Geelong United’s scoring woes continue in 89-69 WNBL defeat by UC Capitals

Another poor scoring performance has Geelong United’s first WNBL season teetering on the brink amid a horror fortnight on the road, but one player continues to put her body on the line for her team.

Keely Froling of Geelong United lays up during the round 10 WNBL match against Canberra Capitals. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Geelong United coach Chris Lucas says Keely Froling has to “work harder than a lot of players” to get foul calls her way but backed his captain to keep fighting through the physicality.

Froling was a shining light for United in Sunday’s 20-point loss to UC Capitals despite dealing with knee soreness.

Geelong’s Keely Froling is challenged by Nicole Munger of the UC Capitals. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

The 28-year-old pulled in her seventh double-double from 12 games this season with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Lucas felt it had been lost on some people that the 6’2” Froling has had to step up and play the five position more often than not since United parted ways with their 6’4” centre Lynetta Kizer after one match.

United injected first-year forward Hannak Hank into its starting line-up to help free Froling up on Sunday, though Froling still had to battle bravely inside the keyway.

“I know she gets frustrated at times, I think she’s got to work harder than a lot of players to get calls,” Lucas said post-match.

“That’s the way they’re calling it so Keely’s got to work through that.

“But I am proud of her.

“Physically it’s going to wear her down over the season so we probably need to try get her minutes back and get a little bit more productivity out of her (with less minutes).”

Keely Froling lays up during the round 10 WNBL match against Canberra Capitals. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

United has been forced to contend with a personnel puzzle in their first year, with Lucas adding there had “no question” been an impact integrating players into their line-up

midway through the season.

First it was AFLW cross-coder Monique Conti, who played under an injury cloud in Sunday’s game, and now late-season signing Alex Sharp, who filled Kizer’s open spot on the roster.

Sharp has averaged 3.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in her first three appearance, though Froling pointed to the 27-year-old’s experience as a big asset for a young group.

“She’s a tough player, she rebounds, she does all the little things, she’s smart defensively,” Froling said.

“It will take her a little bit of time, I think you’re already seeing it defensively and hopefully we can get her rolling offensively and then we’ll be looking pretty good.”

Froling said Geelong had been handed some “hard lessons” in their past three 20-plus point losses on the road to go 4-8 this season, but hoped a quick turnaround into Wednesday night’s away game against Southside Flyers would help foster a turnaround.

“We’ve had two good wins against them so I’m hoping we go into that game with a lot of confidence and try and kickstart that kind of winning run to get us into that fourth spot,” Froling said.

Analysis: United’s scoring crisis deepens with Capitals defeat

Geelong United will head into a fourth-straight road game desperate to snap a four-game losing streak after its latest 20-point whipping by bottom-side UC Capitals.

Chris Lucas’ side will hope to go 3-0 in an entertaining series with Southside Flyers on Wednesday night, but must shed their woeful scoring issues if their to resurrect their inaugural season.

A tough block on the road stretching back to late December has been marred by offensive struggles and on Sunday in Canberra, it reared its head again in the 89-69 loss.

United shot 29 per cent from the field compared to Canberra’s 58, well below their average 35.6 which was already the lowest in the league, while their three-point shooting was just as dour (23 to 52).

After struggling against Townsville last round, signs looked positive early for Geelong after a trio of defensive plays banked some initial points through import Haley Jones.

But it was the Capitals’ ability to score through transition which quickly allowed the home side to find their groove on offence, back-to-back threes from Nicole Munger giving her side a 27-15 lead at quarter time in front of 1602 fans at AIS Arena.

Geelong’s Jaz Shelley tries to drive past two Capitals opponents. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Lucas brought emerging forward Hannah Hank into his starting five as much as a reward for hard work as to help nullify former WNBA number one pick Charli Collier’s influence under the basket and free up captain Keely Froling in the four position.

Defensively it worked with Collier held to four points, but the Capitals, who were high on confidence after a midweek win over Adelaide, still had plenty of firepower in its arsenal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Paul Goriss’ side had four starters with double digits points — 20-year-old rising star Nyadiew Puoch leading with a game-high 20 points followed by Geelong-raised Chantel Horvat (19 points), captain Jade Melbourne (17) and Hunger (14).

Chantel Horvat lays up during the round 10 WNBL match between Canberra Capitals and Geelong United. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

This compared to United’s two starters – Froling (17 points) and Jones (12) – as the Capitals expertly exploited United’s mistakes despite their own turnover troubles (30-18), while timely daggers snuffed any momentum Geelong tried to manufacture.

Geelong, who were without Sarah Elsworthy for a second consecutive game, worked hard to get themselves back in the contest in the second quarter, dominating the offensive boards (21-5) to draw the margin back to 10 by half time, but Canberra quickly put the foot on the gas on the other side of the main break with a game-killing 23-9 run to extend it back out to 24 by the final break.

Froling picked up her seventh double-double for the season – reaching the feat early in the third term before finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds – but below her, United’s scoring options ran fairly dry as six players shot below 25 per cent from the field.

Jaz Shelley looked like she might have a breakout scoring performance off the bench by using the three-point weapon which made her a prolific scorer in college, hitting two threeballs in the second quarter, though she ultimately went 3-12 from the field and 2-9 from beyond the arc.

It was Daniel Raber who became the spark off the bench, the Israeli national team player hitting 13 points at 55 per cent in 16 minutes of game time.

Geelong was helped by Melbourne’s fourth quarter omission after she picked up a corkie after hitting the floor hard through a defensive act, while Collier was also managed with foul trouble, United hitting back-to-back late threes from Raber and Taylor Mole to flatter the performance.

Originally published as Geelong United’s scoring woes continue in 89-69 WNBL defeat by UC Capitals