AN ENERGETIC defensive performance was the catalyst for the Bendigo Spirit orchestrating a 46-point turnaround in the space of just six days against the Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL.

Last Sunday the Spirit were on the receiving end of a 91-63 thrashing from the Lightning in Adelaide.

But in their return bout at the Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night, the Spirit put the clamps on the Lightning to win 70-52 and move to 3-2.

“Our captain (Nat Hurst) asked for a reaction out of the girls and she was pretty adamant that there needed to be a response defensively and that we couldn’t let ourselves down with our performance,” Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said.

Holding Adelaide to just 52 points ranks No.6 for the Spirit’s best defensive efforts in Pritchard’s 74 games as Spirit coach.

Such was the defensive intensity in which the Spirit played with, they effectively restricted the Lightning to just 15 points for half the game.

The Spirit held the Lightning to just 10 points in the first quarter and a paltry five in the last quarter after Adelaide had gone into the final term with some momentum.

Among the key differences in the Spirit reversing the result from the previous week was Bendigo’s ascendancy on the boards.

Bendigo won Saturday night’s rebound count 45-38; in their previous game it was 57-44 in Adelaide’s favor.

The Spirit also took away the three-point shot from Adelaide.

The Lightning – whose coach Chris Lucas was coaching his 250^th WNBL game – shot 10-of-27 from three-point range last Sunday; on Saturday night they were just three-of-18.

It was an even Spirit team performance as shown by having four players score in double figures – Hurst (14), Becca Tobin (13), Barbara Turner (11) and Abigail Wehrung (10).

In contrast only Nia Coffey (13) scored in double figures for the Lghtning, who had five players do so the previous Sunday.

Tobin was a strong presence in the paint all game and had a stacked stat sheet – 13 points, 12 rebounds, including five offensive, five assists and three blocks.

Hurst’s 14 points, which featured four three-pointers, was backed up with 10 rebounds, while she spent a brief period on the bench in the last quarter after copping a corkie.

The Spirit set their win up with a strong first half in which they extended a 17-10 lead at quarter-time into a 45-30 advantage at half-time.

Bendigo’s 28-20 second quarter included Hurst, Wehrung, Turner and Marena Whittle all nailing three-pointers.

The Spirit were aggressive in their driving to the basket throughout the game, which helped to create 23 opportunities at the free-throw line, although they converted only 14.

The Spirit appeared to have the game well in-check when they led 55-38 with 3:35 to play in the third quarter.

However, the Lightning ended the term on a 9-2 run to close the gap to 10 points at three quarter-time.

Seven turnovers during the third quarter for the Spirit helped to open the door for the Lightning, but Bendigo was quick to shut it again as it stifled Adelaide in the final term.

“We came in from the start of the week and showed a lot of character because we know we were embarrassed in Adelaide and didn’t want that to happen again,” captain Hurst said.

“We worked really hard all week and that showed out tonight… I think we can be proud of the way we responded.”

The Spirit returns to the court on Monday night for their Melbourne Cup eve match against the Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre from 7.30pm.

Like the Spirit, the Boomers are also 3-2 and coming off a big win on Saturday when they thrashed Dandenong 101-75.

The two sides have already met once this season when the Spirit defeated the Boomers 82-72 on October 13.

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