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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The loss eliminated the Spirit from championship contention.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Buoyed by the nearly 1400 home crowd, the Spirit maintained contact with the Lynx until deep into the last quarter.<\/p>\n
With two points separating the teams, former Spirit forward Anneli Maley scored a settling three with little more than two minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Chinese superstar proved a thorn in the Spirit’s side all night, dominating the contest with 25 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Thirteen of Borlase’s points came in a superb third quarter.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“I’m someone who struggled with gratitude in my career because I felt like I often had to push for progression and betterment.<\/p>\n
“(But), because of the people that I get to go and play basketball with daily, it’s going to be a really difficult decision.”<\/p>\n
Georgia Booth was a spark off the bench for the Spirit with eight points and three rebounds.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n