By Tyler Lewis
The Southside Flyers weren’t at its best on Saturday night when it travelled to the State Basketball Centre to take on the Melbourne Boomers.
The Boomers and the Flyers are ranked as the most efficient field-goal shooting teams, but it was the Boomers that proved superior on Saturday, coming away with a triumphant 91-72 victory.
Southside were on the ropes from the outset, with a 10-point first quarter deficit, then a 19 point half time buffer.
Despite winning the third period, where the Flyers got within 15 points, the side lost the fourth and were simply unable to reel in the first half performance from its opponent.
Maddison Rocci was tremendous for the Flyers, scoring 21 points, while Abby Bishop also put up 15 points to go with her 11 rebounds.
The Boomers scoring outlets proved to be too extensive in the end, with Lindsay Allen (22 points), Tiffany Mitchell (22 points) and Tess Madgen (20 points) all finding ways to apply scoreboard pressure upon the reigning champs.
The win comes as an even more impressive scalp for the Boomers, considering the outfit went down just 72 hours beforehand in a 63-58 defeat at the hands of the Bendigo Spirit.
The Flyers remain in fifth on the WNBL standings and will now host the Melbourne Boomers in the second leg of the back-to-back between the two sides on Saturday night.
