The Adelaide Lightning ruined the understrength Canberra Capitals' first home game in 656 days with a dominant 88-62 win in front of 1319 basketball-starved fans on Sunday.

The WNBL season started two weeks ago, but in so many ways this felt like day one. The Capitals were back at home for the first time, forced to wait an extra week following a positive COVID-19 case within their ranks.

But Canberra captain Kelsey Griffin and Tahlia Tupaea were watching from courtside and Adelaide is a team built on scoring firepower. The task was too tall for a side who spent a week in isolation training via video calls before returning to practice this past Wednesday.

The rust after Canberra's COVID-enforced "pre-season 2.0" was clear to see. Glimpses of class were so often undone by a poor shooting percentage, turnovers, and passes that missed the mark.

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Jade Melbourne was one of few shining lights for the hosts with a game-high 18 points, but the visitors seemed to have all the answers for a side shooting 27 per cent from the field.

Adelaide's lead peaked at 30 late in the contest with Alanna Smith and Steph Talbot impressing for the visitors.

"I have a lot of confidence in the group and the depth we have to be able to at least compete better than we did. Adelaide is a good team, they've got scorers, but our lack of effort in the first half was definitely wanting," Capitals coach Paul Goriss said.

"Maybe that was a little bit to do with the week off and having a couple of days of practice. Then again, what I did like is the five-minute patch where we put our foot down and made at least a decent run of it and showed our home fans there is a lot of fight still left in this group and it's still early days.

"There's no use in trying to change anything. We need to take care of things better ourselves. When you shoot it at 27 per cent for the game, you're probably going to come out on the losing end most of the time."

The Capitals' long-awaited homecoming took almost two years. Their next one will barely take more than two days.

Canberra return to the National Convention Centre against the Bendigo Spirit on Wednesday night in their final showdown before Christmas.

Inspirational Capitals leader Griffin is racing the clock to be fit for the Bendigo clash, adamant she would love to return to the court to face her former team.

But Griffin may be forced to pull the handbrake as she continues to recover from nasal and orbital fractures suffered in a collision during a round one victory over the Sydney Flames.

Griffin is mapping out her return to the court with Goriss and team doctor Greg Macleod, with the group hesitant to send her back into action prematurely.

Macleod is investigating the potential of having Griffin wear a mask to protect her face but even that option fails to allay safety concerns for a player who knows no other way than to put her body on the line in every play.

"It's always good to play against your old side, so Bendigo is a game I love getting up for and playing. Probably going to talk to Goz and Greg about it but I have to be smart," Griffin said.

"We're still kind of working through that to figure out what the best protocol is for it. Masks aren't nearly as common in Australia as they are in the States, so that's something I'm in discussions with Greg about.

"[Keely Froling] wore one for one game [last season] but it irritated her a bit. The thing with the mask Kelly had is it's a standard mask. It's not made for a face, each face is unique. If it even gets brushed, it would have sensitive points on the mask, pressure points.

"I'm weighing up the risks and rewards versus playing but I also have a lot of faith in this group. We know it's a long season, it's not the hub season, it's not a sprint, it's definitely a marathon."

AT A GLANCE

WNBL round three: ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 88 (Marena Whittle 17, Kiana Williams 17, Alanna Smith 16) bt CANBERRA CAPITALS 62 (Jade Melbourne 18, Britt Smart 12, Mikaela Ruef 9) at National Convention Centre. Crowd: 1319.

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