THE Melbourne Boomers continued their strong start of the season, accounting for the Sydney Uni Flames and heading into Christmas off the back of a four-match winning streak. In what was a tight contest, the Boomers got up, 83-77.

FIRST QUARTER:

Melbourne were on the board within the first ten seconds when Tess Madgen shot truly from three point range. The Boomers had raced out to a 10-0 lead before Shyla Heal scored to finally get the Flames on the board. The Flames came back at the Boomers a bit as the quarter went on, but that early start meant that Melbourne were always able to maintain a healthy barrier on the scoreboard. As the quarter time buzzer rang out, the Boomers were double Sydney’s score and held a 14-point lead.

SECOND QUARTER:

The second quarter came around and it was Sydney who got the quick score on the board through Funda Nakkasoglu. Just 30 seconds later Keely Froling had two seperate attempts from the free throw line. Unfortunately for the Flames, she was only able to convert one shot each time. The margin sat at 10 at about the one minute mark, but that is as close as the score got. After that the Flames never really looked like being able to bridge the gap and at the long break the margin was 17 points.

SECOND HALF:

The third quarter saw Melbourne able to widen their lead even further. The margin got out to 21 points before ultimately ending the term at 14 points.As the fourth quarter progressed, the Flames came right back at the Boomers, and got as close as four points behind. However the Boomers were then able to score away again though and take a six-point win.

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

For the Boomers Ezi Magbegor continued her excellent recent form, shooting 20 points and registering four rebounds and nine assists. Tiffany Mitchell shot 18 points, while Madgen shot 15 points and had nine rebounds.

For the losers, it was Heal who was the star on court, shooting 29 points and registering eight rebounds. Froling also had a good game, shooting 18 points and registering nine rebounds. Lauren Mansfield shot 12 points, and had nine rebounds and five assists.

TEAM STATS:

For the Boomers, field goal percentage went from 60 per cent in the first term, down to as low as 40 per cent before jumping back up to 50 per cent in the final term for a final percentage of 46.9 per cent.

Their free throw percentage went from 100 per cent in the first term down to as low as 66.7 per cent. It ultimately finished at 78.3 per cent for the full game. Their three point percentage went from 50 per cent down to as low as 12.5 per cent for a final percentage of 26.3 per cent.

Meanwhile for the Flames, their shooting percentages were significantly lower across the board, across all three categories. Sydney Uni’s field goal percentage significantly increased as the game went on. However, it only went from 21.1 per cent up to 52.6 per cent for a final overall percentage of 39.7 per cent. Their free throw percentage went from perfect down to half and then back up again for a final percentage of 68.8 per cent.

Their three point percentage was 20 per cent in both of the opening two quarters, before jumping up significantly to 62.5 per cent. However, the low percentages in the first three quarters meant the final percentage was only 27.6 per cent.

Both teams have a few days break over Christmas before returning to the court mid next week. Sydney hosts the Bendigo Spirit, while the Boomers travel to Adelaide to take on the Lightning.