The Mandurah Magic women will continue to look for chemistry on the court after suffering a 12-point loss at the hands of rivals Rockingham over the weekend.
Plenty of positive signs highlighted the Magic’s performance, but those encouraging sentiments fell short of of forming a win as the Magic suffered their third straight loss 75-63.
Mandurah was right in the game against the second-placed Flames with scores level at the end of the third, but even Anita Brown’s outstanding 29 points and eight rebounds couldn’t will them over the line as Rockingham caught fire in the final quarter.
Rallying behind D’Lesha Lloyd’s 22 points and 11 rebounds, the visitors secured the victory as Mandurah fell to sixth in the standings, just one game ahead of their southern rival Slammers.
But Magic coach Randy Miegel is leaning on the side of optimism, saying his team simply needs to find a rhythm to get back on the winners’ list.
“I know we’ve got the playing group to succeed – our players are all good enough to be in this league, we just need to find some chemistry as a team,” he said.
“I was pretty happy with our performance against the Flames, I thought we were pretty sound defensively for most of the game.
“But at the end of the day we’re in a scrap to make the playoffs at the moment and we need to start putting some wins on the board, so we’ll just keep looking to get the job done.”
Mandurah’s horror run with injuries hasn’t helped the team in their mid-season stretch.
The Magic started like a house on fire before star centre Carly Boag’s season ended with a knee injury, and perennial star Casey Mihovilovich is expected to miss about another month before her steadying influence can return to the line-up.
In the meantime the Magic will look to names like Bree Klasztorny and Rachel Halleen to continue guiding the way, with a huge match-up against the league-leading Lakeside on the cards this week.
The Magic will hit the road for their third straight away game in the clash, with Miegel looking for a strong mindset from his group.
“We know Lakeside pretty well and there’s really no love lost between the two sides, so we’ll look to play hard and bring a winning mentality,” he said.
The game tips off at the Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday, 6pm.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
