On-fire Fire fires Fire's furious first-quarter flourish

• ‍Every WNBL27 roster, squad list and projected depth chart
• Every injured WNBL player, with expected return dates
• WNBL fixture 2026-27: every WNBL27 game, time and how to watch

Townsville Fire's American guard Lauren Jensen scored 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three and 1-for-1 at the line, plus a defensive rebound and a steal in the first quarter.

Geelong scored 17 points in the first quarter on 6-for-14 from the field, including 1-for-3 from three, 4-for-4 at the line, six rebounds, three assists, a steal and 4 turnovers.

The 25-year-old, out of Creighton in NCAA Division I, propelled the reigning premiers to a 29-17 lead at the first break, which ended in an 80-67 WNBL27 Round 4 win on the road at Microkeeper Arena on Thursday, November 5, 2026.

"Honestly, I just go out there and take the shots that are given to me," Jensen said.

"Woody and Abby and our posts do a great job of finding the open player, and that's happened to be me the past few games.

"I definitely feel like I'm starting to get my footing a bit.

"It took me a little bit to get comfy, but we've had a lot of time to get going here with the schedule that we've had.

"I definitely feel like I'm starting to get a rhythm.

"We're really excited. We never like having players out, so it's fun for them to start getting back out there on the court.

"It was really fun to see Chloe (Forster) out there today and to just get some more depth and not have to play super-high minutes."

Jensen finished with 23 points (9-for-13) in 34:37 minutes without a turnover.

The Fire moved to 4-2 while the Venom are 2-3. Fire coach Shannon Seebohm is expecting WNBA champion Miela Sowah back this weekend, while Venom head coach Cheryl Chambers welcomed star guard Maddy Rocci back from a foot injury. Backcourt running mate Bec Cole is still out.

WNBL26 Grand Final MVP Courtney Woods is flat-out carrying the load for the Fire and, after six games, has emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate.

She's averaging 20 points, 7.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 2.17 steals and was on triple-double watch against the Venom: 22 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

"I don't know. Honestly, I don't even know. I don't really look at that stuff," Seebohm answered when asked if he was aware of how close Woods was to a triple-double.

"My assistants look at the stat sheets and everything during the game and tell me what I need to know. I don't even really look at that sort of stuff.

"We'll have a bit of a look at halftime, and then she's always on track.

"But honestly, mate, I think in our team it'd be great to see her get one. She's pretty close, but I think we'd rather just walk off the floor with a win than someone having a huge individual game and things like that.

"It's always fun to see those things happen.

"But I think, Woody, I mean, I think everyone could not argue now, she's probably, if not the best, one of the best players in the league in terms of her all-around offensive output.

"I'm sure she'll get a couple of triple-doubles this year at some point."

Rocci, 28, came off the bench and played 12 restricted minutes.

"It was good to be back," she said.

"I'm not someone that likes to sit on the sidelines. So, I was riding every wave when I was sitting and watching the girls.

"But yeah, it's great to be back out there. Obviously, I was a little bit flat, that I couldn't probably contribute as much because I was on limited minutes, but I just tried to do everything I possibly could have when I was out there for that 12 minutes.

"And I think that there was definitely moments in the game that showed that we are capable of competing with the reigning champions."

Chinese superstar Han Xu led all scorers with 25 points on 10-for-22 from the field, including 5-for-10 from behind the arc. Chambers said the Venom were still learning how to maximise her effectiveness.

"The more we play with Han, the better we will get at those double teams, and I thought we were pretty good," she said.

"They stopped the double teams in the end. So, I guess, you know, we must have scored a little bit out of them, and we're still getting used to playing with Han. So, it is a bit of a work in progress.

"I think the physicality that Han gets is something, you know, we need to look at how we work with that.

"Sometimes two hands in the back is called, and sometimes it's not. So, we got to try and teach Han when to stay and fight that and when to get out and do something a bit different.

"So it is a bit of a work of trying to figure out how she plays and depending on the physicality of the game."

What you need to know

• The Townsville Fire beat the Geelong Venom 80-67 at Microkeeper Arena in Geelong on Thursday, November 5 in Round 4 of WNBL27, a third straight win that lifts the Fire to 4-2 and leaves Geelong 2-3.
• Townsville led from the first basket, winning the first quarter 29-17. Geelong took the second 16-12 to trail 41-33 at half-time, but the Fire won the third 22-17, pushed the lead to 24 at 74-50 with 6:53 left, and the fourth finished level at 17-17.
• Han Xu top-scored with 25 points for Geelong on 10-from-22, including 5-from-10 from three, while Lauren Jensen led Townsville with 23 on 9-from-13 and Courtney Woods had 22 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
• The game was won inside the arc. Townsville made 24-from-41 twos to Geelong's 15-from-42, an 18-point edge in a 13-point game, which more than covered Geelong's 11 threes to seven.
• Townsville won the rebounds 45-33, with 12 offensive boards to nine, and went to the line 14 times to Geelong's four, while Geelong had 18 assists to 14 and 10 steals to six.

Townsville Fire

• Lauren Jensen top-scored for Townsville with 23 points on 9-from-13, including 3-from-7 from three and 2-from-2 at the line, without a turnover in 35 minutes.
• Courtney Woods had 22 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on 8-from-18, including 5-from-6 at the line, with three steals and seven turnovers.
• Abbey Ellis had 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists on 5-from-14, including 2-from-8 from three.
• Alex Fowler had 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks on 5-from-12 in 39 minutes, with three of her rebounds at the offensive end.
• Alicia Froling had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks on 4-from-6, with three offensive rebounds.
• Bree Stephens had a rebound and an assist in 11 minutes off the bench, missing her only shot from three.
• Chloe Forster had two offensive rebounds in eight minutes off the bench, going 0-from-3 from three.
• Townsville shot 31-from-67 from the field, 7-from-26 from three and 11-from-14 at the line, with 45 rebounds, 14 assists and 15 turnovers.

Geelong Venom

• Han Xu top-scored with 25 points on 10-from-22, including 5-from-10 from three, with four rebounds, a steal and a block.
• Lilly Rotunno had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals on 3-from-6, including 2-from-2 at the line.
• Indiah Bowyer had seven points and two assists on 2-from-7, including 1-from-3 from three, in 22 minutes.
• Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard scored six points, both of her makes from three on 2-from-3, with three assists, going 2-from-7 overall.
• Wanglai Zhang had five points, five assists and four rebounds off the bench on 2-from-6.
• Dakota Crichton scored five off the bench on 2-from-5, including 1-from-3 from three.
• Maddy Rocci had four points, three rebounds and two assists on 2-from-3 in 12 minutes off the bench, in her first WNBL27 game since October 15.
• Geelong shot 26-from-70 from the field, 11-from-28 from three and 4-from-4 at the line, with 33 rebounds, 18 assists and 14 turnovers.