Perth Lynx dominate after Ally Wilson blow as Han Xu and Alex Ciabattoni inspire a WNBL win over Townsville

Perth Lynx coach Ryan Petrik has marvelled at the way his players stepped up their physicality after star guard Ally Wilson copped a blow to the face and turned around a six-point deficit to thrash championship favourites Townsville by 16 points. The Lynx were furious when play continued after Wilson was struck to the face. She broke her nose against Townsville earlier in the season and is now wearing a protective mask. But the Lynx decided to fight fire with fire and went on an extraordinary 2-25 run to win 97-81 at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on Sunday. “That annoyed the playing group a little bit,” Petrik said. “But we warned our girls pre-game that we were unlikely to get 50-50 whistles here. Last time we were here in the finals it was 7-1 against us at quarter time and it was 11-4 against us at half-time. “Southside were here two weeks ago and it was 25-13 against Southside. So we warned our girls that you’ve got to play through it and I’ll deal with the refs. The ways the girls fought and stuck up for Ally Wilson after that play, it was the happiest we were all night.” Townsville entered the game having lost only one match this season and enjoying a seven-game winning streak. But the Fire had no answers when Perth took over. Han Xu was unstoppable with 28 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Alex Ciabattoni was inspirational with 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and a brilliant steal as the Fire attempted to mount a comeback. Anneli Maley won 15 rebounds along with scoring 11 points while Wilson scored 19 points had five rebounds and five assists. Xu said the Lynx knew they had to stand together and fight. “Today was a tough game,” she said. “This team is very physical. I feel it’s very helpful if I can be more aggressive to push us to be more aggressive.” The Lynx are now 8-3 and have sent a message to the league about how damaging they now are. There is a clear gap between Bendigo (10-2), Townville (9-2) and perth between the rest of the league. Fourth placed Canberra have a 5-6 record. But Petrik is refusing to get caught up thinking the win will change his team’s season. “We’re not trying to win the championship in December,” he said. “We’re on eight wins so we’ve got to find another four or five minimum just to make the play-offs. That’s the only focus right now.”