DANDENONG Rangers will enter the WNBL play-offs on a loss but coach Mark Wright believes his side got the best possible lead-in to the post-season with a gruelling clash against Adelaide Lightning at Dandenong Stadium on Saturday night.
The second place Rangers battled the third-place Lightning in an engrossing encounter which was only decided in the final seconds when Lightning and Australian star Suzy Batkovic got the ball and scored with her trusty left hand with three seconds left.
With no time outs left, Rangers import Monica Wright got the ball from the inbound but was unable to get a shot away before the buzzer sounded, giving the Lightning a 71-69 win and bragging rights heading into the play-offs.
Batkovic had a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds while Jenna O’Hea paced the Rangers with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
The Rangers will face Bendigo Spirit at Bendigo Stadium in the qualifying semi-final this Sunday at 4pm while the Lightning will host Townsville Fire in the knockout semi-final.
The winner of the Spirit v Rangers game will host the WNBL grand final.
Wright said his side would take a lot from the intense match-up and would be better for the run as import centre Krista Phillips got to play her first minutes in several weeks after struggling with injury.
“It ended badly for us but with that said and done we couldn’t have got a better hit out before the finals in terms of having to grind it out,” Wright said. “It was a finals game and lucky for us we get to play the real thing next week.”
Wright said Phillips would benefit from more practice time this week while teenage centre Carley Mijovic will also be fine after not being used against the Lightning.
Wright said Mijovic was hit by a bad case of food poisoning during the Rangers’ trip to Queensland the previous weekend but would be fully fit.
He said the Rangers would treat the match like an interstate road trip.
“We will be up there on Saturday so we can get that road mentality going,” he said.
The Rangers are offering a tickets and bus hire package to Bendigo for supporters this Sunday. For more information contact Dandenong Stadium on 9794 7192.
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