Melbourne Boomers score round-one win over Adelaide Lightning

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This was published 8 years ago

Melbourne Boomers score round-one win over Adelaide Lightning

By Roy Ward
Updated

Melbourne Boomers needed game time together and it showed in their WNBL season-opener on Saturday night.

After a shortened pre-season and with five new players in the main rotation, the Boomers struggled early against Adelaide Lightning but powered through the second half to win 94-72 at the State Basketball Centre.

Top-scorer: Elyse Penaluna.

Top-scorer: Elyse Penaluna.Credit: Jodie Donnellan

New Boomers centre Elyse Penaluna led all scorers with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Tess Madgen almost had a triple-double with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

But the best number of the night was the Boomers drawing 1411 supporters to the game, the best attendance since they moved to the Wantirna South venue.

Despite fielding the league's least experienced side, the Lightning led early with import Mikaela Ruef (13 points, nine rebounds), Kelly Bowen (13 points) and Opals point guard Leilani Mitchell (10 points, six rebounds, six assists) leading the way.

Penaluna missed much of last season and was excited to have played 29 minutes out of the 40.

"We've had an interrupted pre-season so we needed to get that first quarter out of the way and in the last three quarters we did much better as a team," she said.

"To gel together (in the) first game is pretty tough with so many new players, but I think we did pretty well and (we) will only get better from here.

"I knew our conditioning would get us through the game – it started to fall for us in the second half."

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While the Boomers need to improve , Penaluna showed she could become a significant part of the offence.

"Guy (Boomers coach Guy Molloy) has been pushing that I need to be more of an attacking force to the basket, then sometimes shoot from outside, but I'm just trying to make it a focus to get on the front of the rim," Penaluna said. "It feels amazing to play again.

"I'm glad to be at this club because it's a fantastic place and I'm just glad to be back on the court — it really helps me when I'm enjoying it."

The Lightning threw caution to the wind in the first term with Mitchell pushing her young charges up the court as they took an early 14-7 lead.

The Boomers' defence was poor and the Lightning took a 26-23 lead into quarter-time with eight of their nine players scoring.

In the second term, Madgen urged her side to lift and Penaluna heeded the call, scoring 13 points as the Boomers took a 50-40 lead into half-time.

After that the Boomers took control and didn't let up although Ruef threw some nifty behind-the-back passes in the final term which caused the crowd to gasp in surprise.

In Canberra, the Dandenong Rangers came from behind to beat University of Canberra Capitals 80-72 on Saturday night.

Rangers forward Annalise Pickrel scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Jacinta Kennedy and Tenaya Phillips, both playing off the bench, scored 17 points each.

Opals squad member Steph Talbot scored 22 points for the Capitals, but had little help, save from Rosie Fadljevic and Abby Bishop, who scored 10 points each.

Bendigo Spirit lost to South East Queensland Stars 80-63 on Friday night.

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