By Marcus Uhe
The Southside Flyers took care of business against a struggling Canberra Capitals outfit in the WNBL on Saturday with a comprehensive 16-point victory at the National Convention Centre.
The Flyers were rarely challenged in the Nation’s capital, leading by 33 late in the third quarter as they picked up their second win this week, after downing Sydney in a thriller on Wednesday night.
A strong first-quarter team, an even spread of contributors saw Southside take a 17-6 lead late in the opening period.
Nyadiew Puoch was the beneficiary of Canberra’s decision to double-team Kayla Thornton on the block, whose size and early dominance was proving too much for the bottom-placed side to handle.
Puoch connected on two threes and a layup, all from Thornton assists in the second term, as the margin ballooned to 22 at the half.
It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Maddison Rocci and Sara Blicavs got amongst the action.
Blicavs’ free throw after a driving layup pushed the lead to 33 with two minutes remaining in the quarter, as Canberra had no answers for the offensive juggernaut from Melbourne’s south east.
Some tenacious defence from the Capitals sparked a bit of life into the contest in the final quarter, as did some cold shooting from Southside, as the margin was reduced to 12 with two minutes left.
The Flyers, who couldn’t miss at times in the first half, didn’t score in the first five minutes of the final period, and leaked points the other way as Canberra put their running shoes on, capitalising on turnovers.
A three ball from Rocci with two minutes remaining proved to be the dagger, as the Flyers closed out the 97-81 win.
The dominant performance meant Lauren Jackson, fresh off her 30-point game against Sydney, could get some valuable recovery time into her injured foot.
Jackson played just 11 minutes and didn’t see the floor in the second half after posting 11 points, three rebounds and two assists to finish a game high +22 on the box score.
Rocci (22 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) was sublime for the Flyers, as was Thornton, who nearly recorded a triple-double off the bench with 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven dimes.
The win draws them level with the Melbourne Boomers at the top of the table with 11 wins, however the Boomers have two games in-hand.
Southside’s marathon road trip will come to a close next week when they travel to Adelaide to face the Lightning on Saturday 28 January.
