Crime Scene Established At Cairns Pop-Up Arena

Melbourne Boomers 86

Sydney Uni Flames 64

When the Sydney Uni Flames entered Cairns Pop-Up arena this afternoon, they were seemingly unaware of the furniture clad with white sheets and newspaper taped to the hardwood floor. Perplexed by Huey Lewis and the News' It's Hip To Be Square blasting over the stadium speakers, they forged on with their pregame warmups. Unbeknownst to them, the Melbourne Boomers were plotting behind the scenes, donning clear raincoats and checking their reflection in mirror-shined axes. As Melbourne won the opening tip-off they simultaneously dropped the axe on Sydney, leaving them bloodied and motionless on the style section of The Cairns Post. With a modest crowd and the event being nationally televised, Cairns Police Department are considering this and open and shut case.

The Boomers scored the first nine points tonight and never looked back, even with a 22 point win, it was never really that close. Spectacular from start to finish Melbourne found themselves up 60 - 26 deep into the third quarter looking better in every aspect of the game; like big sister verse little sister, it didn't look fair. Eziyoda Magbegor and Cayla George dominated the whole game, combining for 31 points (Magbegor with 23 of them) and 21 rebounds while neutralising Lauren Scherff, allowing her only two points and five boards. Shooting 10 of 11 from the field, Madbegor was outstanding, best described as the polar-opposite of those incredibly annoying Woolies robots, she is always in the right place at the right time, making the game flow around her effortlessly.

The Flames looked completely cooked. Tip to buzzer they were outplayed on both ends of the floor, they looked slow on defense, allowing the Boomers to get a step ahead on penetration and completely flummoxed on offense. A disappointing effort for sure, it wasn't from lack of effort; Lauren Mansfield hit some long shots from three (six of them to be exact) and Alison Schwagmeyer-Belger played her heart out in a never-say-die effort. Combining for over two thirds of Sydney's points it's hard to imagine what the final score would have been without these two. Anneli Maley's hustle deserves a mention, even if her touch around the rim wasn't at its best tonight, her tenacity on the boards and defense are fun to watch.

As the Flames essentially wound down for the year, the Boomers will be aiming for a top two finish, allowing them one semi-final win away from their sixth Grand Final appearance as a franchise. With the Capitals and Flyers both stacking wins, this game was a must for the Boomers to hold their own destiny going forward. Still with five games left on the schedule there is still plenty of opportunity to make or break their own season, and hopefully, murder no more.

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- Sydney Uni will be taking the game ball and booting it as far into the Pacific Ocean as humanly possible. It's more useful as someones desert island Wilson then in game prop at this point.

- Next pandemic maybe a rethink on an arena in Australia's sweatiest city for a physical activity competition.