Bendigo Spirit set themselves up for a tough task on Wednesday night against the Perth Lynx.
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During the second quarter at Red Energy Arena the Lynx disrupted the Spirit's usual rhythm and broke away from the hosts by outscoring them by 22 points to take an 18-point lead.
From that stage on it was an uphill battle which they nearly conquered come the final buzzer.
However, the effort was to no avail as the Lynx quashed the Spirit's last scoring chance to see them fall by four points, final scores 92-88.\
Match Report: Spirit fall short against Lynx in home-court thriller
Regardless of the Spirit's performance in reducing a double-digit margin back to just two points, coach Kennedy Kereama said the whole scenario was more than avoidable if the team had stuck to its game plan and executed the scout
"Throughout the second and third quarters we would do something great down one end of the court before something disastrous would then happen down the other end," he said.
"We went away from the identity of this team which is pressure defence."
Kereama commended the Ryan Petrik-coached Lynx as "they shot the ball really well and put on an effort that should be applauded".
"They did a great job given the situation," he said.
Kereama echoed the Spirit's reluctance to stick to the game-plan which no doubt would've been similar to when they first defeated the Lynx 85-66 during the season's opening round.
There were positive aspects from the Spirit's performance which were pleasing, specifically recovering from a double-digit deficit and almost taking back the game.
However, it's a scenario which Kereama preferred the team to never find itself in.
"That's two games where we've done that to ourselves now and we need to be better at getting out of this position earlier," he said.
"It shows great fortitude and resilience to come back like that, but we don't want to be in that position again."
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