Spirit bow out of WNBL finals race

BENDIGO Spirit’s hopes of repeating as WNBL champions have been extinguished after crashing to a 75-81 defeat in game two of its semi-final series against Perth Lynx at Red Energy Arena on Tuesday night.

Aiming to rebound from a 10-point loss in game one last weekend, the Spirit fell six points short of the grand final-bound Lynx.

The loss eliminated the Spirit from championship contention.

Having shown so much resilience throughout the season to thrive in the absence of key personnel, the Spirit again showed plenty of grit on Tuesday night to rally from a 10-point second-quarter deficit to make it a one-possession game during the third.

Buoyed by the nearly 1400 home crowd, the Spirit maintained contact with the Lynx until deep into the last quarter.

With two points separating the teams, former Spirit forward Anneli Maley scored a settling three with little more than two minutes remaining.

From there, Bendigo struggled to find the net, with a two-pointer from import Han Xu with 0:41 to go putting the seal on a Lynx victory.

The Chinese superstar proved a thorn in the Spirit’s side all night, dominating the contest with 25 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.

Maley, a league MVL winner with the Spirit in 2021-22, was a handful all game, posting 22 points and 14 rebounds, while fellow Opal and another former Spirit star Ally Wilson had nine boards and six assists.

Hopes of the Spirit forcing a deciding third game were marred by sinking just 38 per cent of their two-point attempts, compared to the Lynx’s 51 per cent.

League MVP Izzy Borlase again shone with 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, while captain Kelsey Griffin led from the front with 18 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks.

Thirteen of Borlase’s points came in a superb third quarter.

A semi-finals exit quickly led to speculation on whether this would be the last Spirit fans would see of Griffin, a subject the 38-year-old five-time WNBL champion was willing to address post-match.

“I don’t know if this was my last game playing, but if it was, I would be really fortunate,” Griffin, whose five championship wins include three with the Spirit, said.

“I’m someone who struggled with gratitude in my career because I felt like I often had to push for progression and betterment.

“(But), because of the people that I get to go and play basketball with daily, it’s going to be a really difficult decision.”

Georgia Booth was a spark off the bench for the Spirit with eight points and three rebounds.

The loss was the Spirit’s fifth in a row to end the season, three of them involving the Lynx, including a 64-88 defeat in their second last regular season game in Bendigo on 1 February.