Perth Lynx celebrate move to HBF Stadium with big win over Geelong United as Ally Wilson and Anneli Maley star

Perth Lynx have made a stunning start to life at HBF Stadium with a pulsating 96-71 win over Geelong United. The Lynx embraced the new environment with broadcast screens at both ends of the court, a bigger stadium and an enthusiastic home crowd. Ally Wilson, Teige Morrell, Anneli Maley and Amy Atwell all had big games as the Lynx backed up their win over ladder leaders Bendigo from last week. Lynx coach Ryan Petrik said it was a crucial win for the entire club. “We’ve seen the momentum we’ve got with everything the club is doing. We are building as club, we think the style of play is attractive so the more bums on seats we can get the better and it helps with wins like that,” he said. Perth Lynx came out with defensive intensity and had five steals in the first quarter. They inflicted maximum impact on the scoreboard from those and would have been thrilled to see Atwell score seven points as they took a four-point advantage to quarter time. With import Laeticia Amihere again battling foul trouble, Morrell came off the bench and had a huge impact. Morrell had eight points at half-time as Perth charged to a nine-point lead. Wilson was continuing from where she left off against Bendigo with nine points and five assists in the first half. The question was whether Perth could maintain the rage and they didn’t disappoint, opening up the gap to 14 points. Amihere’s night continued to be problematic as her fourth foul arrived after playing for just seven minutes. The lead ballooned to 26 points in the last quarter as Perth’s class shone out. “We thought it was a trap game for us because they haven’t played in nine days and we got ourselves up for the Bendigo game,” Petrik said. “That can lead to you dropping these games. Full credit to the girls during a distracting time of year to play like that.” Wilson was superb with 12 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Maley had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Atwell finished with 19 points and Morrell had 12 points and five rebounds.