AS THE smoke clears, Dandenong will wonder what could’ve been after getting ground down by the giant-smashing Townsville Fire in Sunday’s WNBL preliminary final.
The less said about Dandenong’s first quarter the better – simple shots were missed as the Rangers missed five long-range attempts and shot at 5/20 for the term against Townsville’s more efficient 5/12 to trail 14-15 at the first break.
Despite the foul trouble, despite the injury issues – Dandenong held in the contest.
At three-quarter-time, the Rangers had drawn the margin back level, 52-52, hitting 12 of the last 16 points in the quarter via some sharp work by rotation players Aimie Clydesdale and Al Downie.
Townsville ignited in the last term, bringing back on centre Jess Adair – on the precipice of ejection with four personal fouls – to immediate effect as she reeled in two crucial lay-ups to push the Fire out to a 59-54 lead.
Dandenong conceded five turnovers in the first five minutes of the final term, eventually creeping out to eight as they couldn’t keep possession in the crunch moments.
Townsville long-shooter Micaela Cocks showed the ice-cool calm needed to reel off back-to-back threes – hitting four-of-five for the match – which knocked Dandenong down for the count, leaving them to foul-stop the clock and wonder what could’ve been in the 14-point loss.
Jenna O’Hea toiled all afternoon to keep the Rangers in the match, but foul trouble and an amazing on-ball defensive effort from Fire’s Jess Foley, a former Dandenong Ranger herself, kept her quieter than usual – with 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
Kath Macleod battled to conceal a visibly concerning knee injury sustained against Bendigo last weekend – managing 27 minutes, Macleod showed spurts of her true capabilities, but was unable to work at full capacity. The silver lining came from Clydesdale – picking up 15 minutes at point guard in the final – one of her larger workloads this season. She came up trumps with four points, two rebounds and an assist, in an experience-boosting encounter against Townsville’s gun guard Rachael Flanagan.
Rangers coach Mark said the style of basketball Townsville forced Dandenong to play proved the difference in the final outcome.
“We’re gutted and devastated – at the end of the day if you can’t produce your best basketball, then bad things happen – obviously Townsville can make you play pretty ordinary and shoot the ball ordinary,” Wright said.
“If you shoot the ball that bad, you’re not going to win many games if any.
“What more can they (Townsville) do than beat Adelaide in Adelaide and us at home, they deserve everything they could get and hopefully it will be a good final.”
Wright was pensive about his side’s inability to get the job done three weeks in a row – copping late match fade-outs against Adelaide, Bendigo and Townsville to fade out of the finals.
“Last year we were able to hold off teams with big shots and we haven’t been able to do this for the last three games,” he said.
“We lost to Adelaide by a few, and we couldn’t make big shots and we lost to Bendigo and couldn’t make big shots and now in the same theme, we’ve formed a habit of not making big shots.
“At the end of the day you have to be realistic and given what’s eventuated over the last three weeks – we’re not the team that should be in the grand final and Townsville clearly are.”
It leaves only the biggest match of the season remaining with the Bendigo Spirit hosting Townsville on Sunday afternoon at Bendigo Basketball Stadium in the WNBL grand final. Tip-off is at 4pm.
