The home Spirit match at the Bendigo Stadium marks the second time the teams have met during the 2022 WNBL season.

Despite a gutsy effort from the Spirit in the dying minutes of the round nine clash - which included three-pointers from Anneli Maley and Tessa Lavey - Lynx's lead was too much to break down, final scores 90-82.

Spirit now head into the round 10 rematch with the Lynx on the back of a 12-point win last weekend over the Adelaide Lightning.

They went to Adelaide on a six-game losing streak to face the second-placed Lightning, but defied their underdog status to prevail 74-62 and win their second game of the season.

Related: WNBL - Spirit upset Lightning in Adelaide to win second game of season

"We played the most consistent four quarters of the season against Adelaide," Spirit coach Tracy York said,

"We may have been well down in the first quarter but we clamped it down during the start of the second quarter which was impressive.

"Overall we did a good job to control the scoreboard and kept the scoreline to exactly what we were hoping to achieve."

The Lynx - who are tipped to be top title contenders - will be without two of the team's strongest players in Sami Whitcomb and Darcee Garbin who are currently representing the Opals at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup qualifying tournament in Serbia.

York said the Lynx would still put on a challenging match despite missing two of the team's "potent scorers".

"We need to keep going with a strong defensive focus and keep up with our consistency," she said.

Spirit will be without both Tessa Lavey and Carly Boag due to other commitments, however, this allows for other starters to get more minutes on the court.

"These are two big players that we will be without but we have several others that are more than capable of stepping up to the challenge," York said.

"There's been times throughout the season when we've needed to rely on players off the bench. They're always ready."

Looking ahead to the clash York said the team needed to perform at the same level it did against the Lightning last week.

"Good defence always turns into good offence," she said.

"Last week we cranked it up against the Lightning with good steals that were finished with layups.

"If we can have a repeat of this then it really does ease up the pressure on half court offence."

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