FOR young Bendigo Lady Braves gun Chloe Bibby, last week's loss to the Sydney Uni Sparks was frustrating in more ways than one.
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Mostly because the 18-year-old was not on court when the Lady Braves suffered just their second loss of the SEABL season.
Bibby was in Canberra at a training camp, attempting to impress Australian team selectors ahead of the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in July.
The scoring forward was forced to follow the game via SEABL Livestats and felt a sense of helplessness as the Lady Braves stumbled to an 85-78 overtime defeat.
"I was yelling at Livestats for a while, it was frustrating not being there," she said.
"It was a tough training camp and obviously disappointing I got to miss the game, but I'm happy to be back and excited to play."
It was a game of fluctuating fortunes for the Lady Braves, who outscored the Sparks 28-20 in the first quarter and 21-8 in the third, but gave up 32 points to 13 in the second quarter.
They were then outscored 10-3 in overtime.
Bibby said defence had been a priority at practice this week for the Lady Braves, who play the Geelong Supercats on Saturday night in Geelong, before hosting the Nunawading Spectres on Sunday.
"It's definitely going to be a tough weekend, but if we can lock in on our defence we should be fine," she said.
Bibby, who has joined the Lady Braves after playing with the Dandenong Rangers SEABL and WNBL teams, said a one point loss to the Spectres in April still stung the playing group and coach Jonathan Goodman.
"Our game plan, we didn't stick to it, but if we can I think we should be fine," she said.
"I know we've improved and grown as a team since that game."
Marena Whittle looms as the player to stop for the Spectres, after 18 points and 11 rebounds in the teams' earlier season meeting.
The Lady Braves will welcome back centre Maddi Wild this weekend, who has completed her fourth year of college basketball with West Texas A&M University.
The homegrown Brave adds to the team's tall stocks, ledy by American imports Chante Black, who missed last week's game, and Ashley Rininger.
Bibby said Black, a former WNBA top 10 draft pick, had been a great influence on her since arriving from the US in the lead-up to theLady Braves' back-to-back round six wins in Tasmania.
"She's great - a great human, she finishes really well," she said.
"On and off the court she fits in so well."
Tip-off for Sunday's game against Nunawading at Bendigo Stadium is noon.
