Townsville Fire beat Geelong United by 26 points

Geelong United has been given a reality check on how tough the WNBL can be after a brutal examination at the hands of the Townsville Fire on opening night.

Geelong United play its opening game against Townsville Fire on October 30. Picture: Peter Foster.

Geelong United’s historic WNBL debut has not quite gone to script on opening night, unable to contain Townsville Fire’s multiple offensive options in a 26-point loss.

After a promising start from the home team, the champions of two seasons ago skipped away with back-to-back 24-point quarters which silenced an expectant crowd at the Geelong Arena for the league’s opening round.

By the final break, the visitors held a 28-point lead and had shot almost twice as efficiently from the field, while six of the game’s top seven scorers wore Townsville singlets.

Geelong United coach Chris Lucas. Picture Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

Keely Froling producing a lone hand up forward for the home team, landing 13 points to half time, but the Fire would win 84-58.

Earlier, there was some heavy duty support from local stars of the Geelong sports scene, including Cats greats of different eras in Billy Brownless, Andrew Bews, Tom Stewart and Mitch Duncan while United recruit and AFLW gun Monique Conti arrived just before tipoff.

Pre-game, Geelong United board member Jess Chappell was proud to declare the city’s newest elite sports team had attracted nearly 50 corporate sponsors while the association had just ticked over 1000 local teams for the summer season.

However, United went into the match without Taylor Mole due to a lower back issue with a starting five of Froling, Gemma Potter, Jaz Shelley, Lynetta Kizer and Hayley Jones who had only been in the country for little over a week.

Townsville’s Zia Cooke drives to the basket against Keely Froling. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

And setting the tone for her opening half, it was Froling who put United on the board for the first time in the club’s history, tipping one in from under the rim.

In defence, US import Jones applied several tough blocks but couldn’t quite have the same impact up the other end.

The Fire’s offensive passing was far superior at times while United’s ball handling wasn’t quite as clean and were guilty on occasion of some ambitious passing that was easily picked off by the visitors.

Shelley, who was fumbled the ball a couple of times early, eventually threw a punch with the team’s first threeball.

Jaz Shelley scored seven points for United. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

After taking a seven-point quarter time lead, Townsville kicked further way through the hot hand of Nyadouth Lok who would drill a pair of threes from the same location while Zia Cooks continued to threaten beyond the permitter.

The opposition would nail a third of their three ball attempts for the half.

Geelong created enough opportunities to score but lacked the offensive cohesion their opponents exhibited as Kizer put herself in foul trouble with three midway through the second term as frustration grew amongst some United players.

It will no doubt take some time for the team to jell under senior coach Chris Lucas.

However, the injection of Hannah Hank provided some spark, draining two foul shots and was then hit up by a brilliant pass from Sarah Elsworthy for another two.

Former Geelong players Billy Brownless and Andrew Bews cheered on United. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

With a 14-point buffer at the main break, matters were far from settled, but the Fire made a strong statement, collecting the opening seven points to deflate the home team.

Just as Hank would do in the second, Daniel Raber put up some handy points in the third, but she had little support as the visitors extended their lead into unreachable territory.

An Elsworthy shot got jammed between the rim and the glass late in the third term, perhaps summing up the night for the debutants.

Originally published as Townsville Fire beat Geelong United by 26 points