Sunshine Coast Lightning will travel from West to South this weekend, taking on the Adelaide Thunderbirds at Adelaide Entertainment Centre for their final away game of the season.
The Sunshine Coast-side have spent the week in Perth after their clash against West Coast Fever and will travel straight to Adelaide on Friday to prepare for the match.
Head Coach Belinda Reynolds, who’s hometown is Perth, said the week on the road has been beneficial for high performance and team bonding.
“The decision to stay in Perth was made back in pre-season when we looked at the fixture and saw we had Perth to Adelaide back-to-back. By staying on the road we don’t miss a training day, so we’re able to have our two main training days and get a good hit-out on court,” she said.
“It’s also been a great opportunity to have the girls on the road and those connections have been really good this week.”
With finals out of the question, Lightning has set its own goals to close the season out, including taking down one of the top teams.
“We’ve put it out there that we want to finish fifth and shake up the top four, so that’s certainly the plan. We’re treating the next two games as finals games for us, so it’ll be a great opportunity for me to see what the girls can do,” Reynolds said.
“Thunderbirds will be chasing a top-two finish so they can have that double chance at a grand final, so we know they’ll review strongly. I think that’s happened to us a lot this season where we come up against teams coming off losses. So we’re expecting it, we’re expecting them to come at their best.”
Lightning’s final game of the season will be at home against the Queensland Firebirds and is expected to be another sell-out at UniSC Arena.
“We love playing in front of our Sunny Coast fans and it’s always great to play in the derby, so we’re looking forward to that contest. I thought Ash Ervin had a great game on Jhaniele Fowler in the previous match, so I think Donell Wallam is another opportunity for her to play against a really strong opponent.”
“It’s great to see our younger players taking it to some of these world-class dominant shooters.”
Sunshine Coast Lightning will take on the Adelaide Thunderbirds this Saturday at 7pm AEST at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Watch live via Foxtel or Kayo Freebies.
