Lightning coaches reflect on wins over Eagles

THE Lakeside Lightning had strong Men's and Women's SBL wins last Friday over the East Perth Eagles with coaches Sam Oatman and Craig Mansfield pleased with how their teams are coming together.

The Lightning men beat the Eagles 103-94 at Lakeside Recreation Centre to improve to a 3-3 record on the season ahead of a double-header this weekend on Saturday against the Goldfields Giants and then Monday against the Cockburn Cougars.

Daniel Alexander was again outstanding for the Lightning earning Player of the Week honours after 36 points and 17 rebounds while TJ Hallice (23 points, nine boards), Hayden Bell (17 points), Corey Martin (11 points, six boards, three assists and three steals) and Seva Chan (six points, 12 assists) were impressive.

Oatman was proud that his team hung tough to get the win, but he acknowledges the Lightning need to play consistently for 48 minutes if they are to start stringing wins together.

"Obviously, I wasn’t pleased with our turnovers or the number of defensive breakdowns we had allowing them back in the game. We’ve had double digit leads in five of our six games, and yet here we sit at 3-3," Oatman said.

"48 minutes is a long game, and you know teams are going to make runs. So, we’ve got to limit our mental lapses if we want to win consistently.

"However, the bottom line is I was really proud of my team for making enough plays down the stretch to win the game. They displayed a lot of toughness and stuck together through adversity. Those are two great signs."

Meanwhile, the Lightning women beat the Eagles as well 61-40 on Friday night to record a second win from five games so far this season.

Coming off losses to the Rockingham Flames and Perry Lakes Hawks where the Lightning learned a lot against a couple of the top teams, Mansfield was impressed with the way Lakeside responded against East Perth.

While Mansfield was happy with the win, he knows there's plenty of room still for improvement in the team he is in his first season of coaching.

"The win was good reward for the girls to get after a couple of close losses earlier in the season," Mansfield said.

"Our performance was significantly improved from the week earlier; particularly in transition defence.

While we were better, we are aware that a change in opponent contributed to this so the goal is for us to continue to develop every training and every week.

"Offensively we had some good patches in the second quarter but we need to do a better job protecting possession and then moving the ball."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Create A Team App Account.

Stack Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their own smartphone app.

Create A Team/Club