Southside Melbourne Flyers have snapped a three-game losing streak to cling to a spot in the WNBL top four after producing a fast finish to beat Adelaide Lightning by five points.
Captain Cayla George was huge with 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Flyers (9-12) used a 14-2 fourth-quarter surge to dig their way out of trouble to win 82-77 at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne on Saturday.
Maddy Rocci (13 points, nine assists), Isabelle Bourne (13 points, four blocks) and Tera Reed (13 points) provided stout support for George.
"As coaches always say, it starts at the defensive end, and if you can dig deep in those moments, anything's possible," Southside coach Kristi Harrower said.
"I felt like we did that going down the stretch."
Dallas Loughridge (20 points, eight assists) and Sharne Robarti (17 points) starred for the Lightning (6-16), who crashed to the bottom of the ladder.
The visitors had led 73-66 on an Ashlee Strawbridge three-pointer, but could muster only one field goal in the final six minutes as Southside went on a 14-2 run to move ahead 80-75 thanks to George, Rocci and some searing defensive pressure.
Robarti closed the deficit to 80-77, before Loughridge missed a tough drive with 21 seconds left, then Hayley Peters sealed it from the free-throw line.
"My team fought, my team was aggressive, my team executed - we're getting better," Lightning coach Aja Parham-Ammar said.
"We're playing every possession. A lot of good things we can take out of that."
With Rocci controlling the play, Southside leapt ahead 12-6 before Adelaide called a time-out and rattled off eight quick points to pinch the lead.
With their bigs dominating the boards and Loughridge on song, the Lightning led 20-17 at quarter-time.
The Flyers reclaimed the lead on back-to-back threes from George and Hayley Peters in the second quarter.
Rocci's second triple put Southside ahead by six, before Loughridge's lay-up in the shadows of halftime reduced the Flyers' advantage to 42-38.
The lead continued to change hands after the main break, before a horrific finish to the third stanza from Southside handed Adelaide a 62-55 cushion with a quarter to play.
The Lightning scored nine unanswered points in that span, the last four coming from a pair of diabolical backcourt turnovers from the Flyers.
Southside regrouped, then dominated down the stretch, spearheaded by George's 10 fourth-quarter points.
Any Southside tilt on the title, though, will be without import guard Makenna Marisa, who was at the game but didn't play after being mutually released to play in Germany.
