Above: Jess Foley looks to drive during Dandenong’s 67-56 loss to Bendigo on Sunday.
By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG is staring at a premature end to its WNBL season unless it can break out of a shooting rut when it hosts Adelaide tomorrow night.
The Rangers succumbed to Bendigo 67-56 at Stud Road on Sunday, surrendering any chance they had of snatching third spot from their Victorian rivals.
That leaves Dandenong to battle it out with Logan, Sydney and Townsville for the remaining two play-off berths with three rounds to play in the regular season.
It also means the Rangers must address an inexplicable offensive slump that has seen them shoot around 30 per cent from the field in losses to Bendigo and Bulleen.
The home side looked the goods on its way to an 18-17 quarter-time lead on Sunday, but was unable to keep pace with a determined Spirit outfit led by veteran point guard Kristi Harrower (16 points, 10 rebounds).
The Rangers were at their iciest in the last term, shooting just two-of-15 from the field as they tried to eat into a nine-point three-quarter time deficit.
Power forward Tracy Gahan (12, 14) was a star again for Dandenong, while Abby Bishop (14) and Kath MacLeod (4) struggled to exert their usual influence on the game.
Bishop played just 24 minutes as she battled foul trouble. MacLeod simply had a rare off night.
Jess Foley and Steph Cumming had a dozen points apiece for the Rangers, while the Spirit’s best contributors included Dandenong discard Toni Edmondson (10).
Coach Mark Wright, whose team has slipped back to sixth spot at 9-9 for the season, noted just how much the loss had hurt Dandenong’s play-off hopes, but refused to question his players’ effort.
“It was just a poor shooting display from us,” Wright said.
“We’re all frustrated and we know we can do better, but I’ve told the girls all year that if we lose giving 100 per cent, then I can live with that. So I’m not going to become a hypocrite now.”
With four games remaining in the regular season, Wright is treating Friday night’s clash against the last-placed Lightning as a do-or-die encounter. A loss in that game, or even Sunday’s match against the West Coast Waves in Perth, and the Rangers will find it tough to keep pace with the Thunder and Flames.
But Wright is keeping the faith.
“We’re not out of it,” he said.
“We always felt that if we could make the finals, we could do some damage – and that hasn’t changed.
“It’s extremely important that we play hard and shoot the ball well (against Adelaide), because it’d be awful if we didn’t win on Friday and had to get on the plane on Saturday knowing that it means nothing.”
Tip-off is at 7.30pm at Dandenong Stadium on Friday night.
