Perth Lynx coach Ryan Petrik won’t use bizarre three-point denial as excuse for WNBL grand final loss

Perth Lynx coach Ryan Petrik is refusing to use a controversial decision during the third quarter for his team’s dramatic fall away during the WNBL grand final, saying he had concerns for the way they were playing before it occurred. The Lynx lost game one of the best of three grand final series to the Fire 88-79 at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on Thursday and must now win Sunday’s clash at the Perth High Performance Centre to keep their season alive. Townsville took control after referees waved away an Anneli Maley three-pointer midway through the third quarter which would have levelled the scores. They called a foul against Alex Ciabattoni as she jostled for position while Maley’s shot was bouncing on the rim. The Fire outscored Perth 12-4 for the rest of the quarter to set up a match winning lead. But the referees halted play 25 minutes later and gave the Lynx Maley’s three points. The Fire were already in control at that point of the final period and while Perth got back to five points down late in the match, they never truly threatened. Petrik said that incident couldn’t be used as an excuse. “We lost. My immediate post-game reaction was, at the time, we were running in mud and bit, were getting a lot of things wrong and were just hanging in there. Then that went against us as well,” Petrik said. “But we were already struggling. We needed that circuit breaker to go in to keep us in touch. I thought we were in trouble before that.” Courtney Woods, Miela Sowah and Alicia Froling set up the win for Townsville. Woods ignited the team during their third quarter run and finished with 22 points and had three steals. Sowah scored 20 points and Froling produced 17 in a strong battle against Han Xu. Maley and Amy Atwell led the way for Perth. Maley had 12 points, 15 rebounds and three steals while Atwell produced 19 points including four three-pointers. Xu scored 16 points but half of those were in the final quarter. Petrik said the Lynx spoke about the importance of using Xu’s 211cm frame and giving her the chance to have an impact but the team struggled to follow through. He said Perth must utilise Xu’s skills more on Sunday. “That’s absolutely on us,” he said. “We will be cutting film and showing our players. Certainly the game plan isn’t to get her that few touches.” The Fire lost last season’s grand final to Bendigo but won in 2023. It is Perth’s third grand final in three seasons but they haven’t won since 1992. Perth won the opening game of the grand final series in both 2022 and 2024 despite being forced to travel for those matches, but lost when they returned home to Western Australia. Sunday’s game sold out on Thursday morning and the Lynx will shatter their home attendance record with more than 4000 fans preparing to pack the Perth High Performance Centre.