Renae Garlepp has notched her maiden win as a WNBL coach after the Sydney Flames trounced the Canberra Capitals 91-61 to snap a five-game losing streak.
Sydney climbed off the bottom of the ladder with their landslide, breakthrough triumph at the AIS Arena on Saturday, set up by a commanding 26-9 opening quarter.
Jessica McDowell-White came off the pine to post a career-high 17 points on 100 per cent shooting, while Shaneice Swain scored 15 - also off the bench - and captain Lauren Nicholson added 14.
Unique Thompson paired 13 points with 10 boards as the Flames emphatically won the rebound count 49-27.
The victory was Garlepp's first in her five games at the helm after replacing Guy Molloy, who stepped down at the start of the month to take on an advisory position at the club.
"Really happy with the way we came out in the first half," Garlepp said.
"(I liked) our intensity on defence and how we moved the ball and played together on offence."
Nyadiew Puoch and skipper Zitina Aokuso posted 14 points apiece for the Capitals, who suffered in Jade Melbourne's absence. The star point guard picked up a finger injury in last week's 26-point road loss to Perth and will undergo surgery on Monday.
Making matters worse, Tahlia Tupaea, Melbourne's injury replacement, lasted less than five minutes in her first appearance of the season before suffering concussion via an accidental head knock.
Sydney seized total control with a withering 19-0 burst either side of quarter-time, blowing a slender 12-9 buffer out to 31-9.
Canberra's defence was non-existent and their offence out of sync without Melbourne directing traffic.
The home side went scoreless for almost seven minutes as the Flames cruised to a 50-25 halftime lead.
Puoch piloted a brief rally in the third term, which the Capitals took 21-17, before Sydney wrestled back the momentum and dominated the fourth.
"I thought we came out very slow, very soft and lacked toughness in the first half," Canberra coach Paul Goriss said.
"Having a nine-point quarter to start the game wasn't good enough.
"That wasn't Caps basketball."
