A Sami Whitcomb-inspired Bendigo have emerged as the early-season WNBL pacesetters, notching a road double and ending the streak of the competition's only other unbeaten team.
Spirit (5-0) scored a comfortable 90-71 victory at Sydney (1-2) on Wednesday, with Whitcomb leading Bendigo’s scorers with 23, which included three long bombs in the first four minutes.
Marianna Tolo and Casey Samuels scored 21 and 20 respectively, while 49 of Sydney’s points came off the bench.
Guard Shaneice Swain rattled on 25 points in as many minutes, and American Yemiyah Morris contributed 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
Bendigo found the going far tougher on Saturday at Townsville (2-1), squeezing out a 84-76 victory over the home-town Fire.
Whitcomb shot a clutch three-pointer with 62 seconds left to break a 76-76 tie.
Tolo, who was on four fouls for almost all of the second half, completed a three-point play, and Casey Samuels added two more free throws to secure the win.
Whitcomb shot at 62 per cent from the field and 57 per cent from three-point range, and also supplied six rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
In her first season at Bendigo, Opals guard Whitcomb is already generating MVP chatter, averaging 26 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Aiming to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons, Bendigo, who have started the season without injured Opals forward Kelsey Griffin, play four of their next five games at home.
In Canberra, second-placed Perth (3-1) gave up a seven-point lead with two minutes to go, but co-captain Anneli Maley earned the visitors a 92-90 victory with a shot with just under two seconds left.
Geelong (2-2) recovered from a 15-point deficit late in the third quarter to score a 72-66 overtime home victory over the winless Adelaide (0-3) on Saturday.
United shot just 30 per cent from the field, but held the Lightning to only seven points in the final quarter and two in overtime.
Geelong captain Keely Froling came up big after a frustrating first three quarters. She piled up 14 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, outscoring Adelaide on her own over those periods. Froling also added 13 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
On Sunday Geelong announced they had parted ways with American centre Lynetta Kizer, but declined to comment further due to the personal nature of the decision.
In Sunday’s final game of the round, the Southside Flyers (2-2) cruised to a 98-77 home win over the UC Capitals (0-4), with Canberra now having conceded at least 90 points in each game this season.
