Fire Woods makes 'Swift' work of Jade's Bendigo Spirit

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“Shake it off” was WNBL26 Grand Final MVP Courtney Woods’ message coming into the 2025 championship rematch between the Townsville Fire and Bendigo Spirit – both without their WNBA Finals stars – in Round 2 of WNBL27 in Bendigo on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

The defending champs were put to the sword 90-77 by Renae Garlepp’s 4-0 Sydney Flames at home on Sunday but made (Taylor) “Swift” work of the Spirit 91-68 at Red Energy Arena.

In less than two days, Townsville Fire’s Miela Sowah could be a WNBA champion with the Golden State Valkyries, while Bendigo’s reigning MVP Isobel Borlase could force a Game 7 with the Atlanta Dream. Game 6 is at State Farm Arena in Atlanta at 3:30am AEDT on Friday, October 30.

Woods, 29, stopped short of saying she was a “Swiftie”, but the world-famous singer’s playlist is now a road superstition.

“I listen to the same playlist every time we fly,” she said.

“I feel like it’s a bit superstitious now. It’s literally the Taylor Swift calm and relaxing playlist because I feel like I’ve listened to it every time and we’ve never crashed.

“I’m like, ‘OK, I’m just going to keep…” I can’t not listen to it, just in case. You know what I mean?

“They actually are very calm Taylor Swift songs. Every time we take off, that playlist gets cracked on. So far, so good.”

Woods, who passed 1500 career points with a three with 6:37 left in the third, poured in a game-high and season-high 27, seven assists, and six rebounds on 11-for-15 shooting, including 5-for-7 from three.

She conceded it historically took “a couple of games” for her to assume her “Umbrella” role in head coach Shannon Seebohm’s system.

“I feel like the last couple of years, it usually does take me a couple of games to remember what the team needs me to do,” Woods said.

“Sometimes I try a little bit too hard at some things.

“I went into today having had three games and a lot of film, just being reminded that my main role on this team is to create for other people and be aggressive on offence, and if that’s taken away, to find open people. When I’m doing that, that’s when we’re at our best.

“It usually does take me a couple of games to get back into the groove of that. Hopefully, from now on I’m back in that mode. Obviously, there are some big games and some little games, but consistently making good reads will hopefully be every single game from now on.”

Townsville are 2-2 in their title defence as 0-2 Bendigo’s head coach Kennedy Kereama waits for his Seattle Storm and Dream backcourt to play their first game together.

Australian Opals and Storm point guard Jade Melbourne, 23, signed with the Spirit in the offseason with some recruiting help from Borlase. She did it all against the Fire, finishing with 19 points, a game-high eight assists, and six rebounds on 7-for-15 shooting, including 4-for-6 at the line.

Despite that box score, Melbourne said: “I’ll take a little bit of accountability on my own. I needed to come to two feet and not rush my finishes.

“Not taking physicality well, falling on the ground and then allowing some easy kick-aheads in transition – that’s a growth area for me. I need to make sure I can convert them so it’s not four-on-five in transition because I’m falling out of bounds or sitting with the fans in the first row.

“That’s definitely something I can take accountability for, and I think I got better at it in the second half. If we can see a couple of those layups go in and set the tone at that pace, I think we can be better.

“It’s been unbelievable fitting in with this group. I love playing with them. I’ve always admired the way Bendigo played, so to finally be a part of the program is super special.

“I’m still finding my feet, but my teammates have made it easy for me to just be me and go do my thing. I’m excited to keep learning with this group.”

The Fire seized control in the second and third quarters, outscoring the home team 48-27 to lead by as many as 27 midway through the fourth quarter.

“We really just wanted to have some cohesion and a resemblance of what we were trying to do,” Woods said.

“I don’t think we had a super complicated game plan. We just went in today really trying to get that feel back of ourselves and have that little bit more energy and cohesion and get a bit of momentum.

“Throughout the last couple of games, we’ve just had no momentum as a team.

“Abbey (Ellis) does a great job. Abbey plays a lot of minutes. I played a little bit of point guard in preseason, and it was the hardest two weeks of my life, so I have so much respect for her.

“She dogs the ball full court, she brings the ball up for us, and she is the heart and soul of our team, especially from the energy point of view.

“She does a great job every single night of trying to get everyone going. She’s a big part of what we do.”

Melbourne said she saw the signs early, admitting the Spirit didn’t lock down on the defensive side of the ball from the opening tip.

“It definitely started in the first quarter,” she said.

“We allowed them to get out in transition, which then allowed them to see the ball go through the hoop early. It was a bit of a shootout in the first quarter for a little bit there.

“When you’re getting wide-open looks because we’re not doing our best to rotate or we’re giving up middle penetration, then it’s kick, kick, extra. That’s Townsville’s game plan, and that’s what we didn’t take away today. We needed to take them out of that a lot earlier.

“When you see a few go in, the rim becomes a hula hoop, and that’s what they were able to do today. We need to be on top of our rotations and take pride in taking care of the coverage and the action at the time. Then we’ll be able to get out to those shooters a lot quicker.

“We’ll work on it, and we’ll get better for it, but it stings to see them shoot so well because of our lack of defensive execution.”

What you need to know

• The Townsville Fire beat the Bendigo Spirit 91-68 at Red Energy Arena in Round 2 of WNBL27 on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, to move to 2-2. Bendigo are 0-2.
• Townsville won the first three quarters, 29-25, 22-13 and 26-14, to lead 51-38 at half-time and 77-52 at the last change. Bendigo won the fourth 16-14.
• Courtney Woods top-scored with a season-high 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds on 11-from-15, and Kelsey Rees led Bendigo with 20 off the bench on 7-from-15.
• The game turned at the three-point line. Townsville made 17 of 42 from deep and Bendigo nine of 28, a 24-point gap in a 23-point game, with Woods and Lauren Jensen combining for 11 of Townsville's threes.
• Bendigo played without veteran centre Marianna Tolo, ruled out on game day with an Achilles injury, shot 25-from-67 from the field and turned the ball over 12 times to Townsville's seven.

Milestones & Moments

• Courtney Woods passed 1,500 career WNBL points. She started the game on 1,484 and finished on 1,511, in her 129th WNBL game.
• Kelsey Rees scored a WNBL career-high 20 points, four more than her previous best of 16.
• Olivia Pollerd's nine rebounds were a WNBL career high, one more than her previous best.
• Jade Melbourne and Casey Samuels both finished on 492 career WNBL rebounds, eight short of 500.

Townsville Fire

• Courtney Woods top-scored with a season-high 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds on 11-from-15, including 5-from-7 from three.
• Lauren Jensen scored 22 on 7-from-14, including 6-from-12 from three, and did not turn the ball over in 37 minutes.
• Alex Fowler had 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 6-from-13, including 6-from-6 at the line.
• Abbey Ellis scored 14 with seven assists, all four of her field goals coming from three on 4-from-12.
• Marie Gülich added five points and four rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.
• Alicia Froling pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, with two points and a block.
• Catelyn Van Es scored two points in 69 seconds off the bench.
• Townsville shot 30-from-70 from the field, 17-from-42 from three and 14-from-19 at the line, with 43 rebounds, 24 assists and seven turnovers.

Bendigo Spirit

• Kelsey Rees top-scored with 20 points and six rebounds off the bench on 7-from-15, including 3-from-6 from three.
• Jade Melbourne added 19 points, a game-high eight assists and six rebounds on 7-from-15, including 4-from-6 at the line.
• Olivia Pollerd scored 14 with nine rebounds on 6-from-12, including 2-from-6 from three.
• Abigail Wehrung had eight points on 3-from-6, making two of her three attempts from three.
• Kelsey Griffin pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and scored three on 1-from-10.
• Casey Samuels had two points, three rebounds and a steal in 22 minutes, going 0-from-3 from three.
• Kelly Wilson played 20 minutes off the bench for two rebounds and an assist, missing both her shots.
• Bendigo shot 25-from-67 from the field, 9-from-28 from three and 9-from-12 at the line, with 43 rebounds, 15 assists and 12 turnovers.