Maddy Rocci has mixed style with substance to boost the Southside Melbourne Flyers' finals push as they downed the Adelaide Lightning 85-72.
Rocci worked the floor at the Victorian State Basketball Centre on Sunday, grabbing another double-double as she contributed 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
The point guard, who also concedes the highest average of turnovers in the league (5.42), only coughed up a season-low two.
Adelaide kept in touch with the hosts for the first 30 minutes and captain Steph Talbot looked to have provided the spark for a Lightning run when she scored from well behind the halfway line on the three-quarter time buzzer.
But the visitors conceded 21 fourth-quarter fouls, and coupled with the Flyers' pinpoint shooting, the home side ran away with the win.
Victory moves Southside Melbourne (5-8) within one win of the fourth-placed UC Capitals (6-8), whose star player Jade Melbourne isn't expected back until February after undergoing hand surgery.
Forward Manuela Puoch scored a career-high 15 points for the Flyers while captain Cayla George had seven points, nine rebounds, seven assists, four blocks and four steals.
"Today was all about discipline, poise, and effort. I thought we did a great job at times with that, but we still have moments where we're not great," Flyers coach Kristi Harrower said.
"Manuela and Makenna (Marisa) coming off the bench today gave us that spark.
"It wasn't super pretty, and there wasn't a flow for both teams, but it's always nice to get a win."
New Zealand representative Fern Charlotte Whittaker made her Adelaide debut after coming in as a nominated replacement player, but she only complemented two points with three rebounds.
After sinking 82 points against the Perth Lynx last Sunday, the Lightning (4-10) couldn't get their usual scorers to fire as Sania Feagin and Dallas Loughridge were held to 11 points each.
But Talbot and Tayla Brazel (three steals, three blocks) were busy, posting 24 and 13 points respectively.
"We knew offense was going to be a bit clunky today. We put some new things in. We got a new player in, so we needed to hang our hat on defence," Talbot said.
"It's tough to go into anyone's home stadium and get a win at the moment, so matching their physicality was a big key."
The Flyers went on a 16-6 run to start, but Southside Melbourne turned the ball over, and Adelaide capitalised to trail by three points at quarter-time.
Both teams went tit for tat in the second quarter before Rocci stepped up to guide the Flyers to a 41-38 halftime lead.
Puoch scored back-to-back threes to increase Southside Melbourne's advantage to five points by three quarter-time, and although the Lightning threatened to come back, the Flyers did enough to win.
