some time for Standish to fit into the Adelaide team. It took her 24 hours.

Perth look like getting a valuable away win over Bendigo, they keep impressing.

Jarry was certainly very fast going coast-to-coast before her injuries. Haven't watched her this year to tell if she's slowed.

Maybe she has good straight line speed from end to end but that is of limited practical use in a basketball game. You'd never call her quick.
She has plenty of other great attributes to make up for that though, and the fact that she's hitting her jump shots this season is very nice news, as it has been a significant hole in her game.


What a weekend by the Lynx :D
Took care of the Rangers at home, and then knocked off the Spirit in Bendigo - the only team we hadn't been able to beat so far this season.
Another efficient game off the bench by Mijovic. 16 points with 7 FGA, 4 boards and a couple of blocks. Watch your back, Burton, you've got someone gunning for your starting spot.
Really solid looking boxscore for the Lynx today. Lots of contributors, including 9 & 4 from Chilcott. Stoked!

End-to-end speed is very useful if you're a rebound and run type player.

> Shall we write caps off for the season already?

Well they certainly aren't making the finals from 0-8.


> do you guys think boomers are underachieving given their roster?

There's no shame in losing the Queensland road double of death IMO. With the strength of this league some good teams are going to miss the finals. Maybe Boomers will be one of them but I'm reluctant to say that they are underachieving.
Madgen & Penaluna have been huge but they definitely aren't getting enough help. Kunek & Garrick are talented but very inconsistent. They've both been disappointing for mine, as has Thompson, who seems to have gone backwards this season. Not sure what the go is with her.


> Caps are gone...Lightning in trouble.

Lightning are in less trouble now than they were a couple of weeks ago. They should feel pretty good about how they're travelling IMO, especially considering they're lucky to even exist this season. Excellent weekend pushing Sydney to the limit and then knocking off the Caps. They won't play finals but there's a lot to like about them.


> It is refreshing to see SEQ, Flames, and Lynx are doing so well. But can they really challenge Fire or Spirits come Finals time?

Bendigo don't look the same team to me as seasons past. To me they're just in the same mix as plenty of others, not a level above like they used to be.
Sydney I rate. Maybe not outstanding on paper. How is a team that starts Hayley Moffatt sitting in equal first place? Make-a no sense! But they play great as a unit. Ebzery is first class, Tupaea has come into her own this season, and Swords & Tinkle are a quality combo inside. Plus they're still easing Cox into action as well. A more than handy veteran presence off the bench.

The Fire is still the team to beat, they have talent galore, but they're not invincible this season.

Standish makes a big difference for Adelaide, allows other players to slide down a rung and play roles they're more comfortable with.

WNBL Top 30 by Efficiency

22.9 Suzy Batkovic TSV
21.0 Gabrielle Richards BEN
20.9 Kelsey Griffin BEN
19.9 Elyse Penaluna MEL
18.1 Carolyn Swords SYD
17.9 Katie-Rae Ebzery SYD
17.8 Denesha Stallworth SEQ
17.0 Tess Madgen MEL
16.9 Sami Whitcomb PER
16.7 Cayla George TSV
16.7 Annalise Pickrel DAN
16.0 Lauren Mansfield SEQ
16.0 Louella Tomlinson PER
15.6 Rachel Jarry SEQ
15.5 Stephanie Talbot UCC
15.0 Kayla Standish ADL
14.9 Sara Blicavs DAN
14.4 Mikaela Ruef ADL
14.3 Ify Ibekwe SEQ
14.0 Tahlia Tupaea SYD
13.3 Leilani Mitchell ADL
13.0 Stephanie Cumming DAN
12.8 Joslyn Tinkle SYD
12.6 Tamara Tatham TSV
12.0 Mia Murray TSV
11.9 Kelly Wilson BEN
11.9 Abby Bishop UCC
11.9 Nadeen Payne SEQ
11.3 Betnijah Laney PER
10.6 Belinda Snell BEN

I think Paul was referring to Ruef and Bowen for Adelaide, neither of whom should be expected to compete against all the tall centres in the WNBL this season. Acquiring Standish should also help the development of Bygate, as well as making the Lightning a tougher proposition for all their opponents.

Bendigo Spirit are turning unpredictability into an art-form. They did have a daunting early season schedule. But after the loss at Adelaide, their schedule provided for 2 games at home over 2 rounds. After the win over the Stars last round I thought here they go, finally they're rolling. Again they had a week to prepare for the Lynx who were on the back end of a dbl-header, and look what happened. But how good were the Lynx? It must have been satisfying for Lavey to perform so well (alarming number of turnovers amongst Spirit guards). AFAIC Tomlinson deserves gold and green garments, at least in lead up camps. What a barn-storming Round for the Perth Lynx!

Fire getting the win against a Boomers team not firing on all cylinders and battered by 3 dbl header rounds in a row. What a way to finish a hectic period in the schedule - a Qld road trip ending with the WNBL Champs who are coming off an unprecedented 2 losses in a row. From the play-by-play, just into the 2nd Quarter Boomers go ahead 21-20 off an Oliver fg but from then on only Tess Madgen can score for them and the Fire take a 44-29 lead at the half on the back of a Molloy tech. The circumstances surely enough to draw purple tears.

Boomers are missing Rebecca Cole badly

From what I've heard she might be back in the new year?

*Shock*

Another injury setback for Lauren Jackson.
Now ruled out until next year.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/act-sport/canberra-capitals-news-20151116-gl0oof.html

Lauren is effectively retired and has been for 2 years. No way will she get to the Olympics and quite frankly I hope she doesn't. Let some others who have actually played and will continue to play get the opportunity. Only reason she seems to be hanging on is the exorbitant contract that Canberra and BA signed some years ago.

That's one of the silliest/most insulting things I've read about LJ for a long time. She's a competitor of the highest order and has given everything to basketball. Get a clue.

That's very harsh on LJ. She doesn't WANT to be injured.

The Caps woes and the frustrations of her own injury setbacks are combining to make this a bleak scenario for everyone. LJs career and her immense stature in the world of women's hoops, don't deserve the tragic finale that seems to be unfolding.

Batgirl and Hammer scoop the October honours whilst Tahlia Tupaea is awarded player of the round!