Suns take 1-0 lead

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns have taken a 1-0 lead over the Lakeside Lightning in the best of three WSBL playoff quarter final series with a stirring 65-62 victory at the Furnace.

Two statistical categories stand out from Saturday’s game: Second chance points and Points off Turnovers. Playoff games are tight and hotly contested and that the Suns were able to win both of these areas comfortably is a telling statistic.

Speaking post-game Craig Mansfield commented "We got great contributions from all our girls tonight.  The intensity was there, the emotion was positive and we were resilient and stuck with it when things didn't go our way, but most importantly we were very together emotionally as a team".

Having met less than a month ago at Lakeside, a game that Lakeside won by 18, the Suns turned in a much better performance, maintaining possession and conceding less turnovers, continuing some good form from last weekend.  Mansfield  added "I was impressed with the level of play Lakeside started the game with and there were a few tweaks to their game plan from the regular season that we didn't expect, we hung in there in the second quarter and half time gave us an opportunity to make some adjustments and swing the balance of the game".

Trailling by 4 points at half time, the Suns put on the stops in the third quarter, turning the deficit into a four point lead, holding their opponents to just four field goals for the quarter. For the Suns Melissa Moyle lead the scoring with 15 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, running the point guard position in the absence of injured Captain Ajay Jones. Jennie Rintala and Sass Knox were the dominant rebounders in the game with 12 each, enabling the Suns to win the rebound count 49-43, to go with 9 and 8 points respectively. Youngster Jorjah Smith was an offensive spark off the bench, especially in the fourth quarter, hitting two crucial three pointers.

"We expected a really tight contest and were happy to get over the line at home.  We have been in this position before and are aware that the job isn't done in the series yet, we go back to training on Tuesday and Thursday to try and perform even better next weekend.   We would like to continue to extend our season as many weeks as possible" said Mansfield.

The series now heads to Lakeside for Game Two on Friday night, at 6:30pm. Game Three, if required, will be played on Saturday night, at Lakeside at 6:00pm.

Article by Steve Trajeski
Photo by Theresa Marshall




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