Bendigo Spirit's incredible run of 16 consecutive wins was ended in Saturday's home-court clash with Townsville Fire.

For the second time this year Townsville outplayed us in so many areas of the game.

Their defensive play, shown by Suzy Batkovic's block on Gabe Richards, was really strong.

To have won 16 in a row was a great achievement, but Saturday's match showed there is work to do.

The defeat was a reality check for every player in the Spirit squad.

We know it's not a matter of walk on the court and the win is ours.

Teams are after us, not just because we are reigning WNBL champions, but also because we hold top spot on the ladder.

As a group we had not talked or focused on the winning streak so much.

The first-round loss at Townsville was tough.

There were no excuses for Saturday's play.

As disappointing as the loss was, it's all about the next contest.

There's no point dwelling for too long on what went wrong against Townsville.

What's most important is lifting our workrate and getting back to the intensity in our play we had a couple of weeks ago.

How we rebound this week is a great test for us.

It started again at Monday night's review.

Video has played a big part in my basketball career.

It's important to take it all in. It's not just about looking at vision and listening to the coach, but really assessing what you did or did not do.

Even after all these seasons I'm still learning from every match I play.

At times this season I have struggled, particularly with my shooting.

When you are confident, basketball seems a relatively easy game to play.

When confidence is down the game is so much harder, no matter what level you are playing.

The key is to be as confident as you can be when you step on the floor.

The other is be ready to play.

Townsville came here for the first time since last season's grand final against us and really lifted for the challenge, especially in the third quarter when they outscored us 25-8.

Now the challenge for the Bendigo Bank Spirit is to rebound from defeat and give our all in this round and every round from now until the finals.

This weekend throws up a lot of challenges for us.

We are at home for Friday night's game against Logan Thunder.

Then it's off to Townsville for Sunday's battle with Fire.

Both matches will be an extremely tough test.

It's going to be a lot harder playing up there in Townsville, but we will give it all we can.

First things first and it's Friday's match against Thunder.

As a group we are determined to bounce back.

Hope to see you at Friday's big game.