'What she does is crazy': Maley's 22 boards deflates Spirit

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• All 92 games of the 2025-26 WNBL season

Perth was in a zone and so was Chinese star Han Xu, Amy Atwell, Alex Ciabattoni and rebounding machine Anneli Maley.

It culminated in Perth going on the road and destroying Bendigo Spirit at home 88-64 in round 16 of WNBL26 on Sunday, February 1, 2026 in Red Energy Arena.

Xu was almost unstoppable in the paint, pouring in 18 points on 9-from-15 from the field but it was Maley who was unstoppable on the boards.

Maley set a club record, ripping down 22 rebounds. She's leading the league with 14.5 per game and has extraordinarily pulled down 317 of Perth's 1,022 total rebounds this season (31%).

"I do say that’s kind of what she does, but like I said, we take it for granted at times because we’re just so used to her performing at that level," Lynx star Amy Atwell said.

"What she does is crazy. There’s no one else in the league that can do that. Her will to just go and get the ball and never give up is crazy. I don’t know how she does it."

The second versus third clash flipped on its head after half-time. The Spirit led 48-45 at the main break but scored just 16 points on the second half at Lynx head coach Ryan Petrik threw a zone at the Spirit.

"We’re happy with that," Atwell added.

"I think there was still a lot of stuff we could have cleaned up in the first half, so we’ll go back and look at it.

"It was great to have potentially locked in a home final. We play them in a couple of weeks’ time for a lot more."

The top three are locked: Townsville Fire (18-4), Perth Lynx (17-5) and Bendigo Spirit (16-6) are all preparing for the finals with the Spirit destined for a three-game series against Perth.

It was the Spirit's second game of a double header, coming in off the shock Upset Season of the 3.0 against the Geelong Venom on Friday night.

"We all are disappointed," Spirit head coach Kennedy Kereama said.

"I think the first half was a great, competitive half of basketball, and that was what we expected. Then we come out in the third quarter, run a great play, hit a wide-open three, and from that point on a number of things happened where we just weren’t good enough.

"One was our defence. We started breaking down and giving players shots in places that we probably shouldn’t, and certainly where we haven’t worked towards with scout. The offensive rebounds hurt us. They had two offensive rebounds in the first two possessions.

"We still haven’t figured out that zone. I don’t think at any stage we really got to any of the actions that we’ve spoken about, shown on video, and spent a small amount of time working on.

"This week was heavily focused on Geelong, so I’m not making excuses, but certainly we’ll have to put some more time into that. We obviously know we’ll be playing Perth in finals. That’s who we play.

"This isn’t saying the Townsville Fire games are written off. We want to play that and play our best basketball, but we’re going to have to dedicate a lot of time to figuring this out."

Spirit captain Kelsey Griffin, who spoke to Bec Cole this week on It's a Cole World, said it was a sharp learning curve for the re-tooled younger defending champions.

"I think it’s probably an accumulation of the three games we had previously and then the double-header this week," Griffin said.

"It’s a really great learning opportunity about how you prepare, how you go into games mentally, needing to make in-game adjustments, and then dealing with quick turnarounds.

"It’s very finals-like. I approached the Southside game using teaching moments to help the group understand that those are like finals turnarounds and making adjustments from game to game.

"This one, from Geelong to travelling back home and then having to play this game with a quick turnaround, is another way to prepare for what finals basketball is like.

"Perth’s a very talented team, and they showed that tonight.

"Now we get the opportunity to watch the film. This is twice in a row their zone has given us a ton of problems and really taken us out of our rhythm. We’ll have plenty of footage to look at how we can attack that and potentially look at what other teams have done to exploit their zone, if possible."

Perth head coach Ryan Petrik did his best to keep the tough road win in perspective.

"Largely, again, it’s a regular-season game," he said.

"We know we play these guys for all the marbles, or for a much bigger prize, in two weeks’ time. Winning today is nice, but like I said to the girls, I’d rather lose today by 100 and win Game 1 by a point.

"But to have won today on the back of a long road trip, when everyone’s pretty tired and pretty homesick, is really pleasing. To play like that was really pleasing.

"Even today there was some stuff we held back, because ultimately we knew we were a very strong chance of playing Bendigo in Round 1.

"We didn’t know if it was home court or not. Even today, we had some things up our sleeve that we thought would be even better than the game plan we put out, but we held that back knowing today wasn’t as important as two weeks’ time.

"Next week is tricky. Bendigo go to Townsville, so Bendigo have to play us and then Townsville, and they’ll be cherry-ripe for finals basketball. We have Sydney, who aren’t in finals.

"If you just throw it and rest all your stars and don’t play how you normally play, what’s your form line like? So it’s rust versus rest. We want them as healthy as we can, but at the same time we want them playing well and in sync.

"On this road trip they’ve been in really good sync, so let’s just get home, see friends, family, and loved ones first, and we’ll deal with that on Tuesday."

Key Details

• Result: Perth Lynx 88 def. Bendigo Spirit 64
• When: Saturday, 1st February 2026
• Where: Red Energy Arena, Bendigo
• Standings

By the Numbers

• Amy Atwell (Perth Lynx) starred with 23 points, one rebound, one assist and was outstanding shooting 7-from-15 from the field, including 4-from-8 from downtown, going perfect 5-from-5 from the charity stripe in 27 minutes.
• Isobel Borlase (Bendigo Spirit) scored 16 points, and had five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 33 minutes.

What Happened

The Spirit established early control, taking a 23-22 lead after the first quarter before extending their advantage to 45-48 at halftime. But Perth's dominance became apparent in the third period, where they outscored the Spirit 28-10 to take a commanding 73-58 lead into the final quarter.

Perth's third-quarter surge proved decisive, with the visitors exploding for 28 points while limiting Bendigo to a dismal 10 points. The Lynx capitalised on their momentum in the final period, adding 15 more points to complete the 24-point victory.

Amy Atwell led Perth's balanced offensive attack with an exceptional 23-point performance on outstanding shooting efficiency. The guard was clinical from beyond the arc, connecting on four triples and perfect from the free-throw line. Han Xu provided strong interior presence with 18 points on efficient 9-from-14 shooting, while Anneli Maley dominated the boards with 22 rebounds to go with 13 points.

Perth's superior shooting accuracy proved the difference between the sides. The Lynx shot a solid 43.48% from the field compared to Bendigo's 40.54%, while their three-point shooting was particularly impressive at 34.2% versus the Spirit's poor 23.3%. Perth's dominance on the glass was equally crucial, out-rebounding their opponents 57-41, with Maley leading the way.

For Bendigo, Isobel Borlase fought valiantly with 16 points and four assists, while Abbey Wehrung contributed 12 points shooting an outstanding 4-from-5 from downtown. However, the Spirit struggled to match Perth's offensive firepower throughout the contest, managing just 64 points on the night.

The victory strengthens Perth's position in the WNBL standings, while Bendigo will need to regroup quickly as they look to bounce back from this disappointing home defeat.