By ROY WARD
DANDENONG Rangers have set the stage for a mid-season classic when they visit Bendigo Spirit in Bendigo this Saturday night.
The Spirit have the best record in the WNBL with 10-1 and get to host the Rangers (10-2) in a battle that will decide who goes into the Christmas break as the championship favourite.
Last Saturday night, the Rangers easily accounted for Canberra Capitals 91-72 at Dandenong Stadium with Olympian Jenna O’Hea the game high scorer with 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Rangers coach Mark Wright said his side looked forward to the clash with the Spirit but had to work on some key areas such as their shooting and their rebounding.
The rebound count against Canberra was split 40-40. “We’ve had a couple of games now where we are not shooting a high percentage but still scoring 85-90 points,” he said. “We had a lot of easy baskets we didn’t finish, and that can burn you.
“But we slowly got better with that over the match and I think we played OK, not great, but Canberra made us play that way, so credit to them.”
Emerging Rangers star Sara Blicavs was a major contributor off the bench with 17 points in 21 minutes.
Wright said the Rangers’ bench was continuing to be a big help to the team.
“The energy we get off the bench is a massive strength for us. Sara is coming along in leaps and bounds, Monica Wright is showing more and more and Carley [Mijovic] is looking great in training and we have to now get her to transition that form into matches.
“Not many teams are bothering us right now but we need to be consistent in everything we do.”
The Rangers play the Spirit at Bendigo Stadium from 7.30pm this Saturday .
WNBL ladder: Bendigo, 10-1 win-loss, 111.55 per cent; Dandenong 10-2, 119.98; Adelaide 7-4, 109.41; Bulleen 6-6, 101.07; Townsville* 5-6, 95.66; Canberra 5-6, 93.85; 4-7, Logan 94.83; Sydney University 2-9, 93.61; West Coast* 2-10, 82.05.
* Ladder does not include the result of the Townsville v West Coast game, which finished after deadline yesterday.
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