BENDIGO Spirit coach Tracy York has praised her team's effort and resolve despite a loss to WNBL ladder leaders Southside Flyers at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night.
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The Flyers, brilliantly led by guard Rebecca Cole (22 points and five rebounds) and Sara Blicavs (18 points and eight rebounds), defeated the Spirit 91-76 to score a clean sweep of the matches played between the two teams in the 2019-20 season.
A persistent Spirit were staring down a 23 point deficit at three-quarter time, but rallied strongly in the last quarter to reduce the margin to 15 points at game's end.
After an intense week at training, heavily devoted to defence, an upbeat Spirit coach Tracy York said her players had executed 'parts' of their game plan.
"We wanted to come in and play much more aggressive defensively, probably for parts of it it might not have looked like it in the first half, " she said.
"There were a few players who got away from us at certain times, but I think offensively we certainly looked better and we were a lot more aggressive. We probably missed some shots , which were good shots.
"Matching up with that (Flyers) group is obviously really hard. We are down a few players and I am asking all of our guards to go in and guard some bigs.
"That gap (in the score) was quite wide, but we got it back to 15 and made a go of it in that last quarter, so I've got to be happy with that."
The Spirit went into the match without their import Marte Grays, who continues to battle a hamstring injury, as well as veteran centre Gabe Richards (concussion).
They were able to welcome back Abbey Wehrung, who missed last weekend's match in Perth.
The 24-year-old shooting guard hit her straps quickly on return, to finish with 15 points and six rebounds.
Despite a tight first few minutes of the contest, the Flyers were able to establish their dominance from midway through the first term, with York citing early foul trouble as a critical factor.
"Carley (Ernst) got two pretty early fouls and that hurts us as it's another player coming out (of the game)," she said.
"I don't necessarily have enough players now to fill that void, so her coming out did hurt us a bit."
On the positive side for the Spirit, York reported a clean bill of health for her team post-match, with Richards to return for next Friday's clash against Perth, which will serve as the two-time championship player's last in a Spirit uniform in front of a home crowd.
Classy guard Tessa Lavey led the way for the Spirit with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Ernst finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
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