Ninnis it is, for the Lightning

The Adelaide Lightning are pleased to announce Scott Ninnis as head coach for the remainder of the WNBL25 season. A highly respected figure in Adelaide's basketball community, Ninnis brings a wealth of experience, strong leadership, and a fresh perspective to the team.

With a wealth of coaching experience and talent development expertise, Ninnis is determined to help the Adelaide Lightning reach new heights. "Basketball has always been a central part of my life, and I’m honoured to join the Lightning," Ninnis shared. “This is a proud club with a rich legacy, and I’m excited to guide the team as we strive for success together. It’s a fresh start and an opportunity to achieve something truly special,” he added. “I’m eager to collaborate with this exceptional group of athletes and coaching staff.”

Adelaide Lightning General Manager Steve Wren emphasised the importance of Scott’s appointment, stating, “Scott’s leadership comes at a critical time in our season as we refocus and align with our long-term vision for the team. We extend our gratitude to assistant coaches Matt Clake and Georgia Crouch for their professionalism and dedication in navigating the team through recent challenges. Their continued support remains invaluable as we prioritise the wellbeing of our players and maintain our push towards finals contention.”

The Adelaide Lightning invites fans and the community to rally behind the team as they embark on this exciting new chapter under Ninnis’ leadership. With his passion, experience, and determination, the future looks bright as the team strives for excellence on the court.

Good Games this weekend

1 vs 2
Perth with their full squad is going to give Bendigo a good run, hold Whitcombe to something under 30 and they are in with a chance.

3 vs 4
Sydney could consolidate their wins over the past few weeks or slide back into the pack, Townsville the same with 3 home games coming up, they looked good at times vs Bendigo but cannot afford another slow start. They looked in Sync after the departure of Cooke.

Adelaide with new Coach, see how that goes. Adelaide needs a lot more out of Talbot if they are to be taken seriously this season.

Alex Sharp has joined Geelong for the rest of the season.

Big get!

I guess Europe wasn't her cup of tea.

Good fit too, skills she provides much needed at United.

Fire blazin the flames.

Lynx working hard to stay close in the 1st half, but Spirit playing the better basketball.
42% shooting vs 32% is reflective of Bendigo's ability to generate better shots than Perth so far.

Hopefully Bendigo and Perth are both fully healthy in the grand final and we don't get a total repeat of the 2013 NBL season.

Close finish here...

Ally Wilson to the rescue!

Good persistence by the Lynx to hang tough until some shots started dropping.

Big contribution from Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard. Nice to her and Stephanie Gorman both stepping up this season.

Yep, Mac was big in this one, holding her own in the front court with Amihere in sooky mode seeing a lot of bench time.
She can always hit the threes, but can't always defend. Did well in this one.

Did Dean get injured?

Borlase has fallen in love with shooting the 3 Ball & has stopped doing the other things that made one of the more promising young players in the WNBL.

Agree Samcro. Good for Lightning fans that Talbot has remembered how to play basketball again

Much improved, let's see how they go against the top teams.

TBH I didn't see any improvement last night against an awful Flyers group. They beat them by 26 in Melbourne two weeks ago.
If anything, last night was a backward step.

Lightning's biggest problem has been inconsistency from one quarter to the next (or even from 3 minutes to the next 3 minutes). Usually they would have choked down the stretch in a close one, so at least yesterday was an improvement in that department. A backward step is a bit much IMO but for sure I'll need to see a lot more to buy into any improvement talk.
Changing the coach seems to be working well so far. They're now 2-0. Sorry Scott, gotta keep the streak gong so you gotta go! ;)

I didn't see what happened to Dean. I didn't notice any sign of an injury but she never returned to the game after the 1st quarter. Nothing serious hopefully because that'd be a significant loss.

To me the bigger story that seems to be flying under the radar is how bad Southside have been. Some big names underperforming, especially in the backcourt.

tend to agree with Wolverine, Flyers were pretty bad, Talbot finally turned up and it was still touch and go.

What were the Flyers doing in the 3rd with Reed sitting for so long? They had Loughridge, Rocci & Burrows on together and it was not good. Reed and Hillman carried them in the first half, yet Reed played less than 28 minutes (same as Cole who was/is struggling), while Kunek the full 40 (too much), Hillman & Rocci 38.

Am I missing something here.
Bluey "Kunek 40 minutes, too much"

She is there most consistent player. Defence as well as offence.High % in shooting. Doesn't stop trying.
What lacked was defence by the whole team.
Their centre is non existent

It would be great if Maddi would be a genuine PG, rather than looking to score first. By half time zero assist. Only finished with a total of 3.

Can we just play the grand final already?

Caps are terrible.

The league is terrible.

Caps giving AIS lately

Jade Melbourne needs to take up one of the offers next season from any of the clubs so she can play with some players who can help her prospoer in the WNBA and not have to carry a whole team. I really feel for her after an amazing Olympics and WNBA season sne she should be averaging 10 assists per game, but no players on her team can make a shot to reward her playmaking.

Jade needs to go to europe.

Caps weren't great last year, but they were fun to watch, seemed to be building something, and played well with what they had.

Absolute shambles this year.

So was the previous Caps coach so bad she had to leave or is the current coach just not as good as everyone seemed to think? Just because a coach can win lots of games with a stacked team of experienced quality players appears not to mean the same coach knows how to continue the development a talented group of young players.

Management is to blame for the Capital's situation over the past 3 seasons. Grossly incompetent.

You can't win a Grand Prix when you buy your car from Carsales.com.
There is no budget, non-stop interference, undermining of the coaches, and the belief that players should feel privileged to play for Canberra and play for less $$$.

Ask any player who has walked out of the program over the past four years, and they will tell you it has nothing to do with the coaching.

They have a great documentary, though.

Ooh, tell me more about this documentary

I'm not saying you're wrong, Wolverine, but the Caps recruit pretty well without a budget and with such a supposed bad reputation in the front office. The problem is on the court, that's been even more evident under Gorris than it was under Veal.

Harrower is making a meal of her first season. Friday was more about their incompetence and Talbot/Bourne hitting shots than it was about the Lightning turning the corner.

The WNBL has a coaching problem outside of Seebohm, Petrik and maybe Kereama at a stretch. Recycling old heads or fast-tracking inexperienced former players is getting stale.

Am I missing something here.
Bluey "Kunek 40 minutes, too much"

I wasn't having a crack at Kunek Hardtop. I think she's been one of their best for all the reasons you stated. She fumbled late in the game and I believe that was due to fatigue, she works her butt off both ends. imo if she played less minutes, somewhere around the mid 30's, her efficiency would be even better and she would be able to close out games better and maybe carry you over the line. I don't think anyone should play the full 40 fwiw.

Jayhoops, not sure you can include Kereama with Seebolm, even Petrik is a stretch. It's clearly Seebolm and then daylight, adding Ninnis to the mix doesn't change that either.

Great to see Tupea back in the league btw and looking healthy too!

I'm not saying Petrik is as capable as Seebohm, just that others have demonstrated they can't succeed without stacked teams. Kereama is kind of in that mix as well, but I didn't think Bendigo's performances over the past couple of seasons has been horrible.

Ninnis getting the gig over their current assistant coach, let alone other proven coaches in Women's basketball, is symptomatic of the problem the WNBL has.

Ninnis has made a huge difference to the lightning - look to be playing with more freedom and fun.

this has been more about Sydney's inability to string 4 quarters together imo

Disagree - but lots of Adelaide players look like they are enjoying playing again. Things weren't like that before the change, so credit to Ninnis.

Agree with that too*

2nd game of the round, on the road, and minus Dean. I didn't get to catch any of this one but that's a good win.

Way too early to heap praise on the Ninnis Effect! Lightning have a Jekyll & Hyde persona about them so I'll assess them after at least 3 more games. Let’s also remember half of Sydney Flames squad could play in the U21 Competition...

Maybe the Lynx have shown the blueprint to defeat the Spirit, with the Spirit losing again today to the Flyers. Sami Whitcomb well below her usual MVP standards in both games resulting in losses, both Lynx & Flyers were very physical defensively against Sami in both games which results in Sami appealing to Umpires to bail her out on missed shots...

Dean is a very good PG

Must be frustrating to play with Sowah at times as she has no vision at all for her teammates & she really believes that there is no such thing as a 'bad shot'.

No such thing as a bad shot is not far off the motto for the Lynx offence. Sowah is having an excellent season so far.

Excellent is too strong a word to describe Sowah's season, she can’t guard a concrete statue garden gnome & most definitely needs to learn how to pass out of traps to include her teammates more.

Maybe we just have different measuring sticks.
To me, a player that no one else really wanted working themselves into the starting 5 of the league's #2 team is worthy of praise.
I'm not claiming she is perfect, just to be clear. But she is a very valuable member of a good team.
Her job is to push the limits. It's an element of how a team can keep things moving despite losing someone of the class of Aari McDonald, who we relied on super-heavily last season.

Sowah came out at the beginning of the season and completely changed her style to be more aggressive on the drive & better at clearing her arms. It meant that the scout on her was completely wrong for the first 4-5 games and she was brilliant as they were waiting for Atwell to get back & Wilson & Amhiere to get comfortable. The 2 man game she can play with Amhiere is excellent.

But now the scout has caught up she's finding it harder. The trick will be can she make that adjustment again, which is what is the difference between a good WNBL rotation player and a fringe Opal.

On defence she has good hands but struggles against bigger bodies. And shares a fault that most of the Lynx have in that she is very eager to go for the steal/intercept, which can hurt.

The Lynx have had two very poor 3pt shooting nights and managed to pull out wins. If they can control the fouling will be difficult to go through come finals.

Ally Wilson has been real comfortable from the get go & is arguably the leading PG in the WNBL & it's her & Amiehre that have shown a real connection especially in the Pick N Roll. Sowah was definitely caught out against Bendigo & their scout to take away what’s comfortable for her contributed to her worst game for the year. I’d like to see her become more well rounded & teammate focussed & look to increase her assist tally, defensively she’s got to improve around containment & positioning off & away from the ball.

And shares a fault that most of the Lynx have in that she is very eager to go for the steal/intercept, which can hurt.