Basketball On The Internet.

ADELAIDE's "one that got away" during the club's off-season WNBL turmoil, Isobel Borlase, came home with defending champion Bendigo to haunt Lightning with a 24-point, 11-rebound, 5-assist, 3-steal extravaganza, a locally-led revival dragging back a potential blow-out into a respectable 82-74 loss.

Borlase's fellow South Aussie Olympian, Steph Talbot, opened the game as if she was going to set new records, sticking Lightning's first basket from outside the arc, then adding two more to have Adelaide's first seven points, before her assist to a Sania Feagin cut meant she had a hand in the team's first nine.

But it was Borlase leading the Spirit charge, her 15-point first half taking Bendigo from seven down to a 45-36 buffer by the main interval.

When veteran Kelsey Griffin (18 points at 57 per cent, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals) joined in the fun and warrior Marianna Tolo (15 points at 64 per cent, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a block) had her way with Adelaide's modest "bigs", a 22-15 third term set up the win.

Dallas Loughridge (19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block) sparked Lightning earlier in the third, her 3-pointer bringing Adelaide to 47-53 and the crowd to life. An unfortunate sequence of errors by Sharne Robati ignited a 9-0 Bendigo reply capped by a Georgia Booth triple.

Ashlee Strawbridge turned a Griffin layup into a three-point play and by the last break Bendigo was nursing a comfortable 67-51 lead.

At 8:24 left, Tolo's layup gave the Spirit a 75-53 edge and this was all but over.

That was until Jasmin Fejo struck a three, Loughridge stuck a pair of FTs, Talbot another and Tayla Brazel a triple and Adelaide had it back to 62-75. Borlase temporarily halted the run from the stripe but this Lightning unit was energised.

Talbot, Fejo and Brazel - all local players - Loughridge knocking on the Opals' door, and import Feagin showed what can happen when you find a combination of passion and desire.

Another South Aussie off the bench, Ruby Porter, also played flat-chat when given her chance, local players in front of their family and friends clearly more driven than the cluster of Kiwis coach Kerryn Mitchell has chosen to embrace.

(With all due respect, last time I looked, Australia was ranked #2 in the world and New Zealand #21. Just saying.)

A Loughridge step-back three followed by a Feagin tip in had the deficit back to 10, Fejo grabbing a simply freakish offensive rebound and tapping loose balls to teammates, Brazel and Talbot also playing with passion.

Pressuring up the floor, Adelaide forced deflection errors, Feagin's next tap-in again making it 72-82 and Bendigo boss Kennedy Kereama forced to call time-out inside the final minute.

Talbot's driving layup created the final scoreline, Fejo with three points, three rebounds, three steals and all-out aggression that ignited others. Maybe it's time to get a look at Jordyn Freer too.

Bendigo Spirit 82 (Borlase 24, Griffin 18, Tolo 15, Booth 11; Griffin 12 rebs; Borlase 5 assts) d Adelaide Lightning 74 (Feagin 22, Loughridge 19, Talbot 12; Robati 6 rebs; Talbot 6 assts) at the Sparkhouse, State Basketball Centre. Crowd: 1,326