Puoch on her 100th game: 'I really wanted to win so bad'

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Centurion UC Capitals Nyadiew Puoch revealed, "I really wanted to win so bad", in her 100th WNBL game against the Bendigo Spirit in Round 4 in Bendigo on Saturday, November 7, 2026.

The 22-year-old Portland Fire WNBA starting forward did, and she delivered in the Capitals' 97-83 win at Red Energy Arena.

Puoch top-scored with 26 points and eight rebounds on 9-for-18 shooting, including 7-for-7 at the line, plus two blocks and two steals.

"It's very special," Puoch said.

"I can look back at this game in a couple of years and be like, (sister) Manny was next to me watching me - I mean, she was playing, sorry.

"She was next to me playing, and my family were out in the crowd watching us play.

"It is very special.

"Going into this game, I did forget that it was my 100th game. I really wanted to win so bad.

"It's honestly really special, and it's fun, and it's great. I'm happy."

The Capitals moved to 3-1 while the Spirit, still awaiting the return of Atlanta Dream WNBA star Isobel Borlase, slumped to 0-4 despite Seattle Storm point guard Jade Melbourne's 24 points, six rebounds and six assists in 35:50 minutes.

"The girls work really hard, and I think we all worked really hard today," Puoch continued.

"They made it really special for me. I'm honestly just really proud of them, and I'm really proud to be on this team.

"Playing how I'm playing right now, I'm really confident, and it comes from the people that are around me.

"Shout out to my teammates and the people around me.

"The team this year is honestly really special to me. I get to play with my sister, and we've got a really good group of girls around us.

"You can see out there we enjoy every moment of it.

"We cheer every single time someone does something really great or something really little.

"It's just so fun out here, and I'm really enjoying everything."

Capitals head coach Paul Goriss reflected on his time with Puoch.

"I think I first met Nards at the COE when I was coaching the Caps. I'd go in there and watch practice," Goriss said.

"Seeing her back then, I knew her athletic talent and her ability. She's grown with confidence, obviously playing in the WNBA, but us running things for her and running things through her.

"Her growth and maturity, both as a player and a person, really shows through. She's one who does a lot of work behind the scenes to get herself to where she is today.

"I keep saying she's only scratching the surface of where she's going to be.

"Hopefully, us in the WNBL can convince her to stay around a couple more years for another hundred in the WNBL, but we'll soon see.

"I'm really proud of her. The number one thing about Nards is her as a person and as a teammate shines through first.

"Then it's the work she's put in to get to this point. She's only going to continue to get better."

Spirit head coach Kennedy Kereama pinpointed defensive breakdowns as the reason the Caps broke the game open.

"It was both to start the third quarter," Kereama said.

"We certainly spoke about having a focus to get the ball to certain places throughout the game, but most of the breakdowns I'm talking about is defence, right?

"We gave up 97 points. I mean, 83 points is enough to win your game of basketball in this league. It's well above the league average. Certainly has been well above the league average for the last four or five years now as the game's gotten a lot quicker.

"From my perspective, most of it's all defensive breakdowns where we failed players, gave them too many trips to the line.

"I certainly think there's some consideration for the types of fouls that we're being called for that I would possibly expect there to be similar calls down the other end of the floor.

"I just felt like our bigs typically get a pretty raw end of the deal with just the way the game's officiated.

"Not saying that's the reason why we lost at all, but I'm asking for explanations, and I don't necessarily get the ones that I want or get any at all sometimes, which I think is a bit of a communication breakdown.

"I think we're trying to do this thing together, both coaches, players and officials together. So I feel like there's some opportunity there for maybe a little more accountability in that space."

Kereama said Borlase's return to the line-up was imminent, and he knew exactly what he wanted from the reigning WNBL MVP.

"We want that WNBA Finals defence, Izzy," he added.

"That's what we're expecting you to bring, and some of that offence with you.

"It's crazy to have to say this, but it's not ideal when your coach has to get on the floor and train for the team.

"We've been in struggle town with loading and situations. I'm not making excuses by any means whatsoever, but we have been making adjustments and then having to readjust as we add people into the group.

"Izzy will be no different. We'll add her in and, yeah, look, I don't know if it's necessarily going to be 22 points off the bat on average straight away.

"I'm sure there'll be an adjustment period as well with that, and we're going to have to be able to work through that.

"But for us to get better, I don't think it's going to be a magic formula of just offence. We're going to need to play defence too.

"As a team, we're going to have to get better at playing defence."

What you need to know

• The UC Capitals beat the Bendigo Spirit 97-83 at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on Saturday, November 7, 2026 in Round 4 of WNBL27, their second win over Bendigo this season after 94-92 in Canberra on October 17. UC are 3-1 and Bendigo are 0-4.
• UC won the first quarter 26-20, Bendigo the second 22-21, the third was tied 19-19 and UC won the fourth 31-22. Bendigo led only in the second quarter, by as many as four, before a 10-0 UC run turned 40-36 down into 46-40 up. UC led 47-42 at half-time and by as many as 15, at 95-80 with 1:32 left.
• Nyadiew Puoch top-scored with 26 points and eight rebounds on 9-from-18, including 7-from-7 at the line, while Jade Melbourne led Bendigo with 24 on 6-from-18, including 11-from-13 at the line.
• Bendigo made more threes, 14-from-34 to UC's 11-from-30, but UC made 23-from-40 inside the arc to Bendigo's 12-from-28, a 22-point edge on twos.
• Bendigo turned the ball over 16 times to UC's six, so UC got up eight more shots, 70 to 62, and Megan McConnell had 11 assists without a turnover.

Milestones & Moments

• Nyadiew Puoch played her 100th WNBL game and moved to 923 career WNBL points.
• Jade Melbourne passed 500 career WNBL rebounds. Her first of the game, an offensive rebound with 6:28 left in the first quarter, was her 500th, and she finished on 505. She also moved to 1,433 career WNBL points.
• Amy Atwell played her 96th WNBL game and moved to 1,480 career WNBL points.
• Kelly Wilson played her 482nd WNBL game.
• Abigail Wehrung played her 234th WNBL game and moved to 1,864 career WNBL points.
• Casey Samuels played her 190th WNBL game and moved to 503 career WNBL rebounds.
• Marianna Tolo moved to 3,323 career WNBL points.
• Kelsey Griffin moved to 2,528 career WNBL rebounds.

UC Capitals

• Nyadiew Puoch top-scored with 26 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks on 9-from-18, including 7-from-7 at the line, with 11 of her points in the second quarter.
• Megan McConnell had 16 points, seven rebounds (four offensive) and a game-high 11 assists without a turnover on 4-from-11, including 6-from-7 at the line, with seven points in the fourth quarter.
• Nicole Munger scored 15 off the bench on 6-from-8, including 3-from-5 from three, eight of her points coming in the first quarter.
• Manuela Puoch had 13 points and four rebounds on 4-from-9, including 2-from-5 from three, and her three made it 87-77 with 2:59 left.
• Amy Atwell had 12 points and six rebounds on 4-from-12, including 2-from-8 from three, opening the scoring with a three and finishing plus-15, the best mark in the game.
• Sharne Robati had five points on 2-from-4, including the three that made it 53-42 early in the third quarter.
• Charlotte Whittaker had four points off the bench on 2-from-5, her basket starting the 10-0 run that put UC in front late in the second quarter.
• UC shot 34-from-70 from the field, 11-from-30 from three and 18-from-20 at the line, with 35 rebounds, 21 assists and six turnovers.

Bendigo Spirit

• Jade Melbourne top-scored with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists on 6-from-18, including 11-from-13 at the line, passing 500 career WNBL rebounds. She also had six turnovers.
• Olivia Pollerd scored 16 off the bench on 6-from-8, including 4-from-6 from three, with 14 of her points in the second half.
• Abigail Wehrung scored 12 on 4-from-6, all four makes from three, nine of her points coming in the fourth quarter.
• Marianna Tolo had eight points and four assists on 3-from-5, with five fouls.
• Casey Samuels had eight points on 2-from-9, both makes from three, and 2-from-2 at the line.
• Kelsey Griffin had seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds on 3-from-8.
• Kelly Wilson had five points off the bench on 1-from-4, her only basket a three, and 2-from-2 at the line.
• Bendigo shot 26-from-62 from the field, 14-from-34 from three and 17-from-19 at the line, with 36 rebounds, 19 assists and 16 turnovers.