It was a step in the right direction, but ultimately another defeat for the Bendigo Spirit.
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With a touch more than six minutes remaining in Sunday’s WNBL clash with the Dandenong Rangers in Traralgon the Spirit led by seven points.
However, the Spirit lost their way down the stretch and didn’t score another basket for the match.
The Rangers went on a 17-0 run to win the match 80-70 and leave the Spirit with a 2-9 record.
“It was incredibly hot in the stadium and both teams were pretty fatigued,’’ Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said.
“It was that hot that at half-time we didn’t go into the rooms. We went outside the stadium to get fresh air.
“In the first three quarters of the game we shared the ball, but in the last quarter we went away from that and tried to rely on some individual plays.
“We didn’t play great defence for a couple of plays and all of a sudden we went from five points in front to five points down.
“We lacked the experience to get the job done. We had players open, but we didn’t get the ball to them and we couldn’t score.
“We had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers as well which didn’t help.”
Pritchard said his side needed to learn from its mistakes in the final quarter.
“To be away from home and go into the final quarter with a five-point lead is not something we’ve done a lot of this year,’’ Pritchard said.
“We were really happy that we put ourselves in that situation, but now we have to look back on what we did wrong in the final quarter and learn from it.
“If we get into that kind of situation again against Canberra we need to make sure that we turn that final quarter into a winning quarter.”
After missing Friday night’s 24-point loss to Perth because of concussion, import Betnijah Laney returned to lead the Spirit with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. Guard Rachel Banham added 16 points, while Gabe Richards was strong with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Nadeen Payne scored 13 points off the bench.
To rub salt into the Spirit’s wounds, former Bendigo player Tessa Lavey led Dandenong with 19 points.
The Spirit (2-9) play the University of Canberra Capital (2-9) in Canberra next Saturday, with the loser to be in last place on the ladder with five rounds remaining.
Other round seven WNBL results: Townsville 101 (S. Batkovic 23, M. Cocks 17) d Adelaide 78 (A. Bishop 24, L. Nicholson 11). Melbourne Boomers 96 (E. Cambage 32, M. Garrick 16) d Canberra 66 (M. Bass 12, L. Scherf 11). Perth 83 (C. Williams 26, A. Kunek 14) d Sydney Uni 71 (A. Taylor 31, C. Boag 18).
