#WNBL23

Final week of the #WNBL23 regular season starts tonight. Should be fun:
- Townsville can lock up the #1 seed with a win in either game.
- Southside finish #1 with a win and a TSV loss to BEN.
- Melbourne are locked in at #3 (SSF has the tiebreak even if Boomers win).
- Perth can clinch #4 with a win in either game; if the Lynx drop both Bendigo can sneak in with a W today against the Fire.

#WNBL23 update: Perth now faces a sudden-death game enxt week against Bendigo; if the Spirit win they clinch the final playoff spot. Fire, Flyers and Boomers all clinched with wins in week 14; Townsville is on a 9-game tear.

Fun thing to watch the rest of the way; Boomers' Cayla George is now on 3135 career rebounds, 94 behind all-time leader Rachael Sporn (3229). At current pace (11.8 rpg) she could overtake Sporn by game 2 of the GF, assuming the Boomers win a 3-game semi-final series.

Kings through, JackJumpers eliminated, Lynx put in their worst performance of the season. Today has absolutely sucked. #NBL23 #WNBL23

Gandini seeing first-quarter minutes is not a good sign. #WNBL23

Meanwhile, a very quiet week for the #WNBL23 - perhaps the calm before the storm. Melbourne and Townsville are on top at 12-4 (Boomers have the split), while Perth's 2 losses could prove costly- they are 1.5 games behind Bendigo with that series tied 1-1. Flyers, meanwhile, will be without Lauren Jackson the rest of the way (R Achilles).

Only one game this calendar week- BEN hosts SSF on Saturday (19:00, 9Now).

Good #WNBL23 win by Townsville tonight- got big contributions from Samuelson and Woods. Still some work to do for the return match Saturday, because if Whitcomb gets hot and Ryan stays in form Perth will be pretty dangerous.

As it stands the top 5: SSF 12-4, MEL and TSV 11-4, BEN 11-5 and PER 9-6. In addition to the Fire/Lynx rematch, MEL and BEN play each other Sunday.

Meanwhile in #WNBL23 ... the Flyers are back on top after Melbourne lost to Perth on Sunday. Townsville and Perth face each other twice this week, while the Boomers face Bendigo and Southside have the John Cain Arena match with Sydney.

RT @TownsvilleFire
WE TAKE THE WIN 😤🔥81-80🧢
Top Performers at HT:
🔥 20pnts, 3reb, 1ast Zitina Aokuso #15
🏀 19pnts, 8reb, 3ast Tianna Hawkins #21
🔥 16pnts, 4reb, 1ast Loz Nicholson #1

#BePartOfIt #WNBL23 #TownsvilleFire

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, the UC Capitals get their first win of #WNBL23. Only 9 players on the sheet, only 8 got court time, and they knock over one of the league's frontrunners. Hard work eventually pays off. (Caps 92-Bendigo 85.)

Tonight I have just witnessed true greatness in #WNBL23

Sara Blicavs has come out and in one of the greatest displays of four quarter shooting I’ve seen, had the following stat line

41 points
15/17 FG (88%)
6/6 3-PT (100%)
5/5 FT (100%)
5 rebounds
1 assist
2 steals
2 blocks

Of course, Southside went on to defeat the Melbourne Boomers 88-70 and in the process, regaining the Michelle Timms Cup.

What an unbelievable performance!

I feel like there was a bit of spite last week in #WNBL23
The Southside Flyers vs Sydney Uni Flames game was one of the chippiest games that I’ve ever seen and watching courtside there was a lot of frustration and anger.
The final tally for the night was
Southside - 2 technical fouls, 1 unsportsmanlike foul and 2 players fouled out with multiple instances of booing.
Sydney - 1 unsportsmanlike foul
The Townsville Fire vs Bendigo Spirit game also had a bit going on.
Anneli Maley (Bendigo) was called for an unsportsmanlike foul and then post game on Instagram hit out at a section of Townsville fans who were drunk and abusing her (see picture below)
Shannon Seebohm (Townsville Coach) then hit out post game by suggesting that Maley was protected by the league.
These two matches add some new storyline’s that no one saw coming in #WNBL23 and this is where the league needs to be smart.
No one wants to see players abused so that rightfully needs to be dealt with (fan behaviour). At the same time this could respark the Bendigo vs Townsville rivalry.
Southside vs Sydney could also be promoted as a hard tough rivalry too which could draw fans in.
I’m not one that normally thinks promoting rough play is the answer but the WNBL has not been good at selling itself to the public for years. There’s a story here that can be sold to the public, it just has to be sold right.

Who decided to obscure the scoreboard every time someone hits a three? Wildcats do this in-venue and it gets on my nerves. #WNBL23

Also holy shit turn Greg's mic down. #WNBL23

Complain about the excessive use of the follow cam all you like, but watching the camera operator fruitlessly search for Lauren Scherf before deciding to settle for a shot of Chloe Bibby is the highlight of the game so far. #WNBL23

Who cut the in-venue audio? #WNBL23

Scratch that, it was Lynx ball? I blame the low quality of the stream. #WNBL23 https://twitter.com/koberulz/status/1598636267872583681

I guess they defend this upcoming baseline play out of the timeout Melbourne just called, then. #WNBL23

RT @PerthLynx@twitter.com

[QT] Perth 22 / Melbourne 21
It is a fierce first quarter here in Perth!

#wnbl #perthlynx

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/PerthLynx/status/1598635452839251970

Both one-footed Whitcomb shots have been very long twos and neither commentary team ever noticed. #WNBL23

Still five minutes left in the quarter on the stream. Guess the Lynx account will be frequently posting spoilers. #WNBL23

RT @PerthLynx@twitter.com

We are on .... 2:49 left in the 1st QTR https://twitter.com/akilhabs08/status/1598633364298534912

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/PerthLynx/status/1598633695690502144