It was the men who brightened the night of the crowd of more than 1000 spectators at Selkirk Stadium when they pulled away late in the contest to score a confidence-boosting 97-86 win.

Led by a superb debut from Luke Rosendale against his former club with 28 points and eight rebounds and a steady-as-she-goes, but always classy 26 points and eight rebounds from import Tyler Rudolph, who continued on from his MVP-winning debut season last year, the Miners soared late to record a strong win.

The contest was shot-for-shot for the first three quarters, before the Miners skipped away to 10-point break early in the last quarter courtesy of back-to-back three pointers from Max Cody.

But just as the Miners looked like running away with the contest, Bendigo hit back, mostly from the impressive Andrew Robinson who was not only noticeable due to his dreadlocks, but also due to his long-range shooting.

But with Rudolph on the court controlling things, some big late plays from debut centre Makuei Puondak and another former Bendigo star Jake Lloyd, the Miners held the upper-hand when it mattered as they pulled away in the final moments to score a strong win.

For the women though, it always loomed as a tough first-up test against a side that had not lost a game in over 18 months, and that's how in panned out, going down.46-88.

The Miners started brightly enough, at one stage opening up a 13-8 lead, but an early time-out from the Bendigo coach Mark Alabakov seemed to be the spark the visitors needed to get going.

Whatever was said in that first break clearly had the desired effect on Amy Atwell in particular who launched an impressive scoring spree on her own to see her side take a seven-point lead into the first break.

From that point on, it was all one way traffic for the Braves who ran away to an impressive win.

One thing the Miners women can take out of the contest is that this is as light a team as they are likely to have all season. As it was, the Miners waited until the very last minute before ruling recruit Chloe Bibby out after she warmed up with the team, but was unable to play due to a clearance not arriving on time.

She should be ready for the next clash on Sunday against Geelong.

The one highlight for the Miners was the performance of big Alexandra Bunton who was clearly the side's best with 14 points and 16 rebounds, but she needed help, and apart from flashes from Jemma Amoore, it was a tough night for the home team.

Miners Women 46 (A Bunton 14, J Amoore 7) def by Bendigo Braves 88 (A Atwell 25, M McKay 21)

Miners Men 97 (L Rosendale 28, T Rudolph 26) def Bendigo Braves 86 (A Robinson 28, R Mackenzie 22)