Time and time again, Dunn uses her court craft, setting the early screens and opening up the space for her to have easy access to the post.
Dunn is the most accurate shooter in the ANZ Premiership, having three 100% performances and only missing 10 goals in eight games.
But Dunn downplayed her importance to the Steel, who will seek to bounce back from their extra-time loss to the Mystics when they head to Auckland to play the Stars tomorrow.
‘‘That’s just my job: to put the ball in the hoop,’’ Dunn said,
‘‘I think everyone is running around doing all the hard yards out on the court so that’s the least I can do.’’
She spends countless hours with goal attack Georgia Heffernan, discussing where they can fine tune their game.
‘‘It’s been really cool, especially to see our growth from last season to now. It’s been huge.
‘‘We’ve been having heaps of conversations of what we want, what we need from each other — that’s been really cool.’’
The 26-year-old is enjoying her second season back home with the Steel after stints with the Central Pulse and the Mainland Tactix.
‘‘It’s been really cool that we’ve been able to retain a lot of players from last season and build both on and off the court what we had last year.’’
The Steel have a good blend of youth and experience this season, which suited their game plan.
‘‘Our young ones are really not afraid to take games and then also us older ones, we’re pretty steady at the moment.’’
Adding Australian assistant coach Jess Whitfort to their attack end had been exciting as she encouraged her attackers to get more ball defensively.
‘‘She’s definitely added her flavour to our attacking and has a big emphasis on defensive transitions, so that’s been a big work-on for us,’’ Dunn said.
The Steel have dropped to third on the table but are just one point behind the Mystics and Tactix.
They had a big performance to ignite their season against the Stars in round two, beating the Aucklanders 69-60 in Invercargill.
Dunn said the Steel needed to keep going back to the drawing board, focusing on their own game and what they needed to improve each week.
The Tactix host the Mystics this afternoon in a repeat of last year’s final.
The Magic host the Pulse. Both teams are out of playoff contention, but the Pulse — who beat the Magic in round one — hope to finish the season with a bang after upsetting the Tactix last week.
ANZ Premiership
Auckland, tomorrow, 4pm
Southern Steel: Aliyah Dunn, Georgia Heffernan, Josie Bingham, Jessie Laga’aia, Serina Daunakamakama, Ashleigh Poi, Renee Savai’inaea, Carys Stythe, Khanye’-Lii Munro-Nonoa, Jess Milne.
Northern Stars: Amelia Walmsley, Martina Salmon, Crystal Maro, Claire O’Brien, Mila Reuelu-Buchanann, Samon Nathan, Aimee Landrigan, Kate Burley, Kate Walsh.
