Lightning struggle in second half as Flyers keep finals hopes alive with HoopsFest win

Written by Lachlan Sherriff

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Needing to bounce back from their recent loss against Townsville, the Southside Melbourne Flyers travelled over to Perth for their HoopsFest game against the Adelaide Lightning.

It hadn’t been a great season for Adelaide entering today’s game, but a recent win against Sydney gave the Lightning hope they could leave Perth with another victory.

The first quarter was back-and-forth, with fast paced basketball leading to plenty of points at both ends. By quarter time, Southside held a narrow 22-20 lead.

Despite this, no one played better in the first quarter than Adelaide’s Dallas Loughridge, who already had eleven points by quarter time. Southside’s top scorers were Isabelle Bourne and Maddy Rocci, who both had six points, while the latter also led the game in assists with three.

Southside would once again hold a narrow lead at half-time, as Adelaide found themselves down 44-41. However, Dallas Loughridge was continuing her dominance, with twenty points at half time while shooting 4/5 from three.

With nearly half of Adelaide’s points at half-time, it was clear Southside had to stop Loughridge in the second half. And they did.

A superb defensive display from the Flyers after half time saw Adelaide only score nine points in the third quarter, with Loughridge scoring none of them.

And with Isabelle Bourne and Maddy Rocci both continuing to find baskets at the other end of the floor, as well as seven points in the third quarter from Cayla George, the Flyers held a 63-50 lead at three quarter time, and were now seemingly in control of the game.

It never got better from there for Adelaide, as Southside would storm home to an 82-58 victory. Isabelle Bourne ended as Southside’s top scorer with sixteen points, while Cayla George had a double-double with thirteen points and eleven rebounds.

Dallas Loughridge was the game’s top scorer with 22 points, but struggled in the second half with two points, while the Lightning only had seventeen.

"I think they definitely upped their defensive pressure, but I think it was more us than them. I think we had good looks in the second half, they just weren't going down. Personally I rushed a little bit so then that caused a few turnovers, but I think it was more us. We needed to just slow down. We executed and we just missed a few shots that we should have normally made."

- Dallas Loughridge on Adelaide's second half struggles

As for Flyers coach Kristi Harrower, she was pleased with the way her team stopped Loughridge and the Lightning in the second half.

"She's (Dallas Loughridge) a great player and she's just getting better every year. We had her here last year and she was good for us. We didn't really want to lose her, but it she's getting a great opportunity where she is. And, yeah, she shot the lights out in the first half and we had to change what we were doing on her in the second half. I tried to go a bit bigger on her and junk some stuff up against her and I thought we did a better job against her in the second half. (Sania) Feagin, her and Steph (Talbot) carry a lot of the load for that group and I thought we did a good job in that second half, but it was the team defense overall in the second half as well."

- Kristi Harrower on limiting Dallas Loughridge in the second half

The Lightning will return to South Australia for a home game against the UC Capitals in their next matchup, while the Flyers will look to get revenge on the Fire, as they play Townsville next Tuesday.