IN A true statement to the remainder of the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL), the Southside Flyers put an end to the Townsville Fire‘s unbeaten run to start the 2025/26 season, claiming a six-point triumph.

The Flyers hosted the Fire at the VIC State Basketball Centre, faced with a tall order as Townsville had started the season with two wins and no losses, looking for revenge after being bested by the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL Finals last year.

In a see-sawing affair on Friday night, it was the Flyers who successfully defended home court by delivering down the stretch – courtesy of a clutch Cayla George performance – to emerge 89-83 winners.

Southside Flyers (89) def. Townsville Fire (83)

The Fire had a red-hot start to the match to continue where they left off from their first two wins with a 9-2 run to open proceedings. However, the Flyers settled from there, relying on their established campaigners to steady the ship and the home side ended up taking control of the contest to lead by five points at the first change.

Southside put an emphasis on defensive pressure in the second frame, forcing errors from the Fire and ensuring Townsville’s shots were a lot tougher than previous weeks. It resulted in an inaccurate performance from the visitors, but their sheer star power shone through to ensure it was still game on, as the Fire’s big names shot the team into a two-point buffer at the main change.

The third quarter saw plenty of back and forth action, with five lead changes reflective of the close nature of the game. The Fire were facing a true test to their standing at the top of the ladder, and the Flyers were putting together their best performance of the first three rounds. At the final break, the Flyers had retaken the lead and led by five points with 10 minutes to play.

It was a high-scoring final frame, and despite trailing by nine points at one stage, the Fire were able to claw their way back into the contest in the final minutes of the match. However, George took over with the game on the line, nailing a clutch three-pointer before icing the game from the charity stripe to lead Southside to a gutsy win over a heavyweight team of the WNBL.

George nailed six triples en route to finishing the match with a huge double-double of 26 points and 12 boards in what was a game-defining performance from the Flyers captain, while fellow star Maddison Rocci was also crucial to the result, posting 22 points and five boards on an efficient 8/10 shooting from the field.

Despite the loss, Fire superstar Courtney Woods was immense and almost dragged her side to victory, ending the contest with 23 points, three rebounds, nine assists and four steals. She was huge in getting the Fire back into the fight after the Flyers began to take control, and did all she could to keep her side’s unbeaten run alive.