WNBL ladder leader Bendigo Spirit overturned a 19-point deficit to maintain their unbeaten record with a 79-71 win over defending champions Southside Flyers in the highlight match of a round of thrilling comebacks.
Spirit (6-0) trailed 42-23 in the second quarter, by 15 at halftime and 11 at the last change, but outscored the Flyers 28-9 in the fourth term at Ballarat’s Selkirk Stadium.
Bendigo’s comeback wasn’t the biggest of the round, with Townsville overturning a 20-point halftime deficit to score a 53-47 win over Adelaide.
American guard Veronica Burton (20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists) and Australian Opals star Marianna Tolo (18 points at 61 per cent from the field, and 11 rebounds) were among the stars for Bendigo.
“They are such a good team and they came ready to play in the first half and we just tried to chip it away and get back to getting stops in defence.” Tolo told Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
Spirit won despite a rare quiet game from star guard Sami Whitcomb, who was held to 11 points and made just two field goals, after collecting two fouls in the first 70 seconds.
Bec Cole scored 18 and American forward Naz Hillman contributed 17 plus seven boards for the Flyers (2-3), who missed influential guard Maddison Rocci.
Adelaide (1-4) looked set to record back-to-back wins after scoring their first victory with a 78-54 home conquest of Sydney and leading 40-20 at halftime at Townsville (3-2).
But in an excruciating second half for Lightning fans, their side was outscored 33-7 and 24-2 in one fallow stretch from the start of the half to midway through the last quarter.
They made just three of 22 second half field goal attempts, missing all of their last six.
Canberra, who conceded at least 90 points in each of their first four losses, improved their defence to score an 81-80 home victory over Townsville and win 73-60 at Geelong.
They showed great resilience in both games, coming from 11 down in the second quarter against Fire and recovering from conceding the first nine points of the match against Geelong (2-3).
Star guard Jade Melbourne top scored for the Caps (2-4) in both games.
Perth (4-1) recovered from a 12-point deficit early in the second half to score an 84-78 home win over Sydney (1-4).
The Lynx turned the tide with a 15-0 surge at the start of the third quarter.
Canadian big Laeticia Amihere was at the forefront of their revival with 28 points, though she looked to have suffered a foot issue near the end of the game.
Shaneice Swain bagged eight-three-pointers in her haul of 26 for Sydney, who were also well served by Opals star Cayla George, who racked up 19 points and 16 boards.
