By Andrea Petrie
A 33-POINT game by Lauren Jackson has helped the Canberra Capitals secure their fifth consecutive win, 79-65 against the Dandenong Rangers in the Women's National Basketball League yesterday.
Not even a career-high 27 points from Rangers point guard Alison Downie - in her 200th game - could stop the Caps in front of a capacity crowd at Dandenong Stadium.
After scoring the first two points of the game from the line after seven seconds of play when she was on the receiving end of the match's first rebound foul, Jackson dominated the court in the superstar centre's first game in Melbourne since returning to the league. She also managed seven rebounds and a couple of steals during her 32 minutes on court.
The game was relatively even in the first quarter as the undersized Rangers tried to hit the basket with as many triples as possible, with four consecutive three-pointers stretching their lead to 14-8 midway through the term. The Caps soon responded and although they converted only 5-of-17 field goals, they clawed their was back into the match with the scores at quarter-time being 19 apiece.
Canberra came out firing in the second term with impressive defensive and offensive pressure. A three-pointer from Natalie Hurst - in her 198th game - halfway through the term helped register 11 points in a row for the visitors.
Downie was then benched after her third foul, which Jackson made the most of, scoring another two free throws to make the difference 34-26 the Capitals' way.
When she returned to the court, Downie made her presence felt at both ends, but the Caps entered the main break with a 45-35 lead.
The most telling statistic at half-time, which was perhaps an indication of the impact Canberra's height advantage was having on the game, was that Canberra had shot 15-of-17 free throws compared with Dandenong's 1-of-3.
The deficit shot out to 14 points in the third, low-scoring quarter (61-47) but the Rangers refused to give up in front of their home crowd. Downie made the first basket of the fourth quarter and followed up with an crafty defensive rebound that her teammates sent straight down the other end to further reduce the margin.
Triples to Stephanie Cumming and Downie -her fifth for the match - helped the Rangers get within eight points, but Kellie Abrams and Jackson steadied the ship for the Caps before a three-pointer to Jessica Bibby, with a minute left, iced a 14-point win.
In addition to Jackson's 33 points, Hurst finished with 12 for Canberra while teammate Abby Bishop had 11. For Dandenong, Cumming (12) was the only player other than Downie to reach double figures.
Before yesterday, Downie's career-high score had been 17 points, which she well surpassed with 27, eight rebounds and one block - against Jackson.
After the match, she said her milestone match was ''the best game I've ever played''.
''It's unfortunate we didn't win but we competed really well and they're a great team and we were a little bit short so it was a good effort from all of us,'' she told the ABC.
Downie said that the previous week, ''we really didn't perform anywhere where near [where] we needed to, so to come back and rebound the way we did against a good team is really good for us.
''We've put a benchmark there for us to play like this for the rest of the season and finish on a high.''
The win took third-placed Canberra to 12-5 for the season before it hosts second-placed Sydney Uni at AIS Arena next Saturday night. Dandenong, which is 5-12, will head to Perth and Adelaide next weekend.