By JARROD POTTER
WNBL – ROUND 15
IT WAS do or die in many ways on Saturday night as Dandenong prevailed in an 82-74 victory over Bendigo.
The eight-point victory ensured three important items were ticked off the Rangers’ WNBL checklist.
Dandenong now has a one-game buffer inside the top four as well as bringing the Rangers within striking distance of the top-two and a home final.
But most importantly, the successful outing secured the series-win over the Spirit who is right in the hunt for a finals spot as well – a crucial success that could prove important in determining who will advance.
The hard-fought triumph was inspired by Dandenong’s efforts that can’t be recorded on the stats-sheet.
Physical pressure, powerful defensive presses, diving on any ground ball and generally hustling Bendigo through their set-plays; it was a night where Dandenong had an overwhelming say in the course of the game.
It wasn’t just physicality favouring the Rangers for a change as the shooting game was just as dominant.
Dandenong rattled the cage in particular through the second term – building an 11-point lead on the back of Steph Cumming (23 points, eight rebounds) and Annalise Pickrel (18 points) effortlessly finding the basket.
Another to step up – in arguably her best WNBL performance yet – was Lauren Scherf (14 points) as the 20-year-old centre terrorised the Spirit’s talls in tandem with comeback queen Jacinta Kennedy (eight points, 10 rebounds).
Joy Burke and Gabe Richards had to contend with the Scherf-Kennedy combination as well as Sara Blicavs (16 points) crashing the key and turning the game on its head time and time again.
Despite injuring herself in the second half, Bendigo forward Kelsey Griffin (22 points) soldiered on to keep the Spirit alive – starting the third term with five points in 50 seconds and reeling in three dogged rebounds.
Belinda Snell’s three would push Bendigo ahead, but from there on the tables turned back in Dandenong’s favour.
The visitors kept in the contest until the final minute when a brilliant Blicavs’ defence-splitting assist found Pickrel free under the ring to finally break the Spirit.
“I think the girls responded exactly how they should,” Dandenong coach Larissa Anderson said. “I know we got away with the win against the Boomers on Monday night… it’s not about Adelaide beating us, it’s just about the performance we put forward.
“I think they responded beautifully tonight – it was such a big win for our club and I couldn’t be more proud of how they’ve stepped up.
“Bendigo is a quality unit and it’s no secret that they’ve been playing pretty well but we showed we match up with them pretty well.”
Seeing the plans click together and pay dividends is especially rewarding with the injuries still mounting for Dandenong with Alex Bunton (knee) and Al Downie (calf) set to return soon to the line-up.
“It’s all about following game plans and they’ve just been so focused this week with their defence,” Anderson said. “For our first year together, the age that we’re in and such a new group I know I keep saying it but I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The win takes the Rangers within striking distance of Perth and Townsville in the top-two, but with a tough schedule ahead Anderson is not gazing towards finals just yet.
We’ve got a lot of work left to do – still have four really tough games left and it doesn’t get any easier,” Anderson said.” I think we made huge steps forward to go back to what we do really well and made Bendigo play our game and that’s what I’m most pleased about.
“The next three games are going to be so hard – we’ve got to go to Sydney and within 12 hours play Canberra.
“That’s going to be a really hard trip, then we’ve got to leave the following Thursday to go to Townsville for a Friday night game.”
