Townsville Tip Off Recap: Day 2

Day two of the WNBL Townsville Tip Off saw Geelong Venom, Townsville Fire and Southside Melbourne Flyers claim impressive wins.

Geelong got their campaign off to a winning start by defeating Canberra, 74-66, while Townsville made light work of Sydney Flames, winning every quarter and eventually running out 21-point winners, 96-75.

Meanwhile, in the final game of the day, the Flyers took care of business against Adelaide Lightning, 67-48, backing up yesterday’s big win over Perth Lynx. The Venom used a decisive third quarter, 24-13, to take control of the game and it was their three-point shooting that catapulted them forward, hitting 13/29 of long-range shots, while the Capitals struggled from outside -- shooting just 2/22 from deep.

Geelong had contributions across the board, led by Alex Sharp (14 points and seven rebounds), while Jaz Shelley (13 points and seven assists) delivered a great mix of scoring and facilitating. The work of Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard (13 points 3/6 3PT FG) in stretching the floor for Geelong was a real feature for the Venom.

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Townsville also got their preseason campaign off to a winning start in front of their home crowd, taking the lead early in the first quarter against Sydney and never looking back. Opal squad member Miela Sowah was impressive in her first hit out for her new club, scoring a team-high 16 points, to go along with five rebounds and three assists.

Townsville was powered by efficient three-point shooting, connecting on 9/16 long-range shots, while Sydney managed to hit just 3/15. Courtney Woods (15 points and five assists) and Piper Anderson (11 points) both hit three triples each without a miss.

For the Flames, the going was tough for much of the game, but Keely Froling (16 points, six rebounds and five assists) and Lauren Nicholson (16 points, four rebounds and two assists) did all they could against the star-studded Fire outfit.

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The Flyers were on mission against Adelaide in third and final game of the day. The Flyers’ stifling defence held the Lightning to just nine points in the first quarter and they backed that up with another stellar showing in the second quarter by holding Adelaide to just eight points.

With a 44-17 lead at the main break, it was Tera Reed (15 points and five rebounds) and Isabelle Bourne (14 points and seven rebounds) who both scored in double figures in the first half leading the way for the Flyers.

Adelaide fought back in the second half and put some points on the board, but the damage was well and truly done. The Lightning won the second half by eight points, 31-23, as the Flyers turned to their bench.

The Townsville Tip Off concludes tomorrow with three more games to be played. First up is Perth facing Canberra at 10am, followed by Bendigo taking on Sydney at 12pm, before the final game of the tournament sees two unbeaten teams in Townsville and Geelong go head-to-head.