Spirit atop WNBL ladder with another decisive win
Bendigo Spirit have taken a commanding lead atop the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) ladder, with their 95-78 win over Geelong United in Bendigo on Sunday, making it three wins from as many starts.
It was a game of two halves at Red Energy Arena, between two regional Victorian rivals. Although captain, Kelsey Griffin (injury), and guard, Abbey Wehrung (concussion), were still unable to take the court, the Spirit were buoyed by the inclusion of 18-year-old Bendigo local, Lavinia Cox, in the squad, off the back of the announcement that she had received a Development Player contract the day prior.
They may have won the tip-off, but the rest of the first quarter momentum went strongly against the visitors, with the Spirit surging out to a 19-5 lead halfway through the first term. With a sense of deja vu, Sami Whitcomb was again huge in the first term, contributing 13 of the Spirit’s 31 first quarter points, with the home side more than doubling their opposition’s score at quarter time.
Where turnovers proved costly for Geelong in the first quarter, they tightened things up in the second term, however, the momentum was still all with the Spirit. Whitcomb increased her personal tally to 20 points at the main break, but she was not alone, with the Spirit having nine different players hit the scoreboard by half time, including five different scorers from the three-point line.
It was a different Geelong side that emerged from the rooms to start the third quarter, led by captain, Keely Froling, who finished the game with a double-double (26 points, 13 rebounds). Where Geelong had picked up the momentum, the Spirit seemed to have gone back a gear, making mistakes that were uncharacteristic of the first half.
Off an away trip to Canberra with less than 48 hours between games, Coach Kennedy Kereama looked to his side’s youth to step up and give his senior players some valuable minutes rest, with all 11 available players taking to the court and having an influence on the scoreboard.
“Giving them lots of opportunities early in the season I think is really important,” Kereama said post-match, “I think all the kids are doing an outstanding job. I know obviously our first half today was probably exemplary in terms of what basketball we can play with this group. I think the second half…we kind of took our foot off the peddle, fell asleep at the wheel and…the smaller details escaped us in the second half.”
When the final buzzer sounded to confirm the 17-point win for the Spirit, there were five bench players for the home side on court – three of them teenagers who had played their first WNBL minutes within the last 8 days – confirming the faith that Kereama had in his young charges.
“It was a good win – it potentially could’ve been a great win, but I’d rather be taking lessons from a win than taking lessons from a loss,” Kereama added.
Whitcomb – who was again named player of the match with a total of 28 points, seven rebounds and five steals – echoed Coach Kereama’s sentiments.
“There was a lot of really, really good things,” Whitcomb said of the match. “We talked a lot about not playing the scoreboard and I thought we did a good job of that throughout the third quarter, but we definitely became vulnerable throughout that fourth quarter.”
“We definitely took our foot off the gas…but they’re a good team with good players so, no surprise that they were able to take advantage of that. I’m pleased that we were at least able to close the game, but…there’s lots of things we’re able to learn from this game.”
The Spirit will travel later this week to face the Flames on Wednesday night.
Tip-off is at 7pm AEDT at Quaucentre, with the match broadcast live on ESPN.