Minor premiers Bendigo displayed heroic stamina in a weekend of high-powered action between the three Victorian WNBL clubs, but Townsville's Suzy Batkovic was simply titanic.
The top three teams played each other over three days with Bendigo (21-2) scoring an 85-67 win at second-placed Dandenong (16-7) on Saturday.
Backing up at home less than 18 hours later without the injured Elyse Penalauna and Andrea Wilson, Bendigo powered to an 88-80 double overtime victory over Melbourne (14-8).
The Boomers eked out an 85-84 home win over Dandenong on Friday, but dropped from third to fourth behind Townsville (15-8).
However, Melbourne can regain third spot in next week's final round if they win at Logan and Townsville.
Opals centre Batkovic inflicted plenty of pain on two of her former clubs as she steered Townsville to two road wins with a pair of remarkable performances.
She piled up 31 points and 17 rebounds in the 87-71 win over Sydney (9-14) on Friday and helped herself to 36 points, 13 rebounds and four steals in a 90-68 victory over Canberra (9-14) on Sunday.
The bigs were also prominent in Bendigo's brace of wins.
WNBA forward Kelsey Griffin scored 20 against Dandenong who were outscored 30-13 in the second quarter and outrebounded 39-26 by the Spirit.
It was Bendigo's ninth straight win over the Rangers.
On Sunday, Bendigo's deep frontcourt came to the fore again, as they rebounded to win after trailing at the end of each quarter.
Griffin tallied 24 points and 17 rebounds, Gabrielle Richards 20 points and 21 boards and Sara Blicavs chipped in with 19 points.
Melbourne were smashed 55-31 on the boards, while veteran guard Kristi Harrower accumulated 19 assists for Bendigo.
On Friday, the Boomers' Tess Madgen scored 27, nailing the the late match-clinching basket against Dandenong.
For Dandenong, Jenna O'Hea, who missed the Bendigo game, scored 32 and Leilani Phillips contributed 16 points and 10 assists.
Sydney's star guard Katie-Rae Ebzery followed up 28 in the loss to Townsville, by scoring 15 of her 18 points in the last quarter of Sunday's 71-54 win at Logan (6-16).
In-form Laura Hodges achieved match-high tallies of 22 points and 13 rebounds as Adelaide (11-12) won 70-57 at West Coast Waves (1-21), who were held to just 13 points in the middle two quarters on the way to suffering a 21st straight defeat.
