WNBL: Canberra Capitals fire up for Townsville after Gemma Potter's season ends with injury

The Capitals were thrown an early curveball to start their 2022-23 WNBL campaign as Gemma Potter's season ended prematurely, after one quarter of basketball.

Scans on Saturday revealed the rising star had suffered a ruptured ACL and strained MCL in their 20-point defeat to the Spirit on Friday night.

"Oh the joys of sport hey," Potter wrote on Instagram after learning the diagnosis on Saturday.

"As many highs as there is [sic], they're [sic] going to be lows and last night was no different.

"Thank you to everyone for the kind words already. I have been inundated with messages of support and never fail to appreciate the love that I have around me.

"I know what has to be done and cannot wait to start the process again with the best bunch of girls around me."

Potter was primed for a breakout season after a disastrous stretch of injury hurdles in the last few years.

The National Convention Centre crowd fell silent when the talented guard stayed on the floor, clutching her knee in agony.

The 20-year-old broke down in tears when her mum came down from the stands to console her, and understandably, it was also difficult for her teammates to process such raw emotion on display mid-game.

"That really got me there," Capitals teammate Shaneice Swain said after the 105-85 loss.

"We've just got to get around her.

"It was pretty tough when we came in at half-time and saw her bawling her eyes out. That made me really sad.

"We somehow had to put it in the back of our minds and tried to keep playing."

Former Capitals hero Kelsey Griffin was in the thick of the incident, accidentally getting tangled up with Potter's leg as the Canberra guard drove to the basket.

"She was coming at me, so I tried to set up for the charge. It's kind of a bang-bang play, so I don't really know what happened," Griffin explained post-game.

"I'm not gonna lie, usually when I'm taking a charge I close my eyes before impact.

"It was really hard to see Gemma go down and my thoughts and positive energy goes out to her. You don't want to ever see that happen to anyone, especially coming off her ACL injury previously.

"I hope she has a really speedy recovery. She's an incredible athlete with a really bright future and she was gearing up to have a really big, impactful season."

In her WNBL head coaching debut Kristen Veal was absolutely shattered for Potter, but was certain she would "come back bigger, better and stronger".

The Capitals will be forced to regroup quickly with a four-game leg on the road testing their squad's depth in the next few weeks.

"It's going to be tough. The girls are fit and strong though, so they'll be up to it," she said. "We needed a double to start with actually."

Against the Spirit there were glimpses of what this Capitals team are capable of at their best.

Scoring 85 points is nothing to shrug at, and there were plenty of points left on the court as they lacked the polish of their more experienced opponents.

That's the silver lining that Veal is clinging to as they eye their first win of the season on Sunday afternoon.

"We were throwing some dimes. We found some great passes out there, we just weren't ready for them because we haven't been in games enough across the last six weeks," Veal said.

"So it's going to take a little bit to find our groove.

"The fact we can find ways to score is really promising. It was just defensive errors, and if we can fix those up, we will be right in it."

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