Basketball New Zealand

Christchurch Sirens forward Toni Edmondson (ImageSport NZ)

Geoff Longley, Christchurch Press
The Christchurch Sirens made hard work of finally defending their home court for a sixth successive win, edging out a persistent Perth 66-61 in the Australian Defence Forces WNBL match at Cowles Stadium.

In a match that at times seemed like neither side wanted to win, the home side secured victory with 4.5 seconds left.

Fittingly, it was a pair of free throws from Toni Edmondson, the Sirens player of the night, that sealed victory to lift the Sirens’ season record to six wins and nine losses, while Perth is anchored at the foot of the table with three wins.

The slight guard-cum-forward top-scored for the Sirens with 14, the only player to post double figures for the home side, and she displayed the elasticity of a rubber band with some sublime lay-ups.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” lamented Sirens coach Leigh Gooding. “They took us out of our offence but fortunately Toni had a big game for us.”

Her best support came from forward Aneka Kerr who was a constant presence around the hoop with 11 rebounds and five steals.

The Sirens were fortunate that Perth was not able to make them pay for some of their turnovers. The Sirens shot at 35% and Perth 34%, while the visitors succeeded with two of 21 attempts from the three-point line.

The Sirens did do well getting to the free-throw line but then could hit hardly anything, making just a miserable 45 per cent from 29 attempts.

Again the Sirens had a bonus before the tip-off with Perth missing the services of leading scorer Carly Wilson, who had injured an ankle and did not travel. In the past two matches against Sydney and Canberra, both were without an influential player.

Twice the Sirens were on the verge of opening handy leads, especially in the fourth period when it pushed out to 63-53, but Perth, whose assistant coach is former Canterbury Ram Jason Kyle, bounced back to narrow the margin to three.

Perth guard Samantha Richards had two late chances to tie the match with three-point attempts but missed both, allowing the Sirens to sneak away.

Gooding was in no doubt if the Sirens played similarly in their next match against table-topping Adelaide in Christchurch on Wednesday, they would get hammered.

“We will have to be a lot better than we were tonight. They probably played better than us but didn’t get the result,” he said.

Christchurch Sirens 66 (Toni Edmondson 14) Perth Lynx 61 (Samantha Richards 14, Melissa Marsh 14)