Dandenong veteran Michelle Brogan and her team-mates congratulate their Adelaide Lightning opponents on advancing to the WNBL grand final.By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG’S brave playoff campaign came to a tearful end on Saturday as the Rangers were outclassed by Adelaide Lightning 74-64 in their Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) preliminary final.
In what is almost certain to have been the last WNBL appearance of veteran Ranger Michelle Brogan, Dandenong rallied from 14 points down to mount a late charge at the minor premiers, but it was not enough.
Despite the absence of injured import Tracy Gahan, the Lightning had too much firepower for the Rangers, with Renae Camino (24 points, eight rebounds) and Erin Phillips (18, 10, six assists) proving to be almost unstoppable.
Dandenong had its chances early, but failed to convert on a handful of easy shots in the first quarter and never quite recovered.
As it has been all season, the Rangers’ offence was sporadic at best.
While Brogan (18 points, 11 rebounds) was at her relentless best inside, Camino’s lock-down job on Caitlin Ryan (7) left Dandenong with few options from the perimeter.
Still, having progressed to the preliminary final with a stunning comeback victory over Canberra the previous weekend, the Rangers went into Saturday’s clash safe in the knowledge that their season would be judged favourably – regardless of the result.
And those who have admired Dandenong’s tenacity throughout the year would not have been disappointed by a final-quarter surge that saw the Rangers cut the margin to just six.
But the Lightning stars maintained their composure to close the game out at the free-throw line.
In the moments that followed the final buzzer, an emotional Brogan declared she was 99.999 per cent sure that she had played her last game.
She shared warm embraces with Opals team-mates Jenny Whittle and Erin Phillips, whom she is hoping to accompany in her final Olympics campaign in Beijing later this year.
And while Brogan’s teary farewell almost overshadowed the Rangers’ play-off departure, coach Dale Waters was left ruing missed opportunities.
“I guess it was a gallant effort to keep on taking it at Adelaide, but we missed a number of easy looks and that came back to haunt us,” he said.
But after an off-season shake-up of the Rangers roster, Waters says he has been more than satisfied with the team’s progress in his first year at the helm.
“If you look back to 12 months ago when I was appointed, if you’d said we’d make the prelim and push the minor premiers to within 10 (points), I think we would have taken it,” he said.
“We’ve certainly set a good foundation in terms of our game style.
“We’ve been able to blood young players and they’ve all developed aspects of their game.
“So we’ve just got to try and raise the bar again next season.”
Having established Dandenong as the league’s stingiest defensive team, Waters says another perimeter scorer to complement Ryan will be atop his list of recruiting priorities this winter.
And with uncertainty about the intentions of veteran forwards Brogan and Larissa Anderson, a legitimate post threat will also be on Waters’ wishlist.
Meanwhile, off-season ventures will be a distant consideration for the Lightning and the Sydney Uni Flames this Saturday as they battle it out in the championship decider at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre.
The game will be shown live on ABC TV from 4pm.
