Sirens Silenced In Debut
Tagged in: Tall Ferns
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Ben Hawkes, Basketball Australia
The Townsville Fire doused any hope of a fairytale first-up win by new Australian Defence Force Womenís National Basketball League (WNBL) franchise Christchurch tonight, defeating the Sirens 72-47 at the Westpac Centre in New Zealand.
Despite the 24-point margin Townsville were made to earn the win, which gave Peter Buckle the perfect start to his head coaching career after a six year stint as assistant to super successful Canberra coach Carrie Graf, by a gallant Christchurch outfit.
Centre Jennifer Crouse tallied a strong 16-point, 12 rebound double-double to lead the Fire while guard Tania Baxter netted 15 points and dished off 5 assists.
Youngster Bianca Abbott was excellent off the bench for Townsville in posting an 11-point, 10 rebound double-double while Kelly Wilson netted 10 points and Opal Rohanne Cox tallied 8 points and 8 rebounds in support.
Kiwi star Donna Wilkins worked hard all night to lead the Sirens, arriving in Christchurch just hours before the game, with 13 points and 5 rebounds while US import Ashley Awkward contributed 8 points on 4-of-11 field shooting.
The Fire also dominated the interior battle winning the rebound count 46-28.
After forward Lisa Wallbutton had the honour of scoring Christchurchís first ever WNBL points both teams exchanged baskets with Awkward netting four of the Sirens first eight points.
Crouse came to life in the fifth minute of term quickly netting 6 points as well as pulling in three rebounds and blocking a shot in powerful passage of play to give the Fire a 20-13 quarter time lead.
On the back of solid team play and 10-1 run to start the second term Townsville extended their lead to 30-14 before the Sirens responded with a 5-0 run to reduce the margin to 30-19 with 3:54 remaining.
The Sirens maxed their quota of fouls for the quarter, regularly sending the Fire to the free throw line but to Christchurchís credit they toiled hard and managed to reduce the margin to 32-26 at halftime.
Wilkins and Purcell were instrumental in the Sirens winning the term 13-12.
The opening phase of the third quarter turned into a slog with Christchurch never letting the Fire build a substantial lead before themselves reducing the margin to just three points, 42-39 with 4:20 left in the term until consecutive three-pointers from Baxter finally allowed the Fire some breathing space.
The Fire won the period 22-17 to hold a solid 54-43 three quarter time lead.
Townsville poured on the points in the final term to cruise to an eventual 24-point win, winning the quarter 18-4.
The Sirens ball handling was solid despite loss, only turning over the ball 8 times compared to the Fireís 17 and registering a massive 14 steals to the Fireís 6.
Next week the Sirens have a tough away double header in Canberra where they face the AIS and Canberra while the Fire host the WNBLís other new franchise Bendigo.
