![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fda224f7-5450-483e-96c2-c62da636c96b.jpg\")
\n Alex Ciabattoni shone with 23 points as the Lynx hung tough against the Lightning. (Matt Turner\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Despite flying in only the week before, WNBA import Brianna Turner has mixed style with substance to help the Perth Lynx overcome the newly rebranded Adelaide Lightning 75-72.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before a sell-out crowd at the South Australia State Basketball Centre on Sunday, Adelaide played for the first time after the WNBL’s new owners announced a partnership with the South Australian government to fund the side.<\/p>\n
Despite the Lightning’s new colours, players, coach, and stadium, the Lynx spoiled the party, leading from the 13th second until Adelaide staged a comeback and led with two minutes left.<\/p>\n
But Turner (15 points, 10 rebounds, six assists), came in clutch for the Lynx, linking with Alex Ciabattoni (23 points) to see out the win.<\/p>\n
“Bri landed a week ago, so trying to get her into everything has been been fun. Luckily she picks up so well,” said Perth coach Ryan Petrik.<\/p>\n
“She (Turner) fits like she was someone we’ve chased for years and have never quite been able to get.<\/p>\n
“We knew she could play, we knew she could rebound, we knew she could defend, we knew she was smart. Her level of IQ is off the charts.<\/p>\n
“We had to get out of the blocks really quickly because we’re missing two important players on our side.<\/p>\n
“I was more concerned with our legs late, because we’re missing … levels and minutes in Steph (Gorman) and Ally (Wilson).”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inspired by their WNBA imports Steph Talbot (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Sania Feagin (16 points, nine rebounds), Adelaide nearly defied expectations after trailing by 17 points at quarter time.<\/p>\n
\n Alex Ciabattoni shone with 23 points as the Lynx hung tough against the Lightning. (Matt Turner\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Hometown player Tayla Brazel also played a part in sparking the boisterous Adelaide crowd when she netted four triples in the second quarter to help the Lightning stay in touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve only got two players left from last year. Most of the girls haven’t played together before, and we’re a young group, but we’ve gelled pretty well,” Lightning coach Kerryn Mitchell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The fight that we showed to come back was awesome. So there’s so much to build on.<\/p>\n
“We came out, and we were a little bit unsure of ourselves in that first quarter, and then we found our rhythm.”<\/p>\n
Perth started the match intensely, making seven blocks in the opening quarter before turning to Amy Atwell and Ciabattoni to score the buckets.<\/p>\n
Adelaide lifted the intensity from the second quarter until they were able to hit the lead, but late baskets to Turner, Ciabattoni, and Tegan Graham helped Perth complete the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite flying in only the week before, WNBA import Brianna Turner has mixed style with substance to help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4,17956,17959,17954,3,17957,17955,17958,99,5986,434,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-236165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-daily-news","10":"tag-global-news","11":"tag-inkl","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-news-app","14":"tag-news-headlines","15":"tag-news-today","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-today-news","18":"tag-wnba","19":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}