Cayla George has bounced back from a quiet opening match to power the Southside Melbourne Flyers to a 81-76 victory against the Sydney Flames.
George was at the centre of the action on Friday night at Sydney's Quaycentre, screaming, leading and registering 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in a gritty contest.
The 36-year-old's standout performance comes after she was confined to just four points and seven rebounds in round one.
It was also the Flyers' first win of the season, continuing away teams' 100 per cent record to start the WNBL season.
"(We had) what I like to call a wrestle-ball training week. It was very physical, but it put us in good stead to come out and really handle it today," George said.
"It was a really tough win. I'm just really stoked for the girls.
"It got pretty crazy out there at times. The physicality was healthy."
After a shaky start, Southside won the last three quarters with Haylee Andrews (seven assists) and Haley Peters (13 points, four steals) also helping the visitors see out the game.
The Flames were unable to back up their victory over Geelong Venom last Saturday, despite having 17 more shots than their opponents.
But Agnes Emma-Nnopu (11 points, six rebounds, two blocks) and Lauren Nicholson (17 points) did provide the home crowd with something to cheer about.
New import Olivia Epoupa only signed with the Flames on Thursday and showed flashes of her signature swift speed, but was unable to make a scoreboard impact.
Sydney coach Guy Molloy admitted Epoupa had been "disruptive" to the pre-game preparations.
"She hasn't played for the month, and then she's trying to learn a whole new style of play in the course of one or two training sessions. So it's hard," Molloy said.
"We'll just get a lot stronger with her in time.
"We just didn't shoot the ball well enough to capitalise on how well we generally defended it, and how well we rebounded."
Sydney started by converting defensive pressure into points, going on a 14-0 run before George stepped up to cut the deficit to six.
The Flyers continued to up their physicality in the second quarter, going on a 17-5 run spearheaded by George and Peters to finish the half 43-all.
Both teams sunk basket after basket as Southside took a three-point lead into the final term.
The Flames got within two but couldn't sink their opportunities, leaving both sides 1-1 for the season.
