Rangers come under fire

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG coach Dale Waters has taken the softly-softly approach with his Rangers this season, but that patience was beginning to wear thin after Friday night’s 72-60 loss to Townsville at Stud Road.
Waters gave his charges a fearful spray after they slumped to an eight-point deficit by quarter-time, and the short-lived comeback that followed did little to appease the Rangers boss.
Having watched his side slip to its third straight loss and surrender fifth spot to Sydney Uni, Waters admitted he was beginning to tire of the Jekyll-and-Hyde act.
“We drifted in and out tonight, and we don’t have the depth or experience in our group to get away with that,” he said.
“One thing we’ve got to be is switched-on, particularly against a side like Townsville, because you end up paying the price when you’re not engaged in the game.”
Dandenong’s lacklustre start could have been worse but for the efforts of centre Jenni Benningfield (18 points, eight rebounds), who was the only Ranger to score in the first 10 minutes.
Waters’ quarter-time tirade brought the Rangers to life in the second, with Faith Probst (10, 4) and Katie Ebzery (3, 5, four assists) providing much-needed energy off the bench.
Ebzery gave the home side the lead for the first time when she connected on a triple from the top of the key with three minutes on the clock.
Probst scored eight of her 10 points in the second, while Caitlin Ryan (14, 4) added seven of her own to guide Dandenong to a 33-29 half-time lead.
But the Fire’s class came to the fore in the third term, with towering centre Jennifer Crouse (18, 15) and Australian Opals guard Rohanee Cox (17, 6) asserting their authority to re-establish a three-point lead for Townsville by the last break.
Not even the hot hand of Benningfield could get the scrappy Rangers back in the hunt in the last quarter.
Dandenong finished with 20 turnovers to Townsville’s 15, while the Fire had a 12-0 advantage in the second-chance-points category.
“One of the KPIs (key performance indicators) we’ve set for ourselves is the ability to hustle, and we just got out-hustled tonight,” Waters said, before turning his attention to this weekend’s double-header against Bulleen and Canberra.
“There’s no doubt it’s a tough weekend for us. If we can split it, that would be tremendous.”
The sixth-placed Rangers, 5-6 for the season, will play the Boomers (9-4, fourth) at the Veneto Club on Friday night, before hosting the ladder-leading Capitals (12-2) at Stud Road on Saturday night.