Flames and Heat Brace for a Familiar Foe

The Townsville Flames will have to overcome a Northside Wizards led by Townsville Fire and Australian Opals star Courtney Woods at ‘The Furnace’ on Saturday night.

Woods has become a fan favourite in Townsville for her heroics with the Fire in the WNBL, including helping deliver the 2023 title, while the prolific scorer also helped guide the Flames to the NBL1 North championship in 2022.

Flames skipper Harriet Carey was a young up-and-comer on that 2022 title side and she said her team must do their best to limit Woods as Townsville try to snap a two-game losing run.

“They’ve got a great guard in Courtney, she’s an Opals representative now and is just such an amazing person and player,” Carey said.

“She's very talented, is a great shooter, great driver, gets to the rim, and just plays patient and at her own pace. We need to just throw everything we have at her and do everything we can to limit her.

“We’ve all been working hard and putting up extra shots this week. After a few unfortunate losses we all have a bit more fire in the belly which is what we need leading into this game.”

While the 3-5 Flames are hoping to snap back to winning ways their male counterparts the 4-4 Heat are hoping to score back-to-back victories for the first time since Round 2.

Import shooting guard Grant Teichmann stressed the importance of building on their last start win over Southern Districts when they battle a Wizards side one spot below them on the ladder.

‘It was obviously really nice to get back in the win column and in sports momentum is a huge thing,” the American sharpshooter said.

“Once you're winning and once you're having success, there's a lot less hesitation on the court and things start to roll again.

“Northside are a good team, the teams they've lost to are at the top of the table, so they definitely pose a few threats.”

The Flames host the Wizards at Carmichael Ford Stadium form 6pm tonight, before the men’s game at 8pm, with tickets available on the door.