By Roy Ward
THE WNBL Christmas break has done nothing to slow the Bulleen Boomers who notched their 11th straight win with a 108-73 thrashing of Adelaide at the Veneto Club last night.
The Boomers powered to victory behind the height and presence of centre Liz Cambage (27 points) and the skills of guard Jenna O'Hea (23 points, four assists), along with a towering 45-23 advantage in the rebound count.
Jenna O’Hea pushes past Tegan Cunningham during last night’s WNBL match at Bulleen.Credit: Wayne Hawkins
But the Lightning did find one chink in the Boomers' armour with Cambage fortunate to avoid trouble after being involved in an altercation with Lightning import and WNBA veteran DeMya Walker late in the final term.
Walker and Cambage were jostling for a rebound when Walker went sprawling to the floor for the third time in the game, then jumped up and pushed Cambage. The Opals centre laughed off the incident and Walker, who received an unsportsmanlike foul, claimed Cambage had forced her to the ground.
The contest between the two players shed some light on Cambage's WNBA chances as she was able to use her height to get position on Walker, but struggled to defend her one-on-one.
Boomers coach Tom Maher said his star needed to avoid such clashes as the Boomers marched towards the finals.
"When you are big, people are going to beat up on you and try to wear you down," Maher said. "Liz needs to learn to deal with that to survive in her own basketball life.''
Lightning coach Steve Breheny said the combination of the Boomers's rebounding advantage and experience was too much for his side.
"We had about 500 games experience over 10 players and they have about 1500 on their team," he said.
Lightning point guard Angela Marino scored 17 points, while Emma Langford added 13.
The Lightning showed plenty of pluck in the opening minutes, going toe-to-toe with the home side and immediately went to three-point shots.
But a number of poorly chosen shots, particularly from Marino, gave the Boomers too many transition opportunities in the second term and they opened a 17-point, half-time lead.
Boomers reserve Shelley Burston played her 200th WNBL game.
■Dandenong split its Canberra road trip after going down 100-92 to the Capitals yesterday. Former Capital Abby Bishop had 24 points while Kath Macleod had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The Rangers beat the AIS 89-46 on Friday night.