All it took to make Kia Nurse shoulder the scoring load was to make her feel like she didn't have to.
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Oh and did she. Nurse lit it up as the Canberra Capitals thrashed the top-of-the-table Southside Flyers 98-74 in Dandenong on Sunday.
It capped a massive weekend for the Capitals, who also beat the second-placed Melbourne Boomers in overtime on Friday night.
The Capitals flew out of the blocks, with Nurse and co-captain Marianna Tolo completely dominating.
Nurse ended the game with 33 points as she scored freely from both outside and inside the three-point arc.
Tolo had a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling in 12 rebounds in an undersized Capitals line-up.
They were also underwomaned, having just eight fit players for the game.
The Capitals were without star Kelsey Griffin, who hopes she can be back for Tuesday's game but Sunday might be more likely, and Keely Froling, who will see the surgeon about her broken nose and fractured cheekbone on Monday.
In their absence, Nurse was brilliant as she put Southside to the sword.
"She did. She's had a couple of down weeks, scoring wise. I think she tried to take too much of the load on her shoulders when Kelsey went out," Capitals coach Paul Goriss said.
"I think it was just letting her settle in and getting her back to taking the shots that she did at the start of the year and last year, and not feeling that she had to shoulder the load offensively for us.
"She took some really good shoots and was obviously on fire so we kept going to her and they didn't have an answer.
"Great effort by her, but the teammates around her got her the ball."
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The win keeps the Capitals in outright third, one win ahead of fourth-placed Adelaide Lightning.
They're now just one win behind the Boomers and two behind the Flyers - with three games to play.
Goriss said beating the top two teams could be a warning shot to the rest of the WNBL.
But he pointed to their losses to the two bottom teams in recent weeks as proof they couldn't take anything for granted.
"Two games doesn't make a season, but obviously we found some form after two disappointing losses against Bendigo and Townsville," Goriss said.
"I liked the fight and the courage of our group. When the chips are down we don't make excuses.
"We get to work and really put in two solid weeks of practice.
"Obviously it might [be a warning shot], but at any time anyone can beat anyone in this competition and we've just hit a purple patch and some form at the right time."
While the Capitals only had eight players on the team sheet, all eight of them got on the scoreboard.
Canberra guard Maddison Rocci had 19 points, Olivia Epoupa 15 and Alex Delaney 13 as all five starters reached double figures.
It the Capitals' highest score of the season - with their second best effort also coming against the Flyers.
Goriss was always confident they could hurt Southside on the scoreboard, so he put the focus on trying to restrict the table toppers.
"We always knew at times Southside have struggled defensively during the season so we knew we could score," Goriss said.
"Defensively for us was our focus because they average 86 [points] a game.
"Even with Jenna [O'Hea] not in the line-up they're a high-potency scoring machine and that's what they've lived on.
"A clinical performance at both ends of the court for us."
AT A GLANCE
CANBERRA CAPITALS 98 (Kia Nurse 33, Maddison Rocci 19, Olivia Epoupa 15 points; Epoupa 13, Marianna Tolo 12 rebounds) bt SOUTHSIDE FLYERS 74 (Mercedes Russell 18, Leilani Mitchell 14 points; Russell 10 rebounds)