Perth have waited a long time for this WNBL finals’ appearance – 16 years in fact!
In the first season as the rebranded Perth Lynx, the girls have had an excellent run and finished second on the WNBL ladder. They will play for a spot in the Grand Final series this weekend when they take on Townsville Fire in Townsville on Sunday.
If Lynx win on Sunday they will go straight into the best-of-three Grand Final series. They are in a very good position because if they lose on Sunday, they will get a second chance at qualifying and will play the winner of the third versus forth semi-final game.
I spoke with Tessa Lavey, the captain of the Lynx, earlier in the week and she said that being under the Perth Wildcats management has done wonders for the WNBL side. The additional support staff and game entertainment has really put the Lynx on the map and the fan base has been growing all season.
“It helps the WNBL in general, people see the games and notice a massive difference in the entertainment aspect and it brings a lot of people to the games. That’s what we need in the WNBL, we need those followers.”
Tessa also revealed a little bit of insight as to why she thinks the Lynx have been so successful this season and why they work so well as a team.
“I think the club and our coach Andy (Stewart) did a really good job of recruiting. He didn’t just base it on whether you were talented or not, he also looked into our backgrounds and what sort of person you were and I think that’s really worked well for us because we don’t really have any different sorts of personalities in our team and we all really get along together. It’s quite easy to go to training and it’s heaps of fun.”
This may be a secret that we should not be giving away to other WNBL teams…!
In regards to team stats, Tessa said that one of the keys to their victories is that they are lucky enough to have a spread in the scorers.
“With us it goes across the board, we’ve got Sami Whitcomb, Betnijah Laney, Carley Mijovic, Louella Tomlinson, Nat Burton, and we have all stepped up in different times and in different games. I think that it’s hard for the other teams to scout us so I think we are very lucky in that aspect. Its good that we don’t have to rely on that one person.”
Check out the highlights from the Townsville Fire match that saw the Lynx lock in their top two spot on the WNBL ladder!
Best of luck to the Perth Lynx for the finals series!
Show your support for the Perth Lynx at @PerthLynx #LynxParty
