Why Ryan Petrik says Georgia Amoore's career is exploding

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Washington Mystics point guard Georgia Amoore versus Seattle Storm point guard Jade Melbourne lived up to the hype and was "cool to watch" in Round 4 of WNBL27 at the Perth High Performance Centre on November 10, 2026.

Perth WNBA star Amoore, 25, poured in a game-high 27 points as the Lynx held off 24-year-old Opals floor general Melbourne's Bendigo Spirit 94-84 for their third win in four games.

Melbourne finished with 21 points and 12 assists in 38:48 minutes, carrying the load for the now 0-5 Spirit without reigning MVP Isobel Borlase.

"It was cool to watch," Lynx head coach Ryan Petrik said of the matchup.

"I'm not sure it was important. Well, it was important, but it wasn't.

"It was important for us to have elite guard play to guard her because obviously Jade Melbourne's bloody good.

"But from Georgia's career point of view, Georgia's career is exploding.

"Whether it's up against Jade Melbourne one week, or it's Maddy Rocci on Friday, or it's the next guard on Sunday, and the next guard the week after.

"Georgia's elite, and she was picked sixth in the draft for a reason."

Borlase is back in Australia after the Atlanta Dream went to Game 7 of the WNBA Finals last week, and she is expected back against the Sydney Flames on Saturday, November 14.

"I've got to give Jade a lot of credit because, just given our current situation, I've had to play her a lot more than I would like to," Spirit head coach Kennedy Kereama said.

"Certainly, we brought Jade to our program to play a lot of basketball, and she's an incredibly talented athlete. She's got a great engine on her.

"But we're asking a lot of her physically, and it's really important that we've got some reinforcements coming.

"I was really conscious even just to get small amounts of time off the floor, but using timeouts to try and manage the game that way too.

"I would have liked to have done that a little bit better for myself personally because I am asking a lot of her.

"And I think Georgia did a good job of playing her physically. Steph Gorman comes out, young (Samantha) Ashby comes out, and the young kids came out and played their part.

"So that just has an accumulative effect on Jade too.

"We've just got to continue to - I don't think it's going to be an issue for much longer - but obviously just try to find times to give her breaks because I'm asking a lot of her.

"Forty minutes the game before, or pretty much 39 tonight. Round that up to 40. It's tough."

It's been a tough start to WNBL27 for the Spirit and a test of their depth without Borlase, Abbey Wehrung out for the season after announcing her pregnancy, Kelly Wilson out against Perth, Catherine MacGregor out for the season with a knee injury, Kelsey Rees also out.

"Full credit to Bendigo," Petrik said.

"They were brilliant, and they were missing half their roster; it felt like.

"Obviously, they still bring out (Kelsey) Griffin and (Olivia) Pollerd and Melbourne, but jeez, they're missing some players that are pretty handy.

"From our side, I just felt like, personally anyway, it was one of those games you couldn't really win outside of the scoreboard.

"In theory, you should beat them when you're at full strength, and they're missing so many people, and you're at home, and they played on Saturday.

"It's one of those games you just should win. So when you do win, it's like, phew. But somehow if you lose it, then it's like, how?

"It's almost like a lose-lose, minus the scoreboard, obviously.

"Full credit to Bendigo. I thought they were brilliant.

"It's just yuck, because it's one of those ones that are really hard to get out of there alive."

Kereama didn't make any excuses for his short-handed WNBL25 champions.

"When the cards are down, and you're playing with still a good amount of talent, but relatively depleted as far as working through load management, bringing people back," he said.

"I mean, Georgia (Booth) literally came from one game with restricted minutes to then starting tonight, as an example of our situation.

"But I was really proud of how our group stood up and made runs and continued to find ways to compete.

"And the Lynx are a team; as we know, certainly Ryan has proven during his time and tenure with the Lynx that they're going to be a top-four team. They have been consistently.

"So for us to be able to compete at the very least and give ourselves a chance, I was really proud of our group.

"Would have loved to have stolen one. I think it probably would have been a steal. I don't think anyone was probably really backing us except for ourselves, but I was really happy with our group's effort."

What you need to know

• The Perth Lynx beat the Bendigo Spirit 94-84 at the Perth High Performance Centre in Round 4 of WNBL27, moving to 3-1 and leaving Bendigo 0-5, the only winless team in the league.
• Perth led at every break, 33-31, 53-51 and 80-70. Bendigo's last lead was 51-50 with 3:04 left in the first half, Haley Peters put Perth ahead for good at 53-51 with 1:05 to go, and the Spirit got no closer than four after half-time, at 81-77 with 6:39 left.
• Georgia Amoore top-scored with 27 points on 9-from-14, including 6-from-9 from three, and Marianna Tolo led Bendigo with 23 on 11-from-17 before fouling out with 34 seconds left.
• Bendigo shot better from the field, 49 per cent to 45, and still lost by 10, because Perth took 78 shots to 67. The Spirit turned it over 15 times to seven, and the Lynx had 14 offensive rebounds to seven.
• Perth made 13-from-31 from three to Bendigo's 8-from-23, a 15-point edge in a 10-point game, and had 10 steals to two.

Milestones

• Kelsey Griffin played her 200th game for the Bendigo Spirit. She has played 272 games in total.
• Jade Melbourne's 12 assists are the most by any player in a WNBL27 game, passing Megan McConnell's 11 for the UC Capitals against Bendigo on November 7. Her 21 points took her to 1,454 career WNBL points, 46 short of 1,500, and she is on 507 rebounds, having passed 500 against the Capitals on November 7.
• Casey Samuels played her 191st WNBL game and moved to 181 career WNBL assists, 69 short of 250. She is on 505 rebounds, having passed 500 against the Geelong Venom on November 2.
• Tolo's 23 points took her to 3,346 career WNBL points
• Amoore's 27 points are her WNBL27 high, and her six threes are the equal second-most in a WNBL27 game, behind Abbey Ellis's seven for Townsville at Adelaide on October 20.
• Anneli Maley's 14 points and 13 rebounds make it three double-doubles from her three WNBL27 games.

Perth Lynx

• Amoore had 27 points, six assists and three rebounds on 9-from-14, including 6-from-9 from three and 3-from-4 at the line, with one turnover, and her three with 3:22 left made it 88-79.
• Haley Peters scored 17 on 7-from-16, including 2-from-7 from three, with three steals, no turnovers and a game-high plus-21.
• Maley had 14 points and 13 rebounds, five of them offensive, on 5-from-16, with three assists.
• Teonni Key scored 14 on 6-from-11 with five rebounds and two steals, and her three with 4:43 left in the third gave Perth their biggest lead, 70-58.
• Ciabattoni had 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals on 5-from-14, scoring seven in the first three and a half minutes of the second half and the last two free throws of the game.
• Stephanie Gorman scored six off the bench on 2-from-3, both from three, in 11 minutes.
• Teige Morrell had two points, two rebounds and two assists in 10 minutes off the bench.
• Perth shot 35-from-78 from the field, 13-from-31 from three and 11-from-15 at the line, with 43 rebounds, 22 assists, 10 steals and seven turnovers.

Bendigo Spirit

• Tolo had 23 points, seven rebounds and a block on 11-from-17 in 25 minutes before fouling out with 34 seconds left.
• Melbourne had 21 points, 12 assists and two steals on 7-from-16, including 6-from-9 at the line, but turned it over seven times. She scored Bendigo's first five points of the fourth quarter to cut it to 80-75.
• Pollerd scored 14 off the bench on 6-from-11 with nine rebounds, three blocks and no turnovers, and was the only Bendigo player with a positive plus-minus (plus-11).
• Kelsey Griffin had 11 points and nine rebounds, and all three of her field goals were threes, on 3-from-7 from deep.
• Samuels scored eight on 3-from-5, including 2-from-4 from three, with four assists.
• Georgia Booth had five points, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes, and her basket with 6:39 left cut it to 81-77.
• Olivia Olechnowicz scored two in 16 minutes off the bench on 1-from-5.
• Bendigo shot 33-from-67 from the field, 8-from-23 from three and 10-from-15 at the line, with 38 rebounds, 25 assists, two steals and 15 turnovers.