Celebrating her 50th WNBL Game, Dallas Loughridge opened her account with an early 3 pointer in front a 3,000 strong crowd that included Australian Sports Commission CEO, Kieran Perkins at AIS Arena.
The Caps and Jade Melbourne were seeking redemption following their round 3 loss in Adelaide where she was held to just 3 points.
Injury replacement player Erin Bollman was elevated into the Lightning starting five in Robati’s absence (Personal). Zitina Akouso and Sania Feagin exchanged baskets, the Caps leading by two points at the first break.
Bollmann (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block) opened the scoring for the Lightning in the 2nd quarter, answering a Jade Melbourne step back three with one of her own.
Adelaide continues to refine their grit and grind style of play that does not allow opposition teams to take their foot off the gas at any point, Tofaeono, Fejo and Strawbridge making significant contributions off the bench.
Lightning Captain Steph Talbot (16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks) delivered key plays in the fourth quarter including a huge block before dishing a perfect pass to Sania Feagin who iced two clutch Free Throws before picking up her 5th foul, leaving the game with 14 points.
In a game that had 28 lead changes, the Caps lead for 30.24 minutes and despite some quality patches of play by the Lightning including a 8-0 run in the fourth, were able to close out a 5 point win and cement 4th place on the ladder at the conclusion of round 8.
Zitina Akouso was named the player of the game, finishing with 15 points, 4 rebounds and a career high 7 assists.
The Lightning travel to Sydney in round 9, before returning to the Spark House in round 10 against Han Xu and the Perth Lynx, 2-FOR-1 tickets available here.
