Townsville Fire go two from two in WNBL as Liz Cambage lifts Boomers

Townsville Fire remain undefeated after two rounds of the WNBL while Liz Cambage has hit rich from for the Boomers.

Melbourne’s Liz Cambage scores over Bendigo’s Nadeen Payne on Saturday. Picture: Mike Dugdale

Townsville Fire remain undefeated after two rounds of the WNBL, while a dominant weekend from Liz Cambage lifted Melbourne Boomers into second spot.

Townsville improved to a 2-0 record after winning their first home game of the season 76-65 over the University of Canberra Capitals, while the Boomers crushed Bendigo Spirit 90-63 in Geelong on Friday night and backed that up with a 92-63 win over the Capitals last night.

With Bendigo missing star player Kelsey Griffin, Cambage produced her best game since returning to basketball to finish with 25 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks in just 21 minutes of court time.

Last night she top-scored for the Boomers with 27 points, nine rebounds and three blocks from just over 24 minutes on court.

In Townsville, the home side celebrated milestones for Cayla George (200th WNBL game) and Mia Murray (150th club game), but it was the Capitals that took a two-point lead into the main break. The Fire powered home in the second half thanks to 20 points and 12 rebounds from reigning MVP Suzy Batkovic.

Fire coach Claudia Brassard was pleased with her side’s strong second-half performance. “We are a deeper team and a really fit team,” Brassard said. “I think that showed in the second half.”

Having won their opening two contests in round one, Capitals coach Paul Goriss felt the result was far from a reality check for his new-look side.

“Townsville are a great team,” Goriss said. “Claudia has done a great job in who she has recruited. They have depth and size and I just thought it was overall a great quality game.”

A clutch three-pointer from Asia Taylor saw Sydney Uni Flames claim a dramatic 70-65 win against Dandenong Rangers on Saturday. The Rangers led for the majority of the match but with the game tied at 65-all, Taylor nailed a triple with 23 seconds left to lift the home side to victory. The loss leaves Dandenong winless after two rounds and facing a tough schedule with four matches in nine days, starting with a home clash against Townsville.

After losing in Adelaide on Friday night, Perth completed a horror road trip with a blowout 106-71 defeat against a red-hot Bendigo Spirit. After an even first half, Bendigo exploded with a 41-15 third-quarter scoring blitz, hitting 13-of-15 shots with seven of those from long distance.

Adelaide Lightning improved to 2-1 with their 87-81 win over the Lynx. But the Lightning suffered a cruel blow with veteran forward Laura Hodges set to miss the next 12 weeks as she recovers from surgery on a broken finger.

AAP