STAR recruit Carley Ernst delivered when Bendigo Spirit needed it most on Sunday at Bendigo Stadium.
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Assuming the role at centre in the absence of second-year import Becca Tobin and club stalwart Gabe Richards, the 25-year-old scored 29 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and executed four assists and three steals in one of the most dominant individual performances by a Spirit player in recent seasons, in a 12 point win over the visiting Perth Lynx.
Always a team-first player, Ernst was quick to apportion praise to the entire playing group, after the Spirit rebounded from a 15 point opening round loss against the Melbourne Boomers, to lose by just four points on Saturday night in the return match on Saturday night, before recording a breakthrough win over Perth.
"That (being without Tobin and Richards) was tough, but we adjusted really well and it showed Saturday night, even though we didn't win," she said.
"Myself, I had to play in the five-spot and heaps of others girls were playing out of their positions, but everyone did really well.
"The rebounds were there to get, considering my height and being the only real big out there. I definitely got after it, but it was the girls as well. Everyone was getting in and putting in their best effort."
Despite trailing by 10 points at quarter time and potentially staring at a 0-3 start to the season, Ernst said the Spirit had never felt out of the game against Perth as they gradually chipped away at the deficit, to trail by six at half-time and by just one at the final change.
"We didn't even realise we were down by 10, we felt in control throughout the entire game," she said.
"It might not have looked like that, but we definitely felt like that and it showed coming out and getting the win.
"We spoke at half time about the need to attack more and we just needed to stop the extra passes and take the open shots and that's what we started to do. Then we started to knock down our shots and that opened up the key more for us to drive.
"It's definitely a weight off our shoulders now we have the first win under our belts, so we will definitely come out next week (against Southside Flyers) feeling more positive."
While Tobin must sit out at least one more game, under league rules, as she continues to recover from the head-knock sustained in training in the lead-up to the team's season opener, the Spirit are hopeful of regaining Richards for the clash against the Flyers, who have started the season an impressive 3-0.
Ernst echoed the post-match thoughts of coach Tracy York in identifying the team's defensive pressure as one area in need of work at practice this week, after the Spirit conceded 79 points to the Lynx
"We don't want to be giving up that many points," she said.
Ernst, who crossed to the Spirit from the former Dandenong Rangers (now Southside Flyers), leads the Spirit after three games with 10.7 rpg and is the equal leader in scoring alongside American import Marte Grays with 13.7 ppg.
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