BENDIGO Spirit will be hoping a return to Red Energy Arena against Canberra Capitals tonight will help them rediscover their exceptional early-season form.<\/p>\n
The Spirit slumped to their second straight defeat to start the new year, coming up short of Perth Lynx at HoopsFest on Thursday last week.<\/p>\n
They immediately dropped to third on the WNBL ladder, overtaken by Townsville Fire and the red-hot Lynx, who claimed a 10th-straight victory.<\/p>\n
It was a familiar face that inflicted the most damage for the Lynx, as former Spirit star Ally Wilson lit up the RAC Arena with a brilliant 26-point haul, including a devastating six from nine from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
Following some impressive early three-point shooting of their own, the Spirit led by as many as 13 points midway through the second quarter and 12 at half-time.<\/p>\n
The Lynx were able to arrest the momentum in the third, pulling the margin back to three points at three-quarter-time.<\/p>\n
Perth hit the lead when Wilson nailed her sixth long bomb of the match with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, as the Lynx came up clutch in the key moments from that point on to seal an 85-81 victory.<\/p>\n
It was the Lynx’s second win over the Spirit in three games this season.<\/p>\n
Perth claimed the honours in the teams’ first meeting in Perth in November, while the Spirit rebounded a week later to score an 87-58 victory at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon.<\/p>\n
Spirit championship coach Kennedy Kereama gave full praise to the Lynx for a resilient and disciplined performance.<\/p>\n
“It’s always disappointing to come away with a result you don’t necessarily want,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It certainly wasn’t our lack of trying.<\/p>\n
“I thought our group really battled.<\/p>\n
“It was a game of two halves really. I thought the Lynx did a great job of rebounding and gave themselves a lot of second-chance points.<\/p>\n
“We kept them to five offensive rebounds in the second half\u202612 extra in the third and fourth total, plus the extra fouls we accumulated that made it really difficult to create momentum, get stops and get down the other end.<\/p>\n
“I also thought their zone and press really bogged us down.<\/p>\n
“I literally looked at the stats and we had 12 turnovers.<\/p>\n
“I was actually surprised; it felt like we had a lot more.”<\/p>\n
Isobel Borlase top scored for the Spirit with 21 points, adding another double-double with 11 rebounds, while Kelsey Griffin (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Kelsey Rees (16 points, four rebounds) combined for nine three-pointers.<\/p>\n
For the Lynx, Han Xu (14 points, 10 rebounds), Amy Atwell (13 points) and Anneli Maley (12 points, 16 rebounds) all played key roles in the fightback.<\/p>\n
Disappointed the Spirit were unable to capitalise on their early lead and run out the game, Borlase gave her strongest endorsement to the HoopsFest concept, incorporating four days of back-to-back WNBL and NBL games and a triple-header on the Sunday.<\/p>\n
“It was a cool atmosphere to play in front of,” she said.<\/p>\n
“There were more people than I thought there was going to be.<\/p>\n
“It’s nice to see that is what we can produce, a good brand of basketball, and that people do want to come and watch it.<\/p>\n
“Credit to the WNBL, NBL, HoopsFest, Perth and everyone who came out to support us.<\/p>\n
“It was fun to be a part of and hopefully we get to do it again.”<\/p>\n
The Spirit will tread carefully against the Capitals, with only two points separating the teams in their last clash in Bendigo, when the home side prevailed by two points in November.<\/p>\n
Tip-off is at 6.30pm.<\/p>\n
The Spirit were due to play Southside Flyers at Ballarat’s Selkirk Stadium on Wednesday night as the Times was going to print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BENDIGO Spirit will be hoping a return to Red Energy Arena against Canberra Capitals tonight will help them rediscover their exceptional early-season form. The Spirit slumped to their second straight defeat to start the new year, coming up short of Perth Lynx at HoopsFest on Thursday last week. They immediately dropped to third on the […]<\/p>\n