Rangers reward coach with win

By Paul Pickering
NEW Dandenong head coach Dean Kinsman is excited about his mid-season takeover and hopes the Rangers’ fans can share his enthusiasm after Saturday night’s 82-71 win over Perth.
Kinsman, who joined the Rangers as an assistant this year before switching roles with Dale Waters last week, eased into his new gig with a comfortable victory at Stud Road.
It was Dandenong’s second win of the season and first in front of their home crowd.
They jumped out to a 7-0 start and were never headed, absorbing a late rally from the Lynx to vault above them and into eighth spot on the ladder.
Kinsman said he was more relieved than excited when the final buzzer sounded, but the outgoing Australian Gems coach and former AIS mentor already has a future at Dandenong in mind.
“This is a completely different proposition to (the AIS), so it was pretty exciting to coach a senior team and look at what we can do from where we are,” he said. “I’m clearly looking towards the future and I think the club is as well. The club hasn’t put any pressure on me in terms of a win-loss ratio for the last 14 games, it’s more about how we present and how we go about it.”
They presented well on Saturday night, led by American imports Ashley Lindsey (18 points, 16 rebounds) and Casey Nash (15, 10), and Kinsman hopes to build on that with consecutive home games over the next two weekends.
“We really haven’t played well at home, but I think tonight people saw some glimpses of some better parts of our game,” he said. “We really want to play well here and get people enthused about what we’re doing, so we’ve targeted these next three games.”
Lindsey, who has struggled to find her feet in Melbourne after a promising college career in Texas, sparked the Rangers with six points in the opening term. She had the better of her duel with towering Lynx import Danielle Campbell (17, 5) early as the home side took a 20-15 lead at quarter time.
Perth relied chiefly on penetration from American guard Takia Starks in the first half, while the Rangers moved the ball well to bring the likes of Nash and Stephanie Cumming (13) into the game.
Dandenong’s 39-27 halftime lead blew out to 18 when Cumming nailed a pretty floater early in the third term, before Campbell caught fire to bring the visitors back into the contest.
The long-limbed Lynx centre – scoreless at halftime – dropped 15 points in the space of 14 minutes as her side drew within 10 points mid-way through the final term.
They cut the margin to seven with 1:10 to play, but Rangers Nash and Jess Mahony (10, 5, 5 assists) held their nerve at the free-throw line to ice the game.
Kinsman praised Lindsey and Nash for giving the Rangers a much-needed presence in the paint, where the home side had a 47-32 advantage on the boards.
The new coach has vowed to stabilise Dandenong’s line-up and return players to their specialist positions after an injury-interrupted start to the season.
Dandenong will host the second-placed Townsville Fire at Stud Road this Sunday. Tip-off is at noon.