Slammers go down to Flames

Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers’ coach Greg Worthington has lamented his side’s inconsistency after a disappointing 24-point loss to bottom side Rockingham at the weekend.

Picture: Trent Worthington

The Slammers went into Saturday’s clash against the then winless Flames’ side with a morale-boosting victory over Kalamunda Eastern Suns the previous round still fresh in mind.

The match at Rockingham’s Mike Barnett Sports Centre provided the South West side with another opportunity for points and rare back-to-back triumphs.

But it did not eventuate as the Slammers trailed by 18 points at the long break and 29 at three quarter time as part of what Worthington dubbed ‘‘a shocker’’.

Only imports Carlos White (25 points, 11 rebounds) and Senario Hillman (25 points) had any real impact on the scoring bench.

‘‘It’s more frustrating than anything thatwe are not getting consistent outputs from all players,’’ Worthington said.

‘‘This should have been awin for us. But they got ahead of themselves.

‘‘It’s part of having young players in the team. I had this feeling before the game that they seemed to be thinking of next week, instead of this week’s game.’’

In a positive for the Slammers, captain Trent Worthington returned to the court after a one week injury layoff.

He successfully negotiated 16 minutes for six points and five boards on his proppy ankle.

Despite enjoying 21 second chance points the Flames did most of their damage from outside the arc, sinking 18 triples at 50 per cent for the night.

Rockingham’s Justin Eckhardt included five three-point bombs in his haul of 19 points while four from Percell Coles helped him finish the night with 20 points.

The Flames’ Trent Gerovich dealt only from down town, scoring four triples in his 12-point haul.

The loss leaves the Slammers in 12th place on the ladder, ahead of this weekend’s road trip to Kalgoorlie where they will face the inconsistent Goldfields Giants.

‘‘We’ve got a long week of training ahead of us to determine which team actually goes (to Kalgoorlie),’’ Greg Worthington said.

‘‘I think we match up pretty well on them.’’

The South West Slammers women’s side surrendered top spot on the ladder after going down to Rockingham by 12 points on Saturday night.

Disastrous periods either side of the half-time ensured the Slammers’ were well out of the game.

They led 11-9 after the first term but trailed by 16 points at three quarter time on their way to the 68-56 defeat — their first of the 2012 season.

The inaccurate Slammers shot at only 28 per cent for the night.

Among the worst offenders were Bianca Donovanwho scored from only five of her 22 attempts from the field while Valerie Ogoke (four from 15) and Donnelle Wallam (three from 13) were also off target.

Kara Hargreaves finished the night with 16 points while Ogoke and Donovan both had 10.

Star import Emma Cannon was unstoppable for the Flames, bringing in a whopping 17 rebounds and helping herself to 17 points.

The Slammers were without new recruit Kim Sitzmann on the evening.