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THE Bendigo Spirit put a blowout loss on Friday night behind them to almost equal their WNBL record score in a 35-point thrashing of the Perth Lynx on Saturday afternoon.
The Spirit crushed the Lynx 106-71 at the Bendigo Stadium to win their first game of the 2017-18 season.
The Spirit’s tally of 106 has been bettered only by the 107 points they scored on November 22, 2008 – also against Perth – in what’s now their 11th season in the competition.
The 35-point win was a 62-point turnaround from Friday night in Geelong for the Spirit, who were beaten 90-63 by Melbourne before backing up the following day.
“For any team wanting to make it into finals and win it all this year, you have to be resilient and leave what’s in the past, whether it’s win or lose, and come ready to play that next game,” Spirit captain Kelsey Griffin said.
While the final margin was 35 points, at half-time the Spirit’s advantage had been just one as they led 42-41.
However, the Spirit ignited in the third quarter with a 43-point onslaught that included 17 from Nadeen Payne.
“We had been happy with 42 points in the first half. We executed well offensively and our shot selection had been good,” Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said.
“In that third quarter where we scored 43 points, it was something for the ages. I turned to Dave (Flint, assistant) at one stage and said ‘have they missed yet’, because that’s just how it felt.
“They were combining and playing off each other so well… it was great basketball and great to watch.”
The Spirit spread their 106 points across nine players, led by Betnijah Laney (27), Payne (24), Rachel Banham (19) and Griffin (17), with the quartet combining for 87 to outscore Perth by 16 on their own.
