FOR the second time in five days the Bendigo Spirit and Perth Lynx have been involved in a WNBL blowout match.
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Only this time the result was reversed after the Lynx orchestrated a 62-point turnaround on their clash from last Saturday.
But in Thursday night’s return bout in Perth, the Lynx won their first game of the season by thumping the Spirit by 27 – 106-79.
Perth’s score of 106 was the second-highest the Spirit have conceded in their 245-game history in the WNBL, surpassed only by the 108 the Lynx scored against Bendigo on January 7 this year.
The red-hot three-point shooting that was a feature of Bendigo’s win over the Lynx last Saturday deserted the Spirit on Thursday night when they went just 4-of-17 from the field.
Captain Kelsey Griffin battled hard for the Spirit to record a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Griffin scored 10 of her points from the free-throw line, where she shot 10-of-12.
Nadeen Payne and Betnijah Laney added 15 points apiece for the Spirit, who are now 0-3 away from home, with those three losses by a combined 67 points.
The Lynx – who shot at 58 per cent from the floor – outscored the Spirit in all four quarters and were already 20 up at half-time, with their tally of 106 only two points shy of Perth’s record score.
Alice Kunek led Perth’s scoring with 23 points.
The Spirit (1-3) are back on court Saturday afternoon to take on Adelaide (2-1) in Adelaide.
