Perth Lynx coach Ryan Petrik urges his stars to shoot 50 three-pointers in pursuit of WNBL championship

Perth Lynx coach Ryan Petrik has urged his players to shoot as many three-pointers as possible in their games this season, saying he would love for them to have a match where they have 50 attempts from the perimeter.

Perth took 38 three-point shots during their 95-76 win over Geelong on Friday night, including 16 in the first quarter. Geelong attempted only 26 for the night.

Guard Georgia Amoore took 12 of those shots for Perth and she leads the league for the made three-pointers this season, with an average 3.4 per game.

Perth have averaged 30 three pointers across the first five games and that’s helped to them to win four of those matches. Petrik wants that number to soar for the remainder of the season.

“I would love to have gotten to 45 or 50 attempts,” he said.

“Georgia took 13 shots of which 12 of them were threes and I have zero problems with that. Welcome to modern basketball.

“I thought the threes were fairly good looks in the first half, and if we make them, we make them. If we’re not, we’re not. If that’s the shot that’s open, then shoot it. I think we’re number one, three point percentage as well. So fire away.”

The Lynx are shooting at 37 per cent from three-point range this season and Petrik has always made a point of recruiting players who are a threat from outside the arc. Perth lost Amy Atwell, Han Xu and Ally Wilson to other clubs this season, but replaced them with more potent shooters.

Co-captain Alex Ciabattoni said the players love Petrik’s attacking approach as they prepare to play against Southside Melbourne Flyers in Victoria on Sunday.

“It just gives you a bit more confidence,” she said.

“If you miss one or two, it’s easy to get down. But you look at Ryan and he’s just clapping along like ‘shoot the next one’. So a mid-range two is not (approved) so much, but the three is solid. So it is nice.

“We had good looks. So I feel like if they’re dropping, keep letting fly.”