The Adelaide Lightning will count the cost of their most dominant performance this WNBL season, after star import Serena Sundell went down with a suspected knee injury.
Sundell fell to the floor clutching her left knee in the last quarter of Adelaide's 88-71 win over Sydney on Sunday, after a bump with Flames guard Mikhaela Cann.
The Dallas Wings guard was able to hop off the South AustraliaState Basketball Centre court, albeit with a grimace, with a season-high tally of 20 points.
Sania Feagin came close to securing back-to-back double-doubles (18 points, nine rebounds), while Dallas Loughridge (14 points, six assists) also impressed.
The Lightning were clinical from the beginning on Sunday, leading from the third minute and building a 31-point deficit before Sydney finished strongly.
Victory gave Adelaide (2-2) a second consecutive win, and the result even surprised coach Kerryn Mitchell.
"We feel like we're starting to find our rhythm as a group. The ball's moving and we're finding each other," she said.
"We had 16 offensive rebounds in a half. That's not OK. Obviously, we need to do more work on that."
Asked about Sundell's injury, Mitchell said: "I haven't had a conversation with Serena or the medical staff. But we have some great medical staff. I trust them."
Go-to scorers Lauren Nicholson (14 points and three steals) and Shaneice Swain (16 points, five steals) shone, while Lara McSpadden (11 points) also showed flashes of her physicality.
Sydney slumps to 2-4, having just snapped a three-game losing streak earlier in the week.
"The positives for the game were for the other team," coach Guy Molloy said.
"You can certainly learn a bit from it, but I can't say that it makes life enjoyable for the next few days."
"We defended, about as bad as I can think for the first four or five minutes, and got into a hole early. The shooting was pretty horrible."
Both teams started exchanging baskets before Feagin and Loughridge stepped up to create a 10-point quarter-time buffer.
Sundell helped continue the Lightning's momentum into the second quarter as they extended the lead to 16 points, which Sydney couldn't pin back.
Down 46-33 at halftime, the Flames came out energised with McSpadden leading the resurgence before a flurry of turnovers allowed Adelaide to manufacture a 31-point three-quarter time lead.
After Sundell went down, the Lightning took their foot off the throttle, and the Flames clawed back the deficit.
Adelaide Lightning Upcoming Games:
AWAY | November 15th | Adelaide Lightning vs Townsville Fire | 6:30pm ACDT | Tune in on ESPN2, ESPN on Disney + or 9Now
HOME | Tuesday, 18 November | Adelaide Lightning vs Bendigo Spirit | 6:30pm ACDT | SA State Basketball Centre (Wayville) | Get tickets: https://bit.ly/49bMeEL | Tune in on ESPN, ESPN on Disney + or 9Now
HOME | Friday, 21 November | Adelaide Lightning vs Geelong Venom | 6:30pm ACDT | SA State Basketball Centre (Wayville) | Get tickets: https://bit.ly/3Ly77QD | Tune in on ESPN2, ESPN on Disney + or 9Now
HOME | Tuesday, 25 November | Adelaide Lightning vs Townsville Fire | 6:30pm ACDT | SA State Basketball Centre (Wayville) | Get tickets: https://bit.ly/48bka2n | Tune in on ESPN, ESPN on Disney + or 9Now
AWAY | Sunday, 30 November | Adelaide Lightning vs Bendigo Spirit | 12:00pm ACDT | Tune in on 9GO!, ESPN on Disney + or 9Now
Watch the full press conference:
Watch the full press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kupud6y0xk&t=36s
