STAR guard Tessa Lavey expects Bendigo Spirit to take plenty of confidence into Saturday night's WNBL clash against Southside Flyers, now they have their first win on the board.
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The Spirit will make the trip to Traralgon to take on the rebranded Flyers (formerly Dandenong Rangers), who have quickly stamped themselves as a force to be reckoned with following three-straight wins to start the 2019-20 season.
Lavey, who is coming off a big weekend, averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in a loss to the Melbourne Boomers and win against the Perth Lynx, predicted the Spirit to have gained plenty of momentum from last Sunday's break-through win.
"Always getting that first win is a bit of a worry, but when you do its confirmation you are on the right track and moving in the right direction," she said.
"In practice this week, everyone is doing those little extras all the time. That's a real positive for our group."
Despite a tardy start to the clash against Perth, after which the Spirit found themselves down by 10 points at quarter time, Lavey insisted there were never any doubts among the playing group of being able to drag themselves back into the contest.
"No (doubts), none at all. Going into the game we had a really good energy, especially when we played Melbourne on that Saturday night and had to back it up pretty quickly," she said.
"We really didn't have too much time to think about it - we just went out there and played hard.
"That (short back-up) was somewhat of an advantage for us."
A tough next assignment will pit the Spirit against one of only three still undefeated teams after two weeks.
Opals star Jenna O'Hea (20 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 5.7 apg) heads a Flyers line-up bristling with talent from top-to-bottom, with five players in total averaging double figures in points.
They include classy point guard Leilani Mitchell (15.3ppg and 8apg), import Mercedes Russell (15ppg and 10 rpg), Rebecca Cole (13 ppg) and Sara Blicavs (10.7 ppg).
A deep and at times potent bench is headed by Aimee Clydesdale and one of the stars of last season's Spirit roster Louella Tomlinson.
That adds up to a 'massive battle' for the Spirit, according to Lavey, who expected the neutral venue at Traralgon to have little influence on either team's thinking.
"They have a lot of really quality players, so it will be a tough match-up, but I think we're up for it," she said.
"We play a really tough style of basketball and do all the one-percenters. For them it's going to be a bit of a surprise."
Lavey heaped praised on team-mate Carley Ernst, who stepped to lead the Spirit talls against Perth in the absence of Becca Tobin and Gabe Richards, and responded brilliantly with 29 points and 16 rebounds.
"For her to step up like she did, I was so happy for her," she said.
"She's pretty tough on herself and she wouldn't say it herself, but she was pretty happy.
"She made a cheesecake last night in celebration, so Shyla (Heal) and I were pretty happy with that.
"If she keeps playing well, I'm happy to keep getting cheesecake all the time."
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