Tonight's Good Friday eve clash against the Nunawading Spectres (4-2) at the Schweppes Centre will be Lemezs' first since she played against Albury Wodonga in the season-opener. She has missed the Lady Braves' (5-2) past six matches because of her wedding and honeymoon overseas.

"Kelly trained quite well with us last night - she only got home yesterday, so it will be interesting to see if there will be any delayed jetlag," Lady Braves coach Bernie Harrower said yesterday.

"Kelly is one of our most experienced players, and not only that, she is a scorer and a good defensive player as well. It's certainly important for us to get her back and into the swing of things."

Lemezs will start on the bench, but Harrower is likely to include point guard Dee Butler, who has
overcome a knee injury, in the starting five.

"Dee certainly showed signs last week against Ballarat that she is starting to get somewhere near her best, and with Kelly coming back in, it certainly adds to our experience," Harrower said.

"Dee had 15 points off the bench last week for us and Kelly comes in as a scorer, so all the workload isn't going to fall back on Andrea Walsh and Garbrielle Richards."

The Lady Braves, who defeated Ballarat 74-61 last Saturday night, have endured a different preparation this week, with their match against the Spectres being played on a Thursday night.

"Normally, we are on the court training at the time of the game this week, so it will be interesting to see what frame of mind the girls come along in," Harrower said.

"We know it's an important game and we certainly have to be ready to go against Nunawading right from the start.

"We had a real battle against them when we played them in Melbourne earlier in the season. It was a bit like the Ballarat game last week where we didn't get away from them until the last
couple of minutes."

The Lady Braves won 78-67 in their first encounter this season with the Spectres, who will again be without leading rebounder Caitlin Cunningham, who is at an Australian Sapphires camp this week.

A win tonight will keep the Lady Braves hot on the heels of the top-of-the-ladder Ballarat (6-1), but a defeat would see Nunawading replace Bendigo in second position.