Ballarat Skoda Rush met a fighting Frankston, which is yet to win a game, in a thrilling round seven clash at the Minerdome on Saturday night. 

After a slow start where the visiting Blues took the early lead, Rush fired in the second term, led by captain Kristy Rinaldi (12 points) to establish a 15-point buffer at the main break. 

But, while Rush pushed the lead out to 17 points in the third quarter, an unrelenting Frankston managed to work away at the margin to get within two points with just three minutes left of the game.

Frankston won three of four quarters, but Rush did enough to hold on and secure a four-point victory. 

Rush coach Eric Hayes said the difference in the second quarter had been the team finding its offensive rhythm, while playing solid defence to allow more run, and the difference showed on the scoreboard. 

“We started moving the ball a bit better offensively and running more – we wanted to play an uptempo game and in the second quarter we did that,” he said. 

But after halftime, Hayes said the team went away from what had been working and admitted the team had not been prepared for the nail-biting final minutes.

Frankston’s Toccara Ross had been damaging with 24 points (18 points in the first half) and 17 rebounds before being fouled out in the final quarter. While her teammate Stacey Barr stepped up in the second half to top score with 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. 

“The ball slowed down, we weren’t getting out with the same pace, and defensively I don’t think we had that same support around each other so defence started breaking down,” Hayes said.

“We just made it really tough on ourselves. We went at (Ross), got her out of the game, but we didn’t exploit the fact that they didn’t have any size and they probably exploited us with being a little more mobile so the balance of the game just changed.”

Import Courtney Walker continued to show her worth making a double double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, along with seven assists, two steals and shooting at 100 per cent efficiency from the free throw line.

While Hayes also praised the efforts of Taylah Wynne (13 points), Lydia Brooks off the bench (eight points) and Rinaldi, who he described as a workhorse throughout and who made all the right decisions when the game was up for grabs.

Meanwhile, injured Ashleigh Spencer was vocal on the sidelines and managed to still bring an energy to the game despite her absence on the floor.