By Nicholas Creely
An injury-depleted Melbourne Boomers have fallen, but not without a fight, as the Dandenong Rangers continued their dominant season over their cross-town rivals on Wednesday 25 January at the State Basketball Centre.
After coming out on top on the previous three occasions against the Boomers, the Rangers completed a clean-sweep and further enhanced their chances of finishing in the top-two at the end of the home-and-away season.
In fact, the Rangers are almost a certainty to play finals now.
The finishing score-line 78-66 was a true indicator of the Rangers dominance and after a slow-going start to the 2017 year have found their niche once again, punishing the Boomers for multiple errors around the court.
In recent weeks coach Larissa Anderson has spoken about the need to cut out the silly errors and the Rangers showed the way against their opposition.
In one of the best individual games of the season, Sara Blicavs (25 points) was spectacular and combined with Steph Cumming (16) to dominate all-corners.
Blicavs, who has been named in the WNBL Team of the Week twice already, looks certain for another reward this week as she continues to build on her already impressive career.
But the star was just happy to get away with the win against their biggest rivals and said the team is looking to build upon its strong from leading into the finals.
“I’m just so happy that we have played Melbourne four times and played well and we now can move on to play other teams,” she chuckled.
“We’re just aiming on getting into finals and trying to hold on to top-spot now – we can then build on our game and work on things right in time for finals.”
Other Rangers to play impressive games were the consistent Aimie Clydesdale, star import Ally Mallott and the stable veteran Jacinta Kennedy.
It was a game riddled with errors, mostly by the Boomers, as the Rangers led virtually from the outset despite a plucky start from the Boomers, and continued on their dominance as the opposition began to get sloppy.
In a great sign for the WNBL in what was the Australia Day Eve game, a healthy crowd of 2638 supporters attended, a record for the State Basketball Centre.
