BENDIGO Spirit will be hoping to extend a handy record at home against Dandenong Rangers when the rivals clash this Saturday night.

The Spirit have saved some of their best efforts for the Rangers in Simon Pritchard’s four-year tenure as head-coach.

Three times in the last three seasons the Spirit have kept the Rangers to less than 50 points in games played at Bendigo Stadium, including a 64-47 victory in their most recent meeting in December last year.

Albeit the Spirit have entered the 2018-19 season with a vastly different roster to previous seasons, with only three players left from last year’s squad, Pritchard will no doubt be keen to play on the Spirit’s recent dominance at home against the Rangers in the lead up to their round two encounter.

The Spirit coach said the club’s focus in practice early in the week had been on defence after giving up ‘too many cheap baskets in transition’ in last Saturday night’s season-opening win over Melbourne Boomers.

“We didn’t get pressure on the ball at times and gave them some easy baskets, so it’s important we stop those easy baskets from happening against Dandenong,” he said.

“We can’t afford to give Dandenong easy scores; we want to keep them to a score around 62, 63, which we have had some success at in the past.

“We worked on that on Monday and Tuesday and were able to incorporate (Louella Tomlinson) back into training (on Tuesday).”

Tomlinson missed the season opener with the knee injury she sustained during the pre-season.

Meanwhile, Pritchard hinted the Spirit were close to signing an import replacement for Canadian Jamie Scott, who suffered a metatarsal stress fracture at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

Scott is at least three weeks away from completing her rehabilitation, with her long-term status unknown.

The Spirit’s sole current import Becca Tobin impressed in her WNBL debut with 15 points, nine rebounds and a neat five steals in a 10 point victory in Melbourne.

Her performance earned her an immediate selection in the WNBL Team of the Week, where she was joined by fellow Spirit debutante Marena Whittle (21 points, three assists and four steals).​

The team is rounded out by Dandenong Rangers’ Bec Cole (18 points, seven rebounds), Adelaide Lightning’s Nia Coffey (19 points, 15 rebounds) and Canberra Capitals’ Kia Nurse (26 points), who was voted player of the week.