This was published 7 years ago
WNBL: Adelaide Lightning in upset win over top team Dandenong Rangers
By Roy Ward
Sometimes the form book lies and the moment wins.
Adelaide Lightning's win over Dandenong Rangers on Sunday was one of those times.
Tayla Roberts top scored with 21 points. Credit: Mick Connolly
Coming into the game, the Rangers were on top of the WNBL ladder and the Lightning dead last at 1-15 (win-loss) – the first win came against Melbourne Boomers in Geelong the previous night.
But once the ball went up on Sunday, the Lightning struck hard and the home side, coming off a two-week Christmas-New Year break, looked short of a run and on the back foot as the Lightning caused a boilover, winning 80-73.
Lightning centre Tayla Roberts top-scored with 21 points and eight rebounds while precocious Victorian teenager Anneli Maley, the daughter of former NBL star Paul Maley, scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Sara Blicavs led the Rangers with 19 points while Ally Malott scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Rangers shot just 38 per cent from the field and couldn't slow the Lightning who made 44 per cent of their attempts.
Lightning coach Chris Lucas said his young side had no fear and had bounced back from several big losses this season.
"We are really starting to grow and I think what is amazing is that this young group is so resilient," Lucas said.
"Our season is about a 50-50 split between close losses and losses up to 50 points but they have a great agility to go onto the next challenge.
"I'm rapt we are finally getting some reward, they are playing with no fear and to get that out of some 18-year-old kids – I'm pretty proud of that."
Malott said her side couldn't let themselves get too down but needed to improve.
"We have a lot of games left in the second half of the season so we can't let this one deflate us," Malott said.
"We need to fix what needs to be fixed, earlier in the season we were on a winning streak then dropped a game to Sydney and got better – hopefully we can use this loss like that too." Malott added that the Rangers hadn't taken the Lightning for granted, but just hadn't found their grove quickly enough.
"We came out really flat in the first half and a bit of the third quarter – it just took us too long to get going," Malott said.
"We made a good effort to push back but it was too little, too late." Many would have expected the young Lightning side to see their 45-30 half-time lead and panic in the second half but they extended their lead to 19 points late in the term as Roberts and Maley continued to make big shots while little known imports Samantha Logic (13 points, four assists and four steals) and Colleen Planeta (11 points) added key baskets.
With the Rangers holding top spot by only a couple of games, they found some urgency to end the third term cutting the lead to 10 points as Steph Cumming and Sara Blicavs inspired a 9-2 run.
The final term looked the Rangers' best chance to save face and they again cut the margin to four points with seven minutes to play, but Maley was fouled on a three-point shot and made all three foul shots.
In the finish the Lightning players hugged and celebrated like they had won a finals game, knocking off the top team away from home is as close as they will come.
At least for this season.