Her first shot made it, the second missed.

It was just one of the many twists and turns in a South East Australian Basketball League clash between Ballarat and Canberra at the Mars Minerdome on Saturday night, with the visitors celebrating a thrilling one-point victory. 

Canberra got out to a fast start in the opening quarter, before a late run by Ballarat Skoda Rush made it a one point ball game at the first break.

Rush dominated the second term and established an eleven-point buffer, before momentum swung in Canberra’s favour in the second half.

At the six minute mark of the final quarter Canberra led 58-71, but Bonds fired in the final minutes shooting nine points and keeping the team’s hopes alive.

Bonds (21 points and 10 rebounds) and Joy Burke (21 points and 12 rebounds) both made double doubles, while captain Kristy Rinaldi was influential with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists. 

Rinaldi described the result as “disappointing”.

“It started from the warm up, we came out flat and we certainly started the game like that,” Rinaldi said.

“It was a huge effort to come back in that game and unfortunately we couldn’t get the win, but there are a lot of positives and still a lot of things that we can work on.”

Rinaldi said one of the key focuses in the week ahead would be team defence.

“We kept Canberra to 12 in the second quarter and then they ended up having 30 points in the third quarter, so (we’ll be concentrating on) just locking down on defence and getting the defensive rebounds,” she said.

Burke, who received the most valuable player nod, said the team had fought hard and stuck together.

“We’re just going to keep working hard, come back and look to beat Sydney next week,” she said.

“Winning is hard and every team in this league is good so it is just about getting better and really embracing every game.”