IT APPEARS to be the week of boilovers in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL), with the Geelong Venom recorded one of the most impressive road victories of the season when they defeated the Townsville Fire by 17 points.

The Venom travelled up north on Tuesday night to take on the championship fancies on their home deck at Townsville Entertainment Centre, and had an enormous task on their hands to take down the second-placed Townsville unit in enemy territory. The Venom came into the match occupying last place in the standings themselves, and faced a tall order taking on Townsville in Queensland.

However, it proved to be a tremendous performance from the visitors despite the odds being against them, with Geelong proving a class above the Fire to leave Townsville Entertainment Centre with their best win of the 2025/26 fixture.

Townsville Fire (71) def. by Geelong Venom (88)

It was a terrific start to the match from the Venom, who announced their intentions in the first quarter and took control of proceedings from the opening tip. It was one of Geelong’s best starts to a match all season, and could not have come against a tougher opponent, doing enough to lead by 10 points at the end of the first period.

The margin ballooned out to as much as 23 points in the second quarter, and it was all one way traffic as the Venom were able to silence the crowd in Townsville and keep the Fire to one of their lowest first half scores of the season. The deficit was pushed out to 20 points at the main change, and there was still a mountain of work for Townsville to do.

It was a tale of three-pointers in the third frame, with both sides cashing in from behind the arc as scoring opened up after half time. Although the Fire tried to chip away at the margin, it ballooned out to as much as 26 points as the Venom continued to have the answers for every run produced by Townsville, and at the final change, the Fire’s deficit still sat at 26 points.

The final 10 minutes saw the home side look the best they had all game, but it was all in vein as the Venom had taken their foot off the gas. Although the Fire outscored the visitors 19-10 in the last quarter, it was too little, too late as Geelong managed to cruise home to what would have been their most satisfying result of the season.

The Venom were well-led by Mackenzie Holmes in their win, as she top scored for 30 points on 12/17 shooting to go with 16 rebounds in a monster performance. She combined well with Shyla Heal, who returned from injury to drop 25 points of her own and add a strong dimension to Geelong’s offensive structure.

Despite the loss, the Fire were able to still have some key contributors on the glass, with both Chantel Horvat (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Alicia Froling (10 points, 10 rebounds) both producing double-doubles in trying circumstances.