Second quarter slip costs Venom against Fire

A SECOND-quarter lapse has seen the Geelong Venom go down to Townsville at home on Friday last week in the WNBL.

The Venom beat the Fire in a shock road upset on Mondayer last week but were unable to make it two wins in a row, losing 91-67.

In extremely hot conditions at the Geelong Arena, both sides traded buckets in the opening quarter, with Geelong finishing the term on top by one point thanks to a fast finish by Lilly Rotunno.

Townsville started the second quarter with nine straight points and continued to push from there, outscoring the Venom by 19 points to take an 18-point lead into the main break.

The second half was again neck and neck, but the home side could not claw back from their slow second term to eventually go down by 24 points.

Mackenzie Holmes again did her MVP chances no harm, scoring 15 points and adding 11 rebounds to secure her ninth double-double of the season.

Rotunno and fellow guard Shyla Heal also added 15 points each.

“I’m really disappointed because in the first quarter we shifted the ball, did the things we did the other night,” Venom coach Chris Lucas said.

“Then we sped up and the ball stuck a little bit more. In the second quarter we allowed them to score 34 points.”

For the Fire, Australian Opals duo Miela Sowah led the way with 22 and 20 points respectively.

We had a much better mindset and a better approach today. The other night was just a bit of a weird game all around,” Townsville coach Shannon Seebohm said.

“I’m hoping by [finals] time we’ll be exposed to everything, so hopefully nothing shocks us too much.

“The trick now is to be consistent.”

The loss puts Geelong at the bottom of the ladder with their 4-14 record, as the end of the home and away season nears.

The Venom have an opportunity to bounce back when they travel to Perth for the 2026 edition of HoopsFest, the basketball extravaganza that sees every WNBL and NBL team play matches in Western Australia.

They will face the 6-12 Sydney at RAC Arena tonight (Friday, (January 16) at 7pm. – WITH AAP