Frustration was coach Tracy York's overriding emotion after the Bendigo Spirit went down to the Sydney Uni Flames 61-56 at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night.
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The Spirit weren't at their best, but still led by one point with 1:51 to play in the game.
The final 111 seconds were a nightmare for the home side.
They had two turnovers, were called for five fouls - including one outrageous unsportsmanlike foul call on Anneli Maley - and were outscored by the Flames 6-0.
The defeat in the final home game of the season hurt a proud Spirit team that was coming off five wins in their previous six games.
"We knew Sydney were a tough, relentless team as well, so it was never going to be an easy game,'' York said.
"It turned into such a tough grind. Nothing came easy for the whole night and in the last minute or so nothing went right for us.
"It was a frustrating game...we should have won that game and we really wanted to play well in front of our home fans after we'd played so well on the road."
Offensively, the Spirit had one of their worst nights of the season.
They shot the ball at just 31 per cent from the field, made just four of their 23 three-point attempts and only went to the free throw line nine times for the game.
Maley led the Spirit with 14 points and 16 rebounds, Tessa Lavey had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists and Demi Skinner scored 10 points.
Maddie Garrick had shooting troubles, but she did an outstanding defensive job on former Spirit guard Shyla Heal.
The Flames star was held to 13 points on 4-12 shooting.
"Our defence was really good again, but offensively we didn;t move the ball near as well as we had been,'' York said.
"Not having Alex Wilson made a big difference. She's a great offensive threat and she gives us energy on defence.
"Being down a player in our rotations put extra pressure on the other players and we probably ran out of legs."
The Spirit and Flames meet again in the final match of the season next Sunday in Sydney.
"We have one week to go and we want to finish as well as we can,'' York said.
"We'll do our best, like we have all season, to get a win."
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