The Spirit trailed the fourth-placed Flames by just four points at half time before being outscored 18-47 in the second half en-route to a 57-90 loss in Sydney.

Their fifth straight loss left the Spirit at the bottom of the ladder with a 3-14 record, one win behind seventh-placed Canberra Capitals, who defeated Bendigo last Thursday night 91-80.

Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said a critical seven turnovers in the third quarter, after the Spirit had effected just three in the first half, had proved his side’s undoing.

“When it goes bad for us, it all goes bad in one hit,” he said.

“For whatever reason we can’t bear down when things don’t go our way.

“We just don’t have that much experience – Ollie (Heather Oliver) didn’t play, so I am subbing 17-year-olds and Ebony (Rolph) who has played under 10 games of WNBL and Maddi Wild, who is a development player.”

Pritchard said Rolph, Wild and other emerging Spirit talent Kara Tessari and Ahlise Hurst and third year back-up Ashleigh Spencer would continue to play good minutes in the Spirit’s final four games, starting against Dandenong Rangers this Thursday at Bendigo Stadium.

“We played on Thursday and I played our starting players for a lot of minutes – maybe there is a fatigue factor in there,” he said.

Imports Betnijah Laney and Rachel Banham top scored for the Spirit with 13 points apiece.

Ash Karaitiana produced arguably her best game for the Spirit this season and finished with 11 points, while Gabe Richards had a team-high seven rebounds to complement her eight points.

For the Flames, Alex Wilson top scored with 21 points, while Jennifer Hamson had 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Spirit will seek their fourth win of the season against Dandenong on Thursday, ahead of a trip to Townsville on December 23.

“Dandenong is a team that is not winning games either, so we’ll look to get a few good training sessions in on Monday and Tuesday and certainly have a good crack at Dandenong,” Pritchard said.

“If we can be consistent we are every chance. Our first half against Sydney was brilliant, but we needed to keep that going.

“Maybe it’s a combination of our depth and our fatigue, but we can’t seem to keep that going.

“We have some young players who are doing their best, but they just don’t have the experience right now.”

The Rangers will enter this week’s game on the back of a pair of weekend losses.