Hoops

WNBL Round 1

If fairness, it's not always easy to maintain correct defensive stance when someone's throwing an elbow into your neck

High quality, stifling one-on-one defense as only those who can play and stand out at an international level can perform.

http://www.botinagy.com/uploads/images/Bat-kovic.jpg

remember kids - keep your eyes on the ball , keep good body position and don't reach.

Huge game by Burton, Suzy had a shocker, no wonder she wasn't in the Opals.

Lynx reality check today, getting crushed 84-62 in Townsville (who were still a crazy $3.75 for the title before the game)
Sami was Sami, but didn't get much help from the look of the boxscore.
Hamblin pulled a Griner, getting 3 blocks within the first 6 minutes of the game, but also 3 fouls. If that was a ploy by the Fire then kudos to them. It's going to be interesting to see how run & gun team like the Lynx incorporate a traditional style big centre into the lineup.

Suzy 25 pts, 11 boards, 5 blocks.

I doubt Burton will get a break from the Townsville crowd today.

Yeah both her & Mansfield were playing Opals-level basketball last season and then they both got injured at the end.
Now both have started this season right where they left off, which is great to see
Blicavs 23p, 6r
Mansfield 17p, 6a

Sarah is a gun, Opals material for mine...

Game 2: another thriller. Rangers got blitzed early but trailed all game, and took their first lead of the game with 4 seconds left to win it.
Must have been a familiar feeling for Caps fans. They blew a few like that last season from memory.
Blicavs good all game and Novosel huge down the stretch. Cumming too ... she had gone 0-9 but then scored 6 points in the last 3 minutes including the game-winning free throws.

^^^ Perth fan is right, give the girl a break.

I'm not a Nat Burton fan, but surely at the start of the season people on here could maybe lay off the criticism for a couple of weeks.
Yes, she was not the right person for the Olympics- that will be shown in true force against Townsville tonight.
But fair go for a bit. The poor girl has copped endless criticism for ages now. Give it q break.

I was at this game, the only way Nat Burton got 3 turnovers is if her Mum did stats.... I counted 3 in first qtr and it got worse from there. Poor girl looks miserable and the pressure must be immense.
Phillips was great, Wright was impressive but not quite back to best.
High scoring game that could have gone either way.
Flames may have lost Moffatt with knee late in game... their bench is a sad place, full of injured players. That really hurt them, they are shaky in guard spots, after Mitchell, Snell and maybe a Wilson. Graham is not the answer, not up to the standard at all, and the alternatives are pretty young and untried.
On the plus side, the place was packed, so they might need to go elsewhere if their following improves!

My main worry about Monica coming into the season was her health. Not that I know anything, just because of how little she was used at the back end of the WNBA season.
She played 30 minutes though so that's a positive sign.
Hard to judge just from the boxscore whether she didn't play well though. Sucks that the game wasn't even streamed ... following the scores it sounded like a really good one.

Mijovic with 7 threes in her 30 point haul. Sami filling the boxscore as usual playing the full 40:00, and great to see Tenaya Phillips step up in the absence of Tessy Lavey and give us 24 points & 4 assists in 22 minutes. That's a big plus because last season we lacked a solid guard off the bench.
Solid debut by Ruth Hamblin too. Keep that up and she'll soon be a bench player deserving of a starting spot, which is the highest honour achievable by a 5 in Perth.

Perth beat Sydney in a very close games by 3 points, Those three points were scored by their starting 5 olympian, N Burton, who gathered 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers in 17:31 minutes, seventh most minutes in the team.

Just in case you thought they were, ummm, men?

Tonight's odds (verbatim from Sportsbet)

Sydney Uni Flames Ladies 1.83
Perth Lynx Ladies 1.83

Was it just me or did those cheerleaders look super hot yesterday. They were in the crowd, selling raffle tickets, I almost bought the lot off one of them 8P

Keep them coming thanks