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BENDIGO Spirit will head west eager to build on the gains of last weekend’s punishing WNBL victory against Perth Lynx.
But coach Simon Pritchard warned the Lynx would have plenty to prove in the teams’ return bout at Bendat Basketball Centre on Thursday night.
Perth remains winless so far in season 2017-18 after slumping to a 0-3 start, following a 35-point thrashing against the Spirit last Saturday.
“I think they’ll be very emotional and extremely fired up,” Pritchard said.
“And I think their coach (Andy Stewart) and their team are almost playing for their season four games in.
“They play us and then they head to Melbourne on the weekend, so to have a home game, they will want to get a win on the board to give them some momentum to get them through the weekend.
“It’s probably going to be a very physical game, but we just need to bear down and keep the ball moving.”
In Kelsey Griffin (19.5ppg), Betnijah Laney (18ppg) and Nadeen Payne (17.67ppg), the Spirit possess three of the league’s top six scorers.
But in a season in which the scoring output of must clubs has increased, Pritchard believed it was the team which got things together quickest on defence which would steal a break on its rivals.
“We pride ourselves on having the defence that has the lowest amount of points scored against and we are not that at the moment,” he said.
“We’ve got 93, 90 and 71 scored against, so we’ve got a bit of work to do getting teams down to lower scores, as every team does.”
Pritchard praised the early season performances of Payne, who had come back from the off-season that included a stint representing Australia at the FIBA 3×3 World Championships in France, an improved player.
“Nadeen has been going well for a long time and we’ve just been waiting for her to crystallise and play like she trains,” she said.
“She’s in pretty good company as the sixth highest scorer in the league.”
Perth’s Courtney Williams owns the mantle as the league’s leading scorer, but her 19 points against the Spirit last Saturday were below her 23.3 season average.
Pritchard said the Spirit had no major injury concerns heading into the game and would take a full-complement of players on the road.
The clash against Perth will be the first of two in three days for the Spirit, who play Adelaide Lightning on Saturday afternoon in Adelaide.
