ROUND 8 of the 2021/22 Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) season continued on Thursday, with the Sydney Uni Flames hosting the Adelaide Lightning at Brydens Stadium. The visitors headed into this clash as favourites given their strong start to the season, and they were able to keep this momentum rolling, recording a big win over the Flames with the final margin sitting at 25 points.

The Lightning recorded their fourth win of the season to sit atop the standings after seven (and a bit) rounds of action. On the other hand, the Flames are still searching for their first win of their 2021/22 campaign. They will need to produce a bit more on the offensive end of the court, given they were only able to conjure 52 points in this match. However, they do have the tools to do this, so if they can amend this then their first triumph should be just around the corner.

In this article, we take a look at some of the key stats that shaped the result of this match, and what was the catalyst for Adelaide’s big win.

Team Stats:

	The Stats
18/72 (25%)	FG	31/60 (51%)
12/41 (29%)	2P	21/35 (60%)
6/31 (19%)	3P	10/25 (40%)
10/17 (58%)	FT	5/10 (50%)
40	REB	48
13	AST	24
8	STL	5
1	BLK	4
7	TO	13

The most obvious area of success for the Lightning in these stats are the shooting percentages from the field, a stat they were able to dominate. Despite their opponents taking 12 more field-goal attempts, Adelaide found the bottom of the net 13 more times than the Flames. This shows that the victors enjoyed a terrific night shooting the ball, but also the fact that this is an area that held the Flames back not only in this match, but in most of their other outings so far this season.

The Lightning were also able to claim the chocolates in the rebounding battle, pulling down eight more boards than their opponents in the win. Obviously Sydney Uni’s poor shooting from the field would have something to do with this, but Adelaide would still be pleased with their even spread of contributors on this front. Despite this win, the Lightning actually conceded more second-chance points, indicating that many of the Flames’ rebounds came on the offensive end.

One area that was a positive for the Flames on the night was their ability to hold on to the ball. They conceded six less turnovers than their opponents, rarely making mistakes with ball in hand which resulted in more scoring opportunities. This explains why they attempted more field goals than Adelaide, also stripping the Lightning of the ball on a number of occasions. If they had taken advantage of this when shooting the ball, the result would have likely been much closer.

Top Points Scorers:

There were a number of handy contributors for the Lightning in the dominant win, none more so than Talbot. She led all-comers with 19 points on the night, proving a serious threat from both inside and behind the three-point line. She finished with four buckets from range and ended up being a major headache for Flames defenders. She also stuffed the stat sheet with nine rebounds and seven assists in a well-rounded outing. Wehrung was also impressive with 16 points in an efficient outing. Heal gave it her all in the loss, constantly looking to give her side an offensive boost with 13 points in a brave performance.