Perth and Bendigo vie for first win

Perth Lynx will have inspirational captain Katie Ebzery back for Wednesday’s Round 2 Chemist Warehouse WNBL clash in Mackay.

Villawood Properties Bendigo Spirit and Perth are both 0-3 and are the only clubs yet to register a win this season.

“Someone’s going to be a lot happier tomorrow night and someone’s not,” Spirit coach Tracy York said.

Bendigo conceded 102 and 100 in their first two games, losing by hefty 42- and 37-point margins respectively, but produced an improve defensive effort in Monday’s 76-56 loss to UC Capitals.

After losing their first game by 25, Perth has then led for more than half of their matches against Adelaide Lightning and Deakin Melbourne Boomers but suffered narrow losses.

Perth welcome back Opals star Ebzery and forward Alex Ciabattoni after both missed Monday’s loss to the ladder-leading Boomers.

Lynx coach Ryan Petrik said the cost of playing both on Monday would have been too high.

“Alex is managing an ankle injury from pre-season, which is pretty significant,” Petrik said.

“With Katie, obviously we were planning on having Katie and Sami (Whitcomb) and now it’s just Katie, her workload is through the roof.

“If we burnt her up on Monday (against Boomers), we might not have seen her again for a week.”

Petrik stressed the early losses had not sapped his young side’s confidence, but a win on Wednesday would take a weight off their shoulders.

“For the team that’s 0-3 but we’re really confident in what we’re doing,” Petrik said.

“There’s a real belief in the system, so clearly getting the breakthrough win is important just to get that monkey off our back.”

York was looking for some more offensive clout to add to the improved defence effort they produced against the Caps.

“The first two games weren’t good and by keeping a team like Canberra to 76, that was excellent,” York said.

But obviously we’ve got to work out where the firepower is coming from and how we get those scores.

“We don’t necessarily have those answers, but we’ll be working towards that.”

York was impressed by Perth guard Alex Sharp, who tallied 15 points and 13 boards against Melbourne, but Petrik stressed the 23-year old was capable of much more.

“For us that’s an average Alex Sharp game, we still think her ceiling is so much higher than that,” Petrik said.

Adrian Warren is a freelance contributor to WNBL.com.au

Broadcast Details

Villawood Properties Bendigo Spirit vs Perth Lynx

Wednesday 17 November 2020

7.00pm AEST/8.00pm. AEDT

Live on Kayo