'Blue group' steels Canberra Capitals' move up WNBL standings

Kia Nurse had a hot hand with 32 points in a 91-66 win over the Bendigo Spirit in Ballarat on Friday night, but it wasn't her.

Marianna Tolo made her presence felt as she played one of her best games in Capitals colours and Kelsey Griffin added another double-double.

But it wasn't them either. This week, it was "the blue group".

Head into Capitals practice and you will see the starters wearing black jerseys, while the bench players wear blue.

"I said to them this week, the blue group practiced the best I have seen them consistently for the whole week," Goriss said.

"Abby Cubillo was great this week, Alex Delaney is always consistent, Gemma Potter and Lily Scanlon will be able to get more time with us now so they will improve.

"That's why I was happy to get them on, because they had a hell of a week at practice.

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"They're training harder and they're getting better all the time. The more they can push the starters, the more ready they're going to be when their opportunities come on the floor."

Opportunities came in spades as the Capitals improved their record to 8-2 before a clash with the league-leading Southside Flyers next week.

But there was a short period in which the Capitals squandered an eight-point advantage in Ballarat and fell behind by four with Nurse, Griffin and Maddison Rocci off the court.

The starters went back on and steadied the ship but it was clear the nerves had dissipated when the bench players returned for their second and third stints on the court.

"We've got to get these bench girls experience, when the game is on the line they have got to perform under pressure," Goriss said.

"They're not sure when their rotations are coming, but they've got to be ready.

"Be ready to compete, be ready to play defence, and be ready to go. When they got more time they were definitely better.

"It's a nice reward for those ones that do the work day in, day out."