By Nick Creely
The Dandenong Rangers are beginning to finally click into gear in the 2017/18 season, and have moved to a 3-3 record after a mixed weekend of results.
Travelling across the Nullabor to play the Perth Lynx on Friday night, the Rangers were out-muscled 88-78 in a hard-fought clash.
After the lead changed hands up to ten times in the first half, the Lynx got a hot start to the second half – courtesy of some brilliance by Sami Whitcomb (22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists) to surge clear after winning that term by 11 points.
Steph Blicavs (24 points) tried in vain to keep her side in the contest as the Rangers ran out of steam late.
Desperate to atone for the Lynx loss and get their season back on track, the Rangers hosted Sydney Uni at Dandenong Stadium on Sunday in front of a capacity crowd.
The Rangers got off to a nice start, leading 19-18 after a strong first quarter.
It was similar in the second quarter, with the scores dead-level at half time, before the Flames got the break in the third quarter, surging clear by six points.
But urged on by the home crowd, the Rangers bravely came from behind with a 16-8 final term to steal a win from the jaws of defeat after Kayla Pedersen pulled off a clutch game winning steal on Asia Taylor to win the game.
Four starters hit double digits for the Rangers, with Steph Blicavs (14 points), Kayla Pedersen (12), Sara Blicavs (11) and Tess Lavey (11) all putting in strong showings.
“We’re getting better at closing out games. We were on the end of a few of them last year, whereas this year it is going the other way. I put that win down to keeping them to eight points in the last quarter,” Rangers coach Larissa Anderson said post-match.
Anderson said it was important to bounce back after a hectic two weeks of travelling for her team, but said the Lynx taught them a good lesson.
“A lot of credit needs to go to Perth (on Friday night) – that was our fourth game in eight days, and it’s having an impact but we’ve got to get used to it,” she said.
“Perth played such a good team game on Friday night, and we had to let it go very quickly, but I’m proud the girls bounced back despite a few lapses.”
The fifth placed Rangers will play top of the ladder Adelaide Lightning in Adelaide on Thursday night.
