Isobel Borlase’s Atlanta Dream tied the WNBA Finals at one game apiece, setting up Game 3 on Thursday, October 22 at 11am AEDT. The series returned to level terms after a first game in which Veronica Burton saved the ball against Borlase at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on October 18, 2026.
Borlase has played all 44 regular-season games for Atlanta and averaged 4.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 13 minutes off the bench. Kennedy Kereama said that production has carried into the playoffs, where she has grown from a player averaging 7.4 minutes in May to a trusted part of the rotation after the FIBA break, when she was logging 14 minutes a game.
Kereama on Borlase and Burton
Kereama, the Bendigo Spirit head coach, said the Finals have left him split between Borlase and Veronica Burton. “It's really tough,” he said to on the eve of Game 3. “You sit here right now, and you've got a strong emotional attachment to two players, trying not to cheer for one too aggressively.”
He said he has stayed in contact with both players during the series. “To be honest, I've been in touch with both during Finals too. Veronica and I still have regular message conversations, or a phone conversation only a couple of weeks ago. I'm still messaging [Isobel] most days, if not every second day.”
Bendigo Spirit links to the WNBA
Kereama said Borlase’s rise matters because she is a first-year rookie in the WNBA. “As a first-year rookie in the WNBA, playing in a championship finals series, and playing, is an incredible way to start,” he said. He also said the club will have a WNBA champion in 2026.
The Bendigo Spirit links run through the series on both sides. Sami Whitcomb won the 2025 WNBL Championship alongside Veronica Burton at Bendigo and then went to the 2025 WNBA Finals with the Phoenix Mercury, while Borlase’s own season has already included 30 points for the Opals against Italy.
Game 3 at Chase Center
The next game gives Borlase and Burton another direct collision point in the same series. Kereama said the outcome now sits alongside the wider question of whether Borlase and the Atlanta Dream can finish the job and turn her first WNBA season into a championship run.
