Townsville Fire won Queensland's first WNBL title and gave captain Rachael McCully the fairytale finish she craved, with a 75-65 home grand final win over Bendigo on Sunday.
It was sweet revenge for Townsville who had lost the last two season deciders at Bendigo and a perfect ending for veteran guard McCully, who logged a match-high nine assists in her final game before retiring.
Game MVP Mia Newley notched a personal season-high 23 points and Suzy Batkovic scored 22, as Townsville took control of the game with a decisive 12-4 run into halftime.
Newley also did a great job defensively after she was moved onto Bendigo's top scorer Belinda Snell, who scorched the Fire with 12 first quarter points but didn't add to her halftime tally of 17.
Bendigo shot to an early 10-2 lead, but the Fire worked their way back into the game and trailed by just two at the first change.
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With the game locked at 35-35 in the second quarter, Townsville cranked up their defence and Bendigo missed nine of their last 11 shots in the period, as the Fire established a 47-39 halftime advantage.
The Fire never subsequently led by less than six as Bendigo remained ice cold offensively in the second half.
"Going into halftime we had a bit of a momentum swing go our way and we've been known to come out pretty hard in the third quarter and we just needed to make sure that we did that again," Fire forward Cayla Francis told AAP.
Opals star Francis has had a huge season, but said she wasn't sure if she would return to Townsville after playing with Phoenix in the coming WNBA campaign.
"I've got a few decisions to make the next week or so, I just wanted to get this game out of the way first," Francis said.
Townsville settled the contest with a 8-0 start to the final quarter, as Bendigo took almost four minutes to score.
"I think shooting percentage and the turnovers and the foul shots they had were the three keys to the game," said Bendigo coach Bernie Harrower, who revealed after the match that his position was being advertised for next season.
"I was really rapt with our effort level stuff today, but we struggled offensively. Defensively, they were very good and they certainly deserved the win."
