Boomers v Townsville Fire Preview

In a true top of the table showdown, the first placed Bulleen Boomers take on the second placed Townsville Fire at The Veneto Club for the first time this season on Saturday. Both teams head into the contest having only suffered one loss for the year, a tantalising match up between the 9-1 Boomers and the 7-1 Fire.

The Boomers were able to quickly regain any momentum lost from their Round 7 slip up against the Flames, to a produce a wonderful performance against the Perth Lynx at home last week. Led by the near perfect performance from centre Liz Cambage (30 points), along with the play of Opal Elyse Penaluna (18 points), Bulleen defeated the Lynx 92-58.

The form of Cambage is an ominous sign for the visiting Fire, coming off a game that led Head Coach Tom Maher to proclaim of his young star,

“That’s by far the best game she has ever played. It’s not even close.”

Despite the impressive form of the Boomers, Townsville will not be easily intimidated, having proven themselves all season to rise above expectations, as one of the surprise teams of the competition.

Led by one of the league’s top scorers Amy Lewis and two of the top rebounders of the WNBL this season in Tanya Smith and Aneka Davis, the Fire has continued to produce wins despite playing without the services of last year’s league MVP, Opals player Rohanee Cox.

“I saw them playing on the TV and they’ve got a lot of good things happening for them.” said Tom Maher, who also noted the improvement he had seen from last season to now, amongst some of the Townsville players. “That’s the mark of a good program if players can improve in it, so I don’t take them lightly at all, they’re a good team.”

The Fire are coming off a 70-56 victory in Round 8 against the Canberra Capitals, and were led by 22 points and ten rebounds from Aneka Davis and 15 points from Tanya Smith.

After beating a Perth side last round languishing towards the bottom of the ladder, Saturday’s game will be a real test for the Boomers against another of the powerhouses of the WNBL. After being pushed around by the Sydney Flames last time they faced a club with a winning record, the girls have a chance to prove that lessons have been learnt, and that they are a genuine championship contender.

Once again the home crowd support will be all important, so get down to the game, make some noise and cheer on our Boomers to another victory!

By Ryan Mobilia

Boomers v Lynx Preview

After suffering their first loss of the season last week, the Boomers are shooting for an immediate turn around in fortune tonight and despite the loss last week, still remain on top of the WNBL ladder thanks to their superior winning record of 8-1.

With The Veneto Club packed to the rafters in Round 7, things just didn’t come together against a star studded Sydney side, and while centre Liz Cambage (19 points) and point guard Sharin Milner (seven assists) led strongly all night, Sydney prevailed 79-65.

As Round 7 was our turn to finally register a loss, at the other end of the ladder the opposite was true for the Lynx, as Bulleen will now face a Perth side that are coming off their first win of the season, after defeating the AIS, 92-75 last week.

Although the shine of their maiden victory was tainted with the shock resignation of Perth Head Coach Joe McKay soon after, replaced immediately by former assistant Vlad Alava, who will debut at the helm tonight.

It is the second meeting of these two sides for the 2009/10 season, after the Boomers travelled to Perth in Round 5 and came away with a dominant 34 point road win, 103-69. The Boomers were led by Elyse Penaluna with 20 points on that occasion, in a game where six players scored in double figures.

US import Takia Starks and Kate Malpass (the current league leader in steals) were the standouts for the Lynx on that night, leading their team in scoring, as they did once more against the AIS last week, and will be two players to watch out for in this game.

Something else to watch out for is the scoring progress of Co-Captain Sharin Milner, as she moves further and further up the list of all time scorers for the Bulleen Boomers. She currently sits in fifth position, but if Sharin can score 13 points tonight, she will move into third place all time!

Most WNBL points for the Bulleen Boomers:

2894 – Debbie Slimmon
1684 – Larissa Anderson
1637 – Katrina Hibbert
1625 – Linda Brandt
1624 – Sharin Milner

The loss last round to Sydney marked the end of an amazing 13 game home winning streak at The Veneto Club, so let’s make some noise and help our team kick off their next streak in style!

Boomers v Flames - Liz v Suzy Part II

When young Bulleen centre Liz Cambage came up against Opal and WNBA star Suzy Batkovic-Brown, it was a clear case of the veteran Superstar going head to head with the 'Next BIG Thing'.

It revived memories of the much anticipated first meeting of Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming, back when Yao was a rookie and Shaq was with the Lakers at the height of his powers.

Let's face it, if there had been a WNBL draft, then Liz Cambage would have been Number One, the 'Yao Ming'.

(She still may well be one day in the WNBA like LJ was, but that is a blog for another time.)

They battled for the first time in Round 3 this season, the first time either had seen each other up close and in action.

Much like the first time the two heavy weights of the NBA would battle, it was the younger Cambage who blocked the driving shot of Batkovic-Brown on the first play of the game, (much like Yao did to Shaq) as both players tested each other in the opening term.

Bulleen won the game, but Batkovic-Brown won the individual battle of the bigs in that game.

Here is a Preview the weekend's Round 7 match up between the Bulleen Boomers and the Sydney Uni Flames.

Keen to continue their history making win streak, the Boomers are firing on all cylinders and looking forward to battling the Sydney Uni Flames for the second time this season.

Bulleen were able to hold their number one WNBL ranking in Round 6, moving to a record of 8-0, three wins clear of their nearest rival, after surviving a visiting Adelaide Lightning side for the second week in a row, 84-77.

The Boomers certainly did not have it all their own way against the Lightning, showing tremendous character and fight to rally from a double digit first half deficit, and hold on for the victory.

Led by young Centre Liz Cambage with 31 points and 10 rebounds, the Boomers were spurred on by a packed house of cheering fans, and were able to put to rest any talk of ‘no road uniforms, no victory’ superstitions.

“They were loud.” Said Boomers Co-Captain Desi Glaubitz of the crowd.

“They made a lot of noise and that really helps you down the stretch, particularly when there is a point the difference.”

The Flames took their record to 4-3 last round when they defeated the Dandenong Rangers in Devonport, 90-51. It was a dominant performance by the travelling Flames, led by Opal Suzy Batkovic-Brown with 31 points and Deanna Smith with 17 points.

Glaubitz said despite being at home on the Veneto Club floor for the second straight week her team is faced with another very tough game.

“They’ve got so many scorers. They can score from every position on the floor, inside and out and they are really potent.”

“We can’t take anyone easily in this league and certainly not Sydney.”

The two teams met in Round 3 of this season when Bulleen travelled to Sydney and came away with an 80-71, come from behind victory. On that day it was the all round contributions of Boomers Jenna O’Hea, Hanna Zavecz and Rachel Jarry that were key to the road win. While it was Sydney star Suzy Batkovic-Brown who led the way for the Flames with 22 points.

by Ryan Mobilia.

Jawai brings the 'Chocolate Thunder'

Aussie Nathan Jawai had the best game of his short NBA career, scoring 16 points when his Minnesota Timberwolves visited the Portland Trailblazers this week.

Balling against opposing centre Greg Oden, Jawai hit 7 of 11 from the field for 16 points and six rebounds.

To put it in some perspective;

He scored TWO POINTS for his ENTIRE YEAR last season with the Toronto Raptors.

That’s how much of an improvement it was.

I watched the game back to see the big man in action, and loved how the announcers went from basically giving him shit, joking about his weight and the fact that they thought he looked like Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins, to acknowleding he has some skills, and backtracking to find some 'actual' info on him.

Before the "Bamaga Behemoth" had hit a shot the commentators were talking about how he was listed as weighing 280 lbs. / 127.0 kg.

“280 lbs on the moon”… before the other commentator added,

“Before he put the other leg on the scales."

Honestly, that made me laugh. The T'wolves uniform, doesn't make the big man look real svelte.

They went back to the Dawkins joke a few times.

Dawkins was a star during his injury plagued 14 year NBA career, known for his naming each of his powerful dunks, and shattering numerous backboards.

Dawkins famously proclaimed he hailed from a place called 'LoveTron'… (he was almost a precursor to Stephon Marbury is terms of strangeness)

Announcer: “He put LoveTron on the map.”


That also made me laugh.

But what made me smile the most was that by the end of the game they were praising the young Aussie, taking the time to look up some background info on him, and begrudgingly acknowledging after three straight Jawai baskets, “The T’Wolves have got something here…he can play.”

The last time someone not named Andrew Bogut had that much of an influence on an NBA game, was Chris Anstey way way back.

My theory is that big Nate was feeling so good, thanks to being in the hometown of best buddy, and fellow indigenous NBA baller, Patty Mills. Most likely hanging out with Patty for 24 hours prior to the game, and having that familiar face in the building would really help the shy giant.

Anyway, that’s my theory.

Good luck to the big fella.

Boomers v Lightning Preview

Back on their home floor for the first time since Round Two, the Boomers are keen to show their home town fans the team work and effort that has them placed first on the WNBL table, as they take on the Lightning for the second time in seven days.

Bulleen went two-from-two on the road in Round Five, knocking off the Perth Lynx in Perth on Friday 103-69, before heading to Adelaide on Sunday to defeat the Lightning 79-70.

Against the Lynx, Bulleen were led by Elyse Penaluna with 20 points and seven rebounds, and the terrific all round performance of Sharin Milner who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and zero turnovers.

In a hard fought battle against the Lightning on Sunday, Bulleen pulled out the victory thanks to the efforts of two young Boomers recruits. Jenna O’Hea continued her great start to the season with a near triple double of 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, narrowly missing WNBL Player of the Week honours for her efforts. While, Rachel Jarry clashed with a tough Adelaide front court, adding 15 points for the Boomers.

Adelaide are coming off a mixed round of results in Round Five, as they defeated the Dandenong Rangers 75-66, before falling to our very own Boomers to finish the weekend.

Despite Bulleen being undefeated, with a club record start to the season of seven straight victories, the Lightning will not be taken lightly, and currently own an impressive record of 5-2. Two Adelaide players have been rewarded with WNBL Player of the Week awards in the first five rounds; guard Angela Marino for her efforts in Round Three and Cayla Francis in Round Five.

Boomers forward Rachel Jarry says she is happy to be back home, but knows tonight’s match up will not be easy against a fired up Adelaide keen to atone for last week’s loss.

“The season has kind of worked out a bit funny. We’ve got a lot of our travel over and done with. So it will be good to get a few home games in and getting the crowds coming down and supporting us.”

She said before conceding, “Adelaide, they shot pretty poorly, so I wouldn’t expect them to do that two weeks in a row.”

“I think we’ll have to work on our rotation in defence a little bit more… but not too much change, just try to keep it similar and get the win.”

The team was able to keep up their streak since they last took the Veneto Club floor, and with five home games in the next five weeks, now it’s up to the Boomers supporters to help cheer them on to even greater heights.

By Ryan Mobilia for Boomers Media