GAME PREVIEW: Caps look to continue playoff push in crucial match in Townsville

January 16, 2025 | UC Capitals news

 

The Capitals will look to continue their red-hot start to 2025 when they take on the Townsville Fire in a mouthwatering contest this Saturday. A strong performance against Adelaide in front of a buzzing home crowd extended the team’s winning streak to three games, while also leaving the side undefeated this calendar year. 

The win against the Lightning on Saturday night was spearheaded by a brilliant performance by Nyadiew Puoch, who scored a WNBL career-high 27 points at 55% shooting, including two threes. 

Charli Collier was also a strong contributor, contributing 19 points and 10 rebounds within her double double, including some clutch points down the stretch in the fourth quarter. 

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 21: Jade Melbourne of the Capitals gets past Abbey Ellis of the Fire during the round eight WNBL match between Townsville Fire and Canberra Capitals at Townsville Entertainment Centre, on December 21, 2024, in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Captain Jade Melbourne also continued her fantastic stretch of form, recording a season high 12 rebounds to go with 11 points and three steals.  

The win capped off a celebratory night at the AIS, headlined by Retro retro style jerseys and the return of Abby Bishop. 

The team now turns its attention to a crucial match against the Townsville Fire, who themselves are in fantastic form, winning five of their last six. After back-to-back wins against the Southside Flyers in their last two matches the Fire find themselves sitting in third position on the ladder.  

The season series between the two sides currently sits at 1-1. In November last year, the capitals Capitals prevailed in a physical, and tense clash, winning 81-80 with Jade Melbourne leading the way.  

However, it will be the Capitals looking to make amends this time around, following a poor showing in Townsville last December, where they went down 81-45 48 against the much-improved Fire. 

Breaking down the impressive Townsville defence will be a big focus for the Capitals. The Fire are statistically the best defence in the league, conceding the lowest amount of points this season. Forward Lauren Cox is one of the main catalysts for the Fire’s strong defence. Cox is 2nd in the WNBL for blocks per game with 3.2. She is also coming off a powerful dominant performance against the Flyers where she recorded 25 points and 3 three-pointers, both season highs. 

Cox was well supported by guard Courtney Woods, who put up 17 points, continuing her impressive season in which she has averaged 15.4 points per gameon the floor. 

Head coach Paul Gorris Goriss acknowledged the challenge of playing Townsville, highlighting the great opportunity for the Capitals. 

“They’re playing really well, and they are tough to play at home. They are always a well-coached team. Being able to test ourselves against a top three team and see how far we’ve come, especially given how we are playing, I think is a great test heading up there.” said Gorris. 

The Fire have also added WNBA veteran Nia Coffey, who Goriss has coached for the past three seasons with the Atlanta Dream. The versatile forward brings additional toughness and depth to the already dangerous Fire frontcourt 

With this in mind, Gorris also suggested greater minutes for the returning Abby Bishop in conjunction with Charli Collier to counter the Fire’s strong front court. 

“Definitely a bigger role for Bish against Townsville just because of their size. When they play Froling and Cox together, that’s a big lineup so we can throw Charli and Bish in there together and that’ll be maybe some of the plan that we do.” 

The game against the Fire also takes on greater importance for Indiah Bowyer, who returns to her hometown to play in front of her family. 

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 21: Indiah Bowyer of the Capitals dttbduring the round eight WNBL match between Townsville Fire and Canberra Capitals at Townsville Entertainment Centre, on December 21, 2024, in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“It’s a lot of familiar faces up there. I love Townsville, it has a special place in my heart, so I definitely always want to go there and give it a crack.” 

Bowyer has made crucial contributions to the team in recent weeks with coach Gorris crediting her with being a great asset on both ends of the floor. Bowyer herself says that focusing on her own confidence has led to her strong output in the new year. 

“(I’ve been) focusing on my confidence and doing what I can do on court to help the team, and I think that just helps me get out of my shell a little bit. Just giving 120%, is something that we’ve focused on as a team.” 

A win against Townsville puts the Capitals into a great position to push their case for a finals berth, with six games left in the regular season.