IN a sea-searing game that went down to the wire, the Bendigo Spirit defeated the Adelaide Lightning by five points at the Adelaide 36ers Arena on Saturday night.

It was a match that was played on scoring momentum, with the Spirit controlling the first half. Whilst the Lightning fought back into the contest, the Spirit were able to find defensive stops in overtime to claim a 70-65 victory.

The Lightning controlled the early stages of the game, before the Spirit made their scoring run and got the flow of the game on their terms.

Both teams found it a grind to score, with the two sides unable to score finding good looks but were unable to take their chances to extend the margin.

Mehryn Kraker continued her strong form on both ends of the floor, lighting it up from three and doing the work on the defensive end.

Coming off the bench, Casey Samuels provided some much needed spark and energy, as well as spacing the floor well on the perimeter.

For the Lightning, Brianna Turner did the work on the defensive end, finishing the first half with 10 rebounds, crashing the boards and giving the Lightning second chances for scoring, whilst Isabelle Bourne shot the ball with confidence, finishing the half with 13 points.

Whilst the stats for the free throw ━ were relatively even in the first half, the Lightning shot the ball five more times than the Spirit, with the Lightning shorting at 22 per cent compared to the Spirit at 32 per cent.

Both teams kept the turnover count relatively low, 5-3 in favour of the Spirit.

Whilst the Spirit controlled majority of the third quarter, the Lightning made a scoring run in the last term, 22-10, with the likes of Borlase, Lauren Mansfield and Bourne coming up with some clutch shots to force the game into overtime.

The Spirit fought back in overtime, with Kraker coming up with some clutch plays defensively to secure the victory.

Alex Wilson and Kraker both finished with 16 points, whilst Abbey Wehrung finished with 10. Alicia Froling and Samuels finished with eight points each.

Coming back into the lineup, Kelsey Griffin finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.

For the Lightning, Borlase and Bourne both finished with 17 points each, whilst Turner did the efforts on the defensive end, finishing the game with five points and 15 rebounds.