Braves legend returns in convincing NBL1 win

Wilson, who lined up for the Braves for the first time since the 2019 preliminary final against Geelong Supercats, showed she had lost none of her class and touch, finishing the night with nine each of points, rebounds and assists in 23 minutes of court-time in a stirring 105-74 victory.

The win advanced the Braves to 9-2 on the season, with their last four wins coming on the trot.

An ultra-pleasing team performance for coach Mark Alabakov was brilliantly led by Abbey Wehrung, who scored a team-high 27 points and had seven rebounds and five assists.

On-court leader Kate Oliver starred with 24 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal, while Piper Dunlop produced arguably her best effort of the season to finish with 19 points, six rebounds and two steals.

A massive win afforded Alabakov the chance to give all 12 players who suited up court-time, with 10 in total contributing to the impressive scoreline.

While he insisted the game had not always looked pretty, there were multiple encouraging signs.

"In the middle third of the season, you just have to keep eeking out the wins any way you can," he said.

"It wasn't at times pretty, but sometimes you have these teams who have contrasting styles and levels of experience that they don't do things you expect them to do.

"You just have to try and continually steer the group back to the game plan and identity that we have, even aimid the messiness.

"But in saying that we did put 100 points on the board, just about everyone gets on the scoresheet and we had 20-plus assists to half time, which we would normally have in a game, so the ball got shared and the load was shared at both ends."

Alabakov could not have been happier to have four-time WNBL champion Wilson back in the fold and looked forward to her becoming an increasingly pivotal player in the run to the finals.

The Braves coach hailed a brilliant defensive effort in the third quarter, with the home side restricting the Bandits to only nine points while adding 25 of their own to effectively put the seal on the game.

"That was a massive response from our group because I think we started a little bit loose on the defensive end - we probably gave up more points than we probably would have normally liked to have in that first half," he said.

"It wasn't necessarily the recipe of what we were doing that was the problem, it was being able to eliminate some of the scrappiness and maybe lack of polish.

"For the second half onwards, we were able to find clarity in the chaos."

MEANWHILE, the Braves men reignited their season with an exciting four-point win over the Bandits.

The Braves, powered by a 22-point game from Javaan Mumtaz, came from two-points down at three quarter time to secure an 87-83 victory.

Bendigo led by a mere one point after the Bandits' Sharif Watson hit the second of two free-throws with six seconds to play.

After being fouled, Brennan Rymer sunk the first of two free throws to give the Braves a two point lead, before missing the second.

It mattered little, with star Brave Ray Turner grabbing the rebound on the missed free-throw and nailing the shot to cap a four-point margin.

Turner finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Matt Andronicos delivered a crucial 18 points and three rebounds.

The Braves moved to 6-5.

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