Round 4 WNBL Review

: Views: 694

Do you like this article? Share it with your friends.

thebigtip award: up to $200 for best article – Read more

Round 4 WNBL Review

By Scott McKissack on Thu, 04/11.2010

Well this round certainly had it all. Overtime thrillers, big upsets and the mendatory thrashing or 2.

Canberra 93 defeated Adelaide 76
Friday night kicked off in the nations capital as Caberra played Adelaide in what the ladder indicated would be a one-sided game. It wasn't the a game where one big burst decided the game but more a consistent 4 quarter performance. To Adelaide's credit, they did try to match it with the Caps but with Carrie Graf coaching her 300th game for the Capitals, Canberra had the extra motivation needed to win.

Jessica Bibby top-scored for Canberra with 20 points while Angela Marino paced Adelaide with 19 points. Special mention to Caitlin Cunningham on a 7 week trial with Adelaide who chipped in with 14 points and 7 boards.

Votes
3 - Marianna Tolo (Canberra)
2 - Michelle Cosier (Canberra)
1 - Caitlin Cunningham (Adelaide)

Logan 80 defeated Dandenong 68
The league's last unbeaten team has seen their record knocked off in what could be classed a big upset. Logan were responsible for delivering Canberra's first defeat and now they've done the same to Dandenong. Scores were tied at both quarter-time and half-time but then Dandenong fell away dramatically to allow Logan to secure the win to join Dandenong in equal 2nd on the WNBL Table.

Sarah Grahan was a star for Logan with 19 points while Abby Bishop kept Dandenong ticking over with 16 points

Votes:
3 - Kristen Veal (Logan)
2 - Renae Camino (Logan)
1 - Tracey Gahan (Dandenong)

Bulleen 85 defeated Bendigo 55
Bulleen have secured their first victory of the season in a very one-sided Victorian derby as they crushed Bendigo by 30 points. After a very even opening quarter, Bulleen took control completely as Bendigo's offence fell apart completely. The stats were very damning as Bendigo took 4 more shots but knocked down 11 less and shot at an abysmal 28.8% from the field. The reason for this is Bulleen's bigs led by Elizabeth Cambage and Elyse Penaluna forced Bendigo to take more shots from outside and they just couldn't knock them down

Speaking of Cambage, she led the scoring for Bulleen with 19 points while Kristi Harrower led Bendigo with 17 points

Votes:
3 - Elizabeth Cambage (Bulleen)
2 - Rachel Jarry (Bulleen)
1 - Hanna Zavecz (Bulleen)

Sydney 83 lost to Canberra 87 (OT)
Hurrah, we've finally had the first overtime game of the season and my god, what a cracking game it was. Sydney jumped out to a 12 point lead in both the first and second quarters before Canberra reeled it in and the 3rd quarter was Canberra's quarter as they took the lead. To Sydney's credit they came back in the last quarter to tie the game and they should've had the advantage in overtime with this being Canberra's 8th game in 4 weeks. Amazingly, Canberra found more when it mattered to secure what was a memorable win

Carly Wilson led Canberra's scoring with 19 points while Amy Denson led all scorers for Sydney with 23 points

Votes:
3 - Natalie Porter (Sydney)
2 - Amy Denson (Sydney)
1 - Alison Lacey (Canberra)

AIS 86 defeated Adelaide 79
Tonight will go down as the biggest upset the game has seen this year. If Canberra's loss to Logan was a shock, then the AIS winning a game would be a bigger shock. Adelaide were the unfortunate victims but it didn't look that way in the early stages as they opened up an 8 point lead at quarter-time. At this point everyone would've tipped an easy Adelaide win but the fact that the AIS showed a great determination took all by surprise. They took Adelaide apart in the second quarter, held on against an Adelaide surge in the 3rd quarter and then finished off with a memorable win. The battle of the night was between AIS player Gretel Tippett and Adelaide player Teagan Cunningham. Both players got votes with Tippet getting 11 points and 11 boards as opposed to Cunningham's 14 points and 12 boards.

Rebecca Cole led the scoring for the AIS with 17 points while Mia Newley was the game leading scorer with 22 points for Adelaide

Votes:
3 - Mia Newley (Adelaide)
2 - Gretal Tippett (AIS)
1 - Teagan Cunningham (Adelaide)

Townsville 75 defeated Dandenong 68
The QLD trip has proven to be empty-handed for Dandenong as they slipped to their second successive defeat as they threw away a lead to lose to Townsville. The first 3 quarters were see-sawing and tough and at this point Dandenong held a 2 point lead. Convention would suggest that Dandenong would extend their lead as Townsville have been unable to play final quarters this season but instead it was Dandenong that slowed to a stop as Townsville outscored the Rangers 21-12 to win their first game for the year.

Jo Hill led all scorers with 21 points for Townsville while Abby Bishop was the only Dandenong player in double digits with 15 points

Votes:
3 - Tracey Gahan (Dandenong)
2 - Rachael Flanagan (Townsville)
1 - Amy Lewis (Townsville)

So with 4 weeks of the season gone, the leaderboard is slowly starting to take shape however Canberra's Marianna Tolo has opened up a 6 vote lead but she has played some 2-4 games more than her nearest competitors

14 - Marianna Tolo (Canberra)
8 - Kathleen McLeod (Dandenong)
8 - Carly Wilson (Canberra)
8 - Kristan Veal (Logan)
8 - Tracey Gahan (Dandenong)
7 - Michelle Cosier (Canberra)
7 - Elizabeth Cambage (Bulleen)

So ends the Round 4 review of the WNBL