By JARROD POTTER
BENDIGO spooked Dandenong on Halloween night to win the first battle between the WNBL’s titan clubs -with the Spirit taking a 63-51 victory on Thursday night, before a Rangers revival on Saturday clinched a 92-86 win over Canberra.
Dandenong shot horrifically against Bendigo – posting only 30 per cent from the field as Bendigo’s strong-arm defenders Kelsey Griffin, Gabrielle Richards and Elyse Penaluna locked down the Rangers’ key.
It started promisingly enough for Dandenong, with point guard Leilani Mitchell (nine points, eight rebounds, four assists) shooting the house down – hitting her opening trio of three-point attempts before the scoring dried up in the second half.
Both sides clamped down defensively – making any route to the basket a perilous endeavour.
The battle between Richards and Kayla Pedersen (10 points, nine rebounds) was arguably the best five-spot showdown at Dandenong Stadium in years as the pair traded blows and kept the other relatively quiet on the scoreboard.
Griffin versus Jenna O’Hea (10 points, nine rebounds, six assists) was another stellar match-up as the WNBA tandem ran with each other for most of the match, before O’Hea kicked into a higher-gear in the third term to push Dandenong momentarily into the lead prior to the final change.
Shining emphatically as she had done for 299 WNBL games prior was Kristi Harrower – the Spirit’s seven-time WNBL all-star point guard signed off her 300th WNBL match in style – hitting 11 points and dishing off 10 assists.
Harrower’s 11 points added her name to an illustrious list of WNBL players to reach 4000 career points.
“Bendigo’s defence is what pushed us out of what we do, but I think we had enough open shots that we didn’t make that we had been making,” Wright said.
“We’ll certainly be better for the experience – Alice, Jenna they’ve been knocking down some big shots so for them to struggle tonight is going to hurt.
“We’ll just wash that off and move on – we’re not worried about one loss in the beginning of the season – we feel we’ve taken five steps forward and we’ve just taken one step back, so we’ll try to step up again and get back on track.”
Turning around their Thursday night form, the Rangers pushed ahead of the Capitals, but Canberra never let up.
Showing why she was one of the more heavily recruited players in this year’s WNBL, former Ranger Carley Mijovic (19 points, five rebounds) kept the Capitals in the mix right until the dying seconds – hitting the leveller with 45 seconds to go.
The rest was Dandenong magic though as Kunek (15 points) hit the match winning three-pointer.
O’Hea was on fire for four quarters – snaring 25 points, nine assists and five rebounds as she threatened to post her first triple double of the season.
Pedersen (22 points, 12 rebounds) capped off her stellar weekend with a crucial double-double while Ardossi (17 points, eight rebounds) was strong off the bench.
Dandenong sits atop the WNBL ladder with a 6-1 record and faces Canberra in the return leg at Dandenong Basketball Stadium on Saturday night from 7.30pm.
