Brydens Sydney Uni Flames last night won against the UC Canberra Capitals for the second time this season in front of a home crowd. The Flames beat the visitors 76 – 60.
In their Wednesday clash, which was dubbed students night, the Flames played an attacking style of basketball which saw them maintain a lead from the two minute mark of the first quarter.
Two quick scores from Alice Coddington in the first minute of play left the Flames trailing 4 – 0 early in the piece, however Mikaela Ruef and Katie Ebzery then answered for the Flames with a string of great offensive plays which saw them gain the lead.
From this point forward the Flames seemed to control the pace of the game, the full court defensive pressure that was put on Canberra’s ball handlers was impressive and often the away side was left with 13 seconds or less left on the shot clock to create plays.
By half time Sydney Uni had established a 9 point differential to lead 38 – 29. A run of three point shots made by the Capitals at the start of the third quarter quickly drew this margin down to within 3, as Abby Bishop asserted herself on the court. The Flames were able to hold strong until the end of the third before running away with the game by a 16 point margin at full time.
The Flames statistically dominated the game, shooting the ball at a better clip at 43.8% from the field compared to a Capitals outfit at 33.8%. They also won the rebound count despite being undersized at times during the game with Moffatt matching up against bigger opponents like Talbot.
Katie Ebzery continued her amazing start to the season, with another MVP performance for the Flames with 26 points and 7 rebounds. She was well assisted with solid contributions from Rohanee Cox who scored 9 points and collected 13 rebounds, while Tupaea shot at 100% and tallied 12 points for the side.
For the Capitals Abby Bishop was the teams shining light with a game high 29 points. She also collected 14 rebounds and 4 assists in a truly dominant display. The away side clearly lacked more scoring power which was lost with Lauren Jackson still sidelined by injury. She is expected to return to the side prior to Christmas.
The Flames now sit third on the ladder with a record of 3 -1. They play Melbourne next week at home again on Friday 14 November at 7pm, and should be feeling confident to match up against the seventh placed side.
