THE action in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) continued over the weekend, as the competition looks to resume uninterrupted. Saturday saw a pair of intriguing clashes, and proceedings kicked off down in Tasmania, where the Southside Flyers hosted the Bendigo Spirit at MyState Bank Arena on Saturday evening.

This was an interesting matchup for pundits to predict, given the form of the two sides. The Flyers are the reigning champions, which immediately gives them a bit of an edge, but they have been far from the side that won it all last year. On the other hand, the Spirit have bounced back a bit from their winless 2021 campaign, and entered this match off a brave effort against the Lightning. In the end, they were able to back this up with a win in this match, taking down the Flyers in impressive fashion, with the final margin sitting at 16 points.

The Spirit were also benefited by having the strongest performer on the court, with Anneli Maley delivering one of the best performances of her dominant season. She was simply unstoppable on her way to 35 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in one of the most powerful outings of the 2021/22 season.

FIRST QUARTER

Maley started the contest in style, knocking down a floater in the first field goal attempt of the game for either side. As has been the case in the last few weeks, the Spirit looked to get the ball in her hands as much as possible. She began to really impact the contest with a number of offensive rebounds resulting in a number of extra shot attempts for Bendigo. Maley managed to drain a number of jumpshots, with the opposition defence hesitant to close out, given her ability to drive past and score inside. When the double-teams came, Maley was able to make the right pass, which resulted in her assists tally increasing. After making her way to the free throw line a few times, she entered quarter time with a whopping 14 points to her name in a blistering start.

SECOND QUARTER

She kicked off the second term with a pair of assists in quick fashion, demonstrating her high IQ with ball in hand. Once again, she was able to pull down the offensive rebound and put up the quick shot to get Bendigo’s scoring going again. Maley proved to be a threat inside and outside for much of the term, given her healthy balance of lay-up and jump-shot attempts. Each of her shots from mid-range seemed to find the bottom of the net, and every time she went inside the paint, the Southside defenders were forced to foul as she entered the main break in the midst of a commanding performance.

THIRD QUARTER

The Flyers defence opened the second half with a big emphasis on slowing down the scoring of Maley, but she was still able to influence the contest in other ways. Her passing continued to create opportunities for her teammates, as the Flyers put too much effort into stopping Maley from being able to score. She was also just as dominant on the offensive glass, creating second-chance scoring opportunities for the Spirit. Maley was finally able to break her scoring drought with just under two minutes to play for the term, sinking a turnaround jump-shot to close out the third term.

FOURTH QUARTER

Maley opened the final period with three big rebounds in the space of a minute and a half, while also being able to get to the free throw line in this time too. With the game on the line in the closing minutes, Maley was one of a number of players who stood up for the Spirit. She was ruthless when the ball was in dispute, pulling down countless crucial boards and hitting the scoreboard to wrap up a dominant outing.