AUSTRALIAN Opal Kristi Harrower stepped off the plane and turned in a gem of a performance for the Bendigo Spirit in the Dandenong Rangers' Women's National Basketball League season opener on Friday night.

Harrower, playing with the Spirit on a short-term contract, flew in from the US a few hours before she tore through the Rangers at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium. The classy guard was a step ahead of the rest even more than her match-leading 23 points showed.

Apart from the opening half of the first quarter when the Rangers started brightly, the Spirit led the way with Harrower calling the tune.

Whenever the home side threatened to close a gap that usually hovered around 10 points, she was able to produce something special or orchestrate space for her teammates.

Several times in the third and fourth quarters Dandenong was able to close to within five points, but was never able to take the next step.

But all was not doom and gloom for Dandenong. Though Bendigo seemed to have more application and determination in defence, the Rangers showed enough to suggest they would be no easy beats this season.

Import and Great Britain international Megan Moody led the way for Dandenong with 18 points in her first game of WNBL basketball and showed she would be a force to be reckoned with.

It was a nervous start to the season for both teams with defence ruling in the opening quarter as Bendigo established a 9-6 lead at the first break. A 22-12 second quarter gave the Spirit some breathing space and the visitors managed to hold off Dandenong.

Dandenong travels to Sydney to take on the Flames this Saturday night.

The Dandenong Rangers' under-14 girls team has been crowned national champion, defeating Diamond Valley 62-53 in a tense grand final in Perth on Saturday afternoon.

Scores were locked 14-14 at quarter-time with the Eagles holding a 27-26 lead at half-time.

The Eagles extended their lead slightly in the third quarter before Dandenong stormed home in the last term, turning their three-point deficit to a seven-point lead in a matter of minutes.