Spirit notch a commanding win over Caps
It may be early in the season, but the Bendigo Spirit have sent a message to their rivals after notching a commanding 23-point win over the UC Capitals at AIS Arena in Canberra.
By their own standards, it was a conservative start early in the term for the experienced Spirit line-up, with a few missed shots and personal fouls seeing the home side take a narrow advantage early. However, picking up where she left off in Round 1, gun recruit Sami Whitcomb set the tone early for the visitors, with a huge 11 points in the first quarter. She led the Spirit to a massive 28-point first term – what would end up being their highest for the match.
The Spirit were buoyed by Ashlee Hannan’s debut for the club, who was ruled out of Round 1 due to injury. Coming on three-and-a-half minutes into the first term, the substitution was the first of many made by Head Coach Kennedy Kereama for the match, with all nine travelling members of the squad having significant court time, and having an impact on the scoreboard.
Opal Bird was another player to make not just her Spirit debut, but her League edbut, subbed on at the five-and-a-half minute mark of the first term for her first minutes on a WNBL court. The 18-year-old looked at home on AIS Arena, after graduating from the Centre of Excellence less than two months ago.
“Not that we measure success on scoring points, but seeing everyone get on the scoreboard shows that you’ve got teammates there that are willing to play for each other and trying to find opportunities and reward their teammates for the work they’re putting on the board…we’re really proud of the group,” Kereama said.
Despite the small size of the Spirit’s travelling squad – with Abbey Wehrung missing due to concussion and Asha Nightingale due to Year 12 exams – it was the Spirit’s experience that shone through, with Opals stars Whitcomb and Marianna Tolo combining for nearly half the Spirit’s total score; a massive 47 points between them.
Heading into the final term, the Spirit held a 23-point lead and had remarkably only had four turnovers up until that point in the game. Whilst the Caps side rallied in the last quarter to draw the term 21 points apiece, the Spirit was comfortably home, with only two members of the starting five – Veronica Burton and Casey Samuels – still on court when the final whistle was blown.
Tolo’s persistence in defence once again frustrated her opposition, and she looked at home on a court she was playing on for the first time as a visitor – despite already having 220 League games under her belt. Tolo finished the game as the second-highest points-scorer on the court – only second to her teammate, Whitcomb – with 22 points to her name, as well as eight rebounds.
Whitcomb, meanwhile, was once again the top points-scorer for the match and oh-so-close to a double-double, finishing with 25 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and a steal.
In a small win for the home team, buoyed by their raucous home crowd the Caps kept their momentum up until the end, and managed to keep the visitors just under a hundred points – a feat that was looking unlikely even at the final change – with the final score reading 76-99.
“I’m really happy,” Kereama said post-match. “I think first and foremost, we knew coming into this game that you’re not just playing the team in front of you in the blue singlets, you’re playing the Canberra community – we know they show up, we know they get behind their team, you’ve got an incredible support base here – so for us, really being able to silence the crowd and keep them out of it as much as possible was important for us, as well as all the offensive and defensive tactics that come with coaching against a great coach in [Paul] Goriss.”
The Spirit have a quick turnaround between games, as they return home tomorrow ahead of hosting Geelong United at Red Energy Arena on Sunday.
Tip-off will be at 12.30pm, with tickets available via Ticketek.