Canberra Capitals - Minor Premiers

[Left Field]

With their annihilation of the Lightning this afternoon, the Capitals have all but wrapped up top spot and home court advantage for the finals. With the split against Townsville, Bulleen and Adelaide, they would have to lose 3 of their last 5 games to be knocked off, and with the only game of note away to Townsville I can't see it happening.

Adelaide can consider themselves fortunate to lose by only 23pts, as a poor final quarter by Canberra allowed Adelaide to win it by 3. The Caps blew them out the water in the first three quarters with their fast paced offensive and intelligent defence, collapsing in the middle and forcing long range shots. On a couple of occassions Adelaide made a little run, but everytime it quashed by Canberra defence or stupid Adelaide turnovers. Gahan was well held by Bishop (she looks a little out of sorts, perhaps her injuries are still causing her some concerns), Foley was outplayed by Abrams whenever they were on each other (Abrams steal and lay up late in the 2nd was brilliant play by the Captain) and Tolo was the better of the two 'big name' AIS recruits although Francis tried hard and always looked dangerous, she just couldn't get into the game until it was over with most of her points coming in the 4th. Bishop was once again brilliant her ability to make space in the key in amazing and thankfully this time she converted most of her shots and didn't 'pad' her rebound count. Watching Tolo in the paint, reminded me a little of Kevin McHale, with those extra long arms she is able to make simple lay ups from impossible positions, and we saw that on a couple of occassions in the first half.

The star for me was Jess Bibby, what an amazing player she is, she lit the game up the in the opening minutes (she started this week instead of Musselwhite), scoring Canberra's first 9 points in the opening 90 seconds and she continued in that high octane vein for the remainder of the game. Graffie had to bring her off so her teammates could have a rest. What a shame her back injuries a few years put an end to her WNBA career before it even started, I'm sure the yanks would have love the way she plays the game. There loss is our gain, she is one of the great players in our league.

Adelaide drop to 4th now and are in real danger of missing the top 3. It will be an interesting few weeks for Adelaide.

[Bort]

Adelaide did not seem to be in the mood to play today, though whether that's down to the long trip after the loss to Bendigo, some early foul trouble, or something else I dare not say. For whatever reason, they didn't look the championship side they have in the past.

One player on the Canberra side you may have overlooked, though, is Tracey Beatty - while she didn't feature heavily on the box scores, the Capitals just looked more composed when she was out there, particularly in defensive rebounding. Adelaide's runs seemed to coincde with no. 25 being on the bench.

[Left Field]

Tracey was good, but she spent more than half the game on the bench because of Tolo's performance. Any doubts I had about Marianna were squashed yesterday, she has the allround game to be a real contributor to the Capitals for the remainder of this season, and hopefully future seasons, and the Opals over the next decade or so. And she still has a lot of improvment to make. Her free throws are dreadful, but she is not the only Capital in that boat. You know your club is in trouble when Abrams is one of the best free throw shooters. :D

Still I agree with what you said about Tracey, when she controls the middle the Caps are almost impossible to beat, her development under Graf has been quite amazing. She's fitter, more mobile, and her ball skills have improved greatly, statiscally she has improved in every category. I was a little surprised when Graf signed her up, but she has been a fantastic pick up for us. Graffie has an amazing ability to see potential that others may not and then draw it out from the player, and Tracey is on of her greater successes. Graf has said previously that Tracey is a future Opal so I wouldn't be surprised to see her in upcoming Opals training squads.

[Off_the_bench]

You gotta give credit where its due... and the Caps have been nothing short of impressive. I was a little concerned that having such a dynamic group of stars with the addition of big minute girls in Musselwhite and Tolo with Parera might cause some disruption with the group- not enough minutes, not enough shots to go around, but that has seemingly been a non-factor. Graffie's player management must be acknowledged.

They must be the short money favs for the title at this point with Townsville and a firing Bulleen probably their closest rivals.

[Left Field]

The Capitals defeated Perth tonight 118-80 to make the Minor Premiership official. Bishop finished with 28pts, 15reb (11off) and 5ass, Tolo (who is getting better with every game) 22pts, 13reb, 3ass and 3blks and Bibby 24pts and 5reb. For Perth Doc Smith had 20pts, 6reb & 5ass, and Marsh 17pts and 5ass. Perth played OK tonight, they played an uptempo aggressive (occasionally too aggressive) game and was able to stay with Canberra for long periods, but in the end even an under strength Capitals had too many weapons, especially in the big department, Bishop and Tolo absolutely dominated in the middle. For Perth, Malpass, Gilmore and Mercer played well tonight and with more development will offer very good support to Smith and Marsh, but they need to find a tall to fill up the middle to at least be competitive against the second tier outfits and perhaps compete for a finals spot next season. They aren't as bad as the Dandenong result would suggest.

Hurst and Perara didn't suit up, Sinclair injured her knee early in the second quarter and didn't return, while Abrams and Beatty both finished early in the 4th and had knees iced up. Hopefully all will be available for the Townsville game, although Sinclair is probably the most doubtful.

Not only did Canberra wrap up the top spot tonight, they won their 18th regular match for the season, the first time they have achieved that, they also finished the season undefeated at home for the first time, and extended their unbeaten run at Fortress Tuggeranong to 21. Congrats to all

[misty hyman]

Hurst and Perera didn't suit up, Sinclair injured her knee early in the second quarter and didn't return, while Abrams and Beatty both finished early in the 4th and had knees iced up. Hopefully all will be available for the Townsville game, although Sinclair is probably the most doubtful.

You forgot Musslewhite who was also icing before the game finished. That leaves four who weren't hobbling, or worse, by game's end; Bowley, Bibby, Bishop and Tolo. Not a great end to the end of the regular season.