By Marcus Uhe
It’s crunchtime for the Southside Flyers in their WNBL best of three semi-final series against the Melbourne Boomers, with the series locked at one win apiece.
The Flyers won the opening contest at Rowville’s State Basketball Centre on Wednesday night 84-76, before the Boomers answered back on Saturday in a convincing 96-77 result to square the ledger.
Southside sorely missed their All WNBL First Team forward Kayla Thornton in Saturday’s loss, who was unavailable after rolling her ankle in game one.
The U.S import became entangled with an opponent while navigating a screen early in the fourth quarter and was substituted out of the contest shortly after, not returning to the court in the final eight minutes of the game.
It adds to an already weakened front court for the Flyers who are missing superstar Lauren Jackson, who succumbed to a foot injury and an Achilles tendon tear in February.
Thornton had once again shown her class up until the incident, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds as part of a balanced scoring effort by her side, with all starters scoring in double figures, led by Rebecca Cole’s 17.
Her status ahead of game three is yet to be determined.
Both teams jumped to early leads in the two contests that would prove crucial in determining victory.
Abby Bishop free-throws gave the Flyers the lead with 3.23 left in the first quarter of game one, sparking a 13-3 run to close the opening period for a 25-15 lead, an ascendancy that was never relinquished.
While in the return bout, the Boomers scored the opening nine points of the contest to bounce to a 27-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, and never looked back.
League MVP Cayla George responded from the loss with 28 points, six rebounds and four assists in a dominant performance for Melbourne.
Sara Blicavs led the Boomers in scoring in the second outing with 15 points and Maddison Rocci (11 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) fell just shy of a triple-double.
The series will be decided on Wednesday night at the State Basketball Centre.
