The Queensland Firebirds might not have walked away with the points from Sunday’s loss to West Coast Fever, but perhaps a psychological gain, according to head coach Megan Anderson.
In front of a vocal crowd of more than 3,300 passionate fans the Firebirds and Fever battled it out in one of the best matches of the season to date, before the visitors secured a 77-69 win.
The Firebirds have little time to dwell on the loss as they prepare to take on the GIANTS in Sydney on Tuesday night, with just a two-day turnaround.
“I think they (players) learnt we can definitely beat the Fever,” Anderson said after the match.
“The first half showed us that we can do that, but it is just about being consistent for the whole game because they just really punish you for little errors, they can score so quickly.”
That is exactly what Anderson wants her side to do to the opposition.
The coach admitted the Firebirds wasted opportunities to do this on Sunday and was hopeful it could be fixed up before Tuesday’s clash with the GIANTS.
“Making sure that we score off our turnovers, I think that was probably one of our stats that let us down today,” Anderson acknowledged.
“It is something that you are always working on as a team because they are the precious ones that you can get. You want to score off your centre passes, but turnover ball is so hard to get against so many teams that you want to make the most of it.
“That is something that we did really well last week, and we wanted to continue, but obviously the Fever have a great dynamic defence, so they did well to pressure us into turning the ball back over.”
The Firebirds went straight to a recovery session after Sunday match and will fly to Sydney on Monday.
“We won’t have a training session but just have a walk through and chat through what the GIANTS do, but we have had a good look at them,” she said.
“I think everyone is going to be feeling it in the mid-week games this week, and it is the first one (this season) so I think there will be some really tired bodies out there.
“It will just be about who can be the smartest and work the ball the best, so you don’t have to do too much running I think.”
The Firebirds take on the GIANTS at Ken Rosewall Arena at 8pm on Tuesday night
