By JARROD POTTER
DANDENONG got the job done for one of their favourites on Saturday – overcoming a resilient Sydney Uni Flames to smash out a 100-85 win.
Making sure the lasting memories would be positive for Jenna O’Hea in her milestone 200th WNBL match, the Rangers had to fight back from deficit to snuff out the Flames.
Lighting it up for the ABC cameras, Dandenong and Sydney Uni were hitting everything en route to one of the higher aggregate scores for a match this season.
Foul trouble and suspect refereeing plagued both teams and left Alice Kunek, Kayla Pedersen and O’Hea circling foul-outs. This left Leilani Mitchell to steal the show as she racked up 27 points, nine assists, three steals and four rebounds in her best game for the franchise.
Mitchell to Pedersen continued to be an effective strategy in the post for Dandenong – with Mitchell targeting the Rangers’ centre for a number of assists to set up bucket after bucket.
Dragging the Rangers back into the match, Mitchell’s third-quarter was sensational – hitting her shots, drawing fouls and causing a number of steals.
The Flames stayed in the fight with the long range game as Alicia Poto (17 points) drilled five-three pointers including three in a hot-streak in the third term.
The Rangers managed to jump Sydney in the final term to build up a solid lead and take a comfortable 15-point win in the end.
Dropping shots as she’s done all season, O’Hea (18 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) pulled up just short of a well-deserved triple-double while Pedersen (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Kunek (17 points, 6 rebounds) tip-toed around foul trouble to post some impressive numbers.
Dandenong’s defensive pressure in the second half better resembled a side with championship ambitions – with Natalie Novosel (11 points, 4 steals, 3 assists, 6 rebounds) featuring heavily in the defensive pressure.
Rangers coach Mark Wright said while the score was up for the Flames he was happy with the defensive efforts of his charges.
It’s no good looking up at the score after the game and seeing 85 for the opposition scoreline, but it’s nice looking to the other side and seeing 100,” Wright said.
“I’ve always said we play an exciting brand of basketball that the crowd and our fans enjoy and it becomes a shootout but we were playing ‘D’ and we did hold them to 39 per cent, so defensively we did ok.”
Promising numbers for the Rangers including a 9-2 advantage in steals and a 25-16 assist count and Wright believed the positives defensively set up Dandenong’s best results offensively.
“Sometimes you have to take some chances defensively to create opportunities for yourself and I though they shot it well,” Wright said.
“I thought Poto shot it beautifully and you take a chance when you play a zone about who is going to hit shots and who is not.
“I think in the end we got our personnel right – who we closed out hard on and who we stayed short on and I think we got that right towards the end.”
The win gives Dandenong a 10-3 season to secure second place heading into a top-of-the-ladder showdown with Bendigo on Friday night away to finish the 2013 half of the season.
