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BENDIGO Spirit coach Simon Pritchard acknowledges his team’s WNBL season is at the crossroads in the wake of a horror interstate double.
The Spirit followed up their 42-point hammering from Townsville on Thursday night with a 21-point hiding from bottom side Sydney Uni, 85-64, on Saturday.
The Spirit have now lost three in a row and four of their past five, with a record that was once 5-2 now 6-6 having just ticked over the halfway mark of the season.
Defence not long ago was the catalyst for the Spirit’s strong start to the season, but has since become their Achilles Heel.
“Our defence just needs an incredible amount of work,” Pritchard said.
“We’re not on the same page; we’ve hit a brick wall with our communication and rotations and we’ve got to work through it better than what we are at the moment.
“It’s hard to work out… we’ve gone from the best defensive team in the WNBL to the worst in the space of two weeks and it’s just too big a transition from one to the other.
“We’re just not bringing enough energy to our defence.”
During the Spirit’s 5-2 run through their opening seven matches their defence conceded an average of just 68 points per game.
Through their past five games they have given up an average of 80 points per game and it isn’t about to get any easier, with another interstate double coming up with games in Perth this Friday and Canberra on Sunday – two teams that both sit above the fourth-placed Spirit on the ladder.
“I think it is at a crossroad for us given we’ve just had Townsville and Sydney away, and now we’ve got three more away games against Perth, Canberra and Dandenong,” Pritchard said.
“That’s a tough draw, but a really spirited performance in Perth on Friday night can then set us up for the following game against Canberra.”
With the Flames having gone into Saturday’s match 0-10, the Spirit became the first team this season to lose to Sydney Uni in a game where Bendigo was already 20 points down at half-time and trailed by as many as 31.
Only import Becca Tobin (20), who is battling a neck complaint, and Nadeen Payne (15) scored in double figures for the Spirit, who were off-target from three-point range, shooting just three-of-17.
Tobin’s 20 points featured nine-of-11 shooting from the field and she now leads the Spirit’s season averages for points (12.3), rebounds (8.5), assists (2.7), blocks (1.5) and steals (1.8).
The Flames had a far greater spread at the offensive end, with Brittany Smart (22), Tahlia Tupaea (16), Sarah Graham (14) and captain Belinda Snell (11) all contributing double figure points.
The 20-point deficit at half-time came on the back of the Spirit having been 21 down against Townsville at the half two days earlier on the way to what became the third-biggest belting in Bendigo’s WNBL history when thrashed 93-51 by the Fire.
………………………………
Spirit season so far:
• 82 def Melbourne 72
• 87 def Dandneong 65
• 72 lt Perth 77
• 63 lt Adelaide 91
• 70 def Adelaide 52
• 60 def Melbourne 58
• 66 def Sydney Uni 64
• 65 lt Dandenong 81
• 67 def Sydney Uni 55
• 82 lt Townsville 89 (ot)
• 51 lt Townsville 93
• 64 lt Sydney Uni 85
………………………………
Still to come:
December 7 – v Perth (away)
December 9 – v Canberra (away)
December 16 – v Dandenong (away)
December 21 – v Townsville (home)
December 29 – v Melbourne (home)
January 4 – v Canberra (away)
January 6 – v Perth (home)
January 10 – v Adelaide (home)
January 19 – v Canberra (home)
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