BENDIGO Spirit coach Simon Pritchard admits he is looking forward to seeing how his players respond to a pair of disappointing losses last weekend.
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The Spirit head into week four of the WNBL season at 2-2, having dropped its past two encounters against Sydney University Flames in Bendigo last Friday and on the road last Sunday against Melbourne Boomers.
This weekend tosses up a road clash against Dandenong Rangers on Friday night, before the team heads interstate for the first time against Townsville Fire on Sunday.
The Spirit could easily be 4-0, having led both the Flames and Boomers comfortably at half time.
Pritchard said he had thrown out the challenge to the playing group to respond to their second-half fade-outs.
"It was disappointing to come up short last weekend," he said.
"Our offence s producing at a really good percentage; we are scoring really freely when teams play man-to-man against us and we are not scoring so freely when they change to zone.
"We addressed that two weeks ago when we went from the Adelaide to Dandenong games and we are in the same scenario this week as we know Dandenong will play a lot of zone against us.
"In terms of our performance (last weekend), we could play a little bit better, but we couldn't do much more than we did.
"Although there were four great quarters, there were two really bad quarters."
The Spirit are by no means flying solo and sit among a group of four teams who have split their four games at 2-2.
That includes reigning champions Townsville, who dropped games to Dandenong and Sydney Uni last week.
The Rangers will be a formidable foe, leading the league with a 4-1 record.
Guard Steph Cumming has lost none of her potency since switching from Townsville at the start of the season and is averaging 16.7 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Natalie Novosel (15.3ppg) and former Spirit championship player Sara Blicavs (14.2ppg) are doing their bit to ensure the scoreboard keeps ticking over.
The Spirit were able to hold the Rangers to just 44 points in a 15 point win in week two and will pin their hopes on a similarly impressive effort at the defensive end of the court.
Canadian import Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe has wasted little in making an impression on the WNBL, leading the Spirit in scoring with 18ppg and equal first in rebounds along with Kelsey Griffin (8rpg).
The Spirit's clash against Townsville will be the first since two-time Spirit guard Kelly Wilson made the move to the Fire during the off-season.
She is currently fourth in the league with 4.2 assists per game.
Import guard Blake Dietrick said the Spirit were hellbent on making amends for last week by putting four quarters of basketball together in both games.
"I think instead of being pleased with our first half, we need to expect to step it up - push further and push harder and play as hard as we possibly can," she said.
"It's still only early days, teams aren't going to get into their stride until December and January.
"We won't see what team really have until later on down the line.
"We have a great team, everybody is a really hard worker and definitely team-oriented.
"I'm still figuring out Australian basketball a little bit and I personally want to play a little better and know I can play better, hopefully this weekend we'll see that."
WNBL LADDER
Dandenong Rangers 3-1
Melbourne Boomers 3-1
Perth Lynx 3-2
Townsville Fire 2-2
Bendigo Spirit 2-2
University of Canberra Capitals 2-2
Sydney University Flames 2-2
Adeliade Lightning 0-5