THE Bendigo Bank Spirit will be better prepared second time around when they take on WNBL ladder-leaders South East Queensland at home on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Spirit and Stars met in what was not only the first game of the season last month, but the first game in its history for new WNBL franchise, South East Queensland.
Coached by Shane Heal, the Stars won the season-opening encounter 80-63 against a sluggish Spirit that was slow out of the blocks and forced to play catch-up all game.
The Stars travel to the Bendigo Stadium for the first time on Saturday night sitting on top of the ladder with a 4-1 record, while the Spirit is seventh at 4-3.
After stepping into the unknown the first time they met, Spirit assistant coach Andrea Walsh says Bendigo has a much clearer understanding of what to expect from the opposition on Saturday night.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well against them that night and probably didn’t put enough pressure on their guards,” Walsh said on Friday.
“We expect to be a lot better than we were in that first game, but in saying that, they would have improved as well.
“Hopefully, we can come away with a win to keep the (head to head) series alive.”
The Spirit has had an up-and-down start to the season, with the formline of their first seven games reading LWWLWWL.
Although, their cause hasn’t been helped by a tough schedule in the opening month, in which they have already had three weekends out of four where they have played two games.
One of them was last week when they defeated Perth in Perth on Friday night, but suffered a surprise 76-68 loss on Sunday to the battling Adelaide in Adelaide.
“We’ve played the most games of any team going into this weekend, so we’ve had a couple of days off this week,” Walsh said.
“It has been a chance to refresh, and as much as last Sunday’s game was disappointing, we’re all about moving forward and focusing on this Saturday night’s game.”
The Spirit are hopeful of regaining Heather Oliver from the rib injury that sidelined her last weekend.
Saturday night’s game between the Spirit and Stars tips off at 7pm.
Every child wearing their Bendigo Basketball Association team singlet will get into the game for free.
