Sydney Uni Flames coach Karen Dalton says her team can reverse last Friday night's loss to the Canberra Capitals if it increases its intensity and commitment when the sides meet on Saturday.
The Capitals blasted the Flames off the court in the opening half and went on to win 84-74.
However Sydney Uni picked up its first win of the WNBL season last Saturday against the Australian Institute of Sport with an 82-79 victory but the coach was far from impressed.
Last year's grand finalist wasn't able to close out the match against the AIS until late in the fourth quarter.
Dalton labelled her team's first-half effort against the Capitals disgraceful and said her team still had a long way to go before it could match it with the top teams in the league.
''A win is a win and we'll take it even though it was very scrappy,'' Dalton said of her team's three-point victory over the AIS.
''When you're zero [wins] and two [losses] at the start of the season you'll take anything.
''But the AIS are a tough team and we had the same problems as we did against the Capitals.
''[We need to work on] everything. Our defence is just not good enough at the moment.''
Dalton said the Capitals were the competition's benchmark and despite a spirited fightback her team needed to address some core issues before meeting Canberra again this weekend.
''The key for us was to stop their transition play and we didn't do a good job of that,'' she said.
''We didn't follow what we planned and once the Capitals get a roll on they're hard to stop.
''When you've got players like [Marianna] Tolo and [Jess] Bibby coming off the bench it's always going to be tough.
''I think we can beat them, but we've got to start playing with some consistency.''
The Flames played last year's champion Adelaide in the opening round and meet the Capitals again in round three before playing finals contender Townsville in round four.
Dalton said the tough start to the season had exposed her young and inexperienced line-up.
Guard Alicia Poto played the entire match against the AIS and finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block.
Poto nailed 21 points and combined with import Lindsey Pluimer, who also hit 21, to score more than half the Flames points against the Capitals.
Canberra assistant coach Sandy Tomley said they had to shut the dynamic duo down in the rematch.
Tomley was confident the Capitals could nullify Poto's impact on Saturday.
''We're really still coming together as a group,'' Tomley said.
''Poto is always going to be on the radar and we didn't know much about Pluimer until this week.
''But we'll adjust and we'll do a better job on both of them.''
The Capitals start the week without any injuries and Tomley said the Flames' second-half fightback was good for Canberra's title aspirations.
''The girls are so competitive,'' she said. ''They want to continue dominating but they have to understand that everyone will make a run at us at some stage.
''The team wants to dominate the season but the close matches will help us in the championship games.''
SATURDAY
WNBL Round 3: Canberra Capitals v Sydney Uni Flames at Sydney Uni Sport and Aquatic Centre, 7pm.
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