Sydney coach Karen Dalton says destiny is in her team’s hands as the Flames close in on securing a WNBL finals berth with three weeks left in the regular season.
The Flames dismantled Canberra 97-68 on Australia Day and next face Dandenong, one of the two other teams locked in a dog-fight for a playoff spot.
As it stands Sydney, Dandenong and Bendigo all boast records of 11-8, with Logan narrowly ahead on percentages at 10-7.
Ellyce Ironmonger, the daughter of former Sydney Swans AFL ruckman John, had a breakout match against Canberra, while star Belinda Snell was back to her free-moving self after a frustrating run of injuries.
Dandenong smashed AIS 94-36 on Sunday to stay neck and neck with Sydney, with the Rangers outscoring their opponents 25-4 in the second term to blow AIS out of the water.
Dalton says it’s crucial Sydney don’t make the mistake of watching the table and simply get on with business.
“We do control our own destiny and we’ve got to make sure … we’re not even looking at that (the ladder) at the moment,” she said.
“What happens with other teams doesn’t matter, we’ve just got to keep winning games and hopefully at the end that will be enough to get us into the finals.
“We were really keen to prove that we are a finals quality team and we’ve got to produce this week-in, week-out and a lot of that comes down to defence.”
Second-placed Bulleen’s 74-56 home loss to Bendigo means Adelaide now have a stranglehold on the minor premiership and have done so with Opals star Suzy Batkovic still sidelined with a back injury.
In the other round 15 matches, the high-flying Adelaide Lightning defeated Logan 63-52 on Friday and backed up to down Townsville 64-61 in a tight encounter on Saturday.
Canberra’s loss to Sydney means they’re well and truly out of finals contention, with just seven wins from 19 matches.
Coach Carrie Graf said Sydney’s desperation worked in their favour but denied her team were lacking motivation.
“I don’t think so. There’s no question they were desperate, they were due for a win. They had four losses coming in here and they are in the play-off mix,” said Graf.
“They took us out of the game early with their pressure. I think our group are still playing hard so I don’t think it was a factor.
“We’ve got to say bottom line we weren’t good enough this year. But it’s our second time not in the playoffs in over a decade so it’s not a bad record.”
