Match Report: Caps deny Lightning, take top spot

21/JAN/2007 – Adelaide Lightning's championship hopes took a double blow tonight after losing their star player during their round 16 loss to the Canberra Capitals, who regained top spot on the WNBL ladder after their 85-68 victory.

Erin Phillips went to ground clutching her right knee with less than two minutes left on the clock in the third quarter of the top-of-the-table clash and her loss was immediately noted on court as the Capitals took control of the match and extended their then 10-point lead.

The 1400-strong crowd at the AIS Arena fell silent as the world championship winning guard lay alone on the court screaming before play stopped and Adelaide staff ran on court to attend to her.

As she was carried off the court, she told medical staff she felt as if her knee had dislocated and popped back in and that she had felt grinding.

It was a sour moment in what was a thrilling and intense top-of-the-table clash, which lived up to all the pre-match hype with nothing separating the teams until the Capitals gained the momentum in the final quarter and ran away with victory.

Adelaide Lightning coach Chris Lucas said he was disappointed with the loss but was happy with the way his team had played. He believed fatigue crept into Adelaide's game in the second half and they were further crippled by the loss of Phillips.

"It's always disappointing to lose, but I'm not unhappy with the way we played the game. I don't want to use an excuse but fatigue was always going to be a factor and that showed in the second half, no doubt about that," he said.

"When you've got a leader on the board and you lose one of your best players it's always difficult but that's the way it is, injuries happen.

"[Not sure how serious the injury is] at this stage, we'll see how it settles down and get scans on Monday & if she has got a serious injury it's going to be very disappointing for us."

Phillips was due to catch an earlier flight home, where she will be assessed.

The loss of Phillips was tragic, but it took none of the gloss off the Capitals well-earned victory, which kept their dream of a second-consecutive title well and truly alive.

Abby Bishop backed up her stellar performances on the road last week with another great effort, scoring 15 points and eight boards. She was well-supported by Tully Bevilaqua, who finished the match with an all-scorers high of 20 points and five trips to the floor boards.

The Capitals finished the game with a superior rebounds percentage, 57.3 per cent, and a field goal percentage of 47 compared to Adelaide's 39.

Capitals coach Carrie Graf said the side would take confidence from the match but they still had some areas to improve on ahead of the play-offs.

"It was typical of a final, it was a nervous start for both teams it was a close-scoring first quarter and I don't think it was a very pretty first half," she said.

"We held them, then they broke out and they were killing us with their three-point shot and our defensive rotations were appalling.

"They were beating us on the boards but we still had it tied up, so that was positive in the sense that we felt we weren't playing that well but held on and ground it out."

It was a slow start to the match for both teams who exchanged field-goal attempts before Jess Bibby posted the first points of the night with a lay-up followed minutes later with a jump shot to put the Capitals in front 4-0.

Erin Phillips scored Adelaide's first points of the match with more than two minutes gone on the clock to keep in touch with the home side.

The Capitals ran into early foul trouble, Bibby picking an uncharacteristic two fouls and Abrams and Loffhagen each fouling once with less than five minutes gone in the quarter, but they managed to extend their lead to 7-2.

Both sides seemed to struggle to find rhythm and the basket - midway through the first quarter Adelaide had an 11 per cent of shots counting from the field, while the Capitals were marginally better with 33.3 per cent.

The Capitals began to find their range to take a seven-point advantage but Adelaide capitalised on some strong work from Foley and Phillips to gain a one-point lead, before heading into the first break 19-17 down.

Adelaide was quick to level the score when the sides came back out on court and the momentum and the lead changed throughout the second quarter.

The Capitals tightened up their inside defence, forcing Adelaide to shoot from the perimeter but Sam Woosnam and Foley worked hard to give the Lightning a 25-20 lead.

The pace of the match picked up as the sides adopted a run-and-gun style of play and nothing separated the teams going into the half-time break with the score locked at 36-36.

Adelaide broke the deadlock to regain a two-point lead but the Capitals fought back on the back of some excellent work from Abby Bishop at both ends of the court and with four minutes left in the quarter they were in front 47-43.

The Capital picked up their defence and stole the momentum to take a 10-point lead before Adelaide suffered a massive blow with Phillips going down clutching her knee.

The stadium went quite, except for the cries of Phillips, who Adelaide staff had to carry off with less than two minutes to go in the quarter.

When play resumed the Capitals held onto the lead and were up 59-51 going into the final stanza.

With eight minutes left in the game, Bibby notched up her 2000th WNBL point and helped the Capitals extend their lead to points.

Without their organisational point guard, Adelaide seemed to lose their intensity and was scrambling to stay in touch with Canberra, but the Capitals put away a 17-point win to keep their back-to-back title hopes on track.

Capitals 85 (Tully Bevilaqua 20, Abby Bishop 15, Jessica Bibby 15)
Lightning 68 (Sam Woosnam 19, Jessica Foley 14)

By Julia Whyte for WNBL.com.au