Frustrated Capitals coach Paul Goriss has been left scratching his head as he looks to fix the mental lapses that have seen Canberra's season fall to pieces.
The Capitals were outscored by 20 points in the second half as they slumped to an eighth consecutive defeat against the Perth Lynx at Bendat Basketball Centre on Saturday night.
The Capitals were their own worst enemy in the 85-67 loss with 11 fourth quarter turnovers as execution seemingly went out the window.
Goriss is trying to figure out how he can replicate the physical and mental fatigue of a game at practice but a gruelling WNBL schedule means it's not as easy as training more.
A hectic travel schedule means he is wary of the extra workload that would put on his players as they aim to resurrect their season.
"I'm scratching my head going 'well, something needs to change'," Goriss said.
"We've changed starting line-ups, we've done different things but we're still getting the same result. The girls are happy with the plays, happy with the structure, happy with the things that we're doing.
"It's just that when we do them they work, but when we go away from them we have these patches and it doesn't replicate what we are as a team."
A finals berth is almost impossible for the Capitals at the halfway point of the season, with Canberra needing to win almost all of their remaining 11 games to sneak into the top four.
Jordan Hooper led Canberra with 13 points, while Lauren Scherf tallied 11 rebounds to go with five Natalie Hurst assists - but a solid opening quarter was undone by a horror finish.
"That's the ballgame there when you give them close to 30 points off turnovers and you give them an extra 11 possessions in one quarter," Goriss said.
"What do you do? That's what I said to them, 'what do you want me to do? I can't help you when give the opposition team an extra 11 possessions when you just pass them the ball'.
"We had some great contributors too, like [Lauren Scherf] and and Ezi [Magbegor] were really good, Maddi Rocci played some good minutes.
"But we haven't had this season, except for maybe the first two games which we won, consistent contribution from everybody. It's like we've had two or three on a night play well and the rest not."
The Capitals already have their backs to the wall as they prepare to be without Olympian Rachel Jarry for the best part of a month following her second concussion in a fortnight.
A WNBL concussion policy was given the tick of approval by the Australian Basketballers Association and requests any concussion must be reported, and any player must be cleared by an official club doctor before returning to training or play.
WNBL boss Sally Phillips says league officials will be "staying in very close contact with Rachel and the Capitals as we are of course very concerned for her welfare and ongoing wellbeing".
PERTH LYNX 85 (Courtney Williams 26, Alice Kunek 16, Sami Whitcomb 12) bt CANBERRA CAPITALS 67 (Jordan Hooper 13, Eziyoda Magbegor 12, Kate Gaze 11) at Bendat Basketball Centre.
