North Finals | Woods stars as Flames win a thriller

Courtney Woods set the tone with 18 first quarter points and 42 for the game but the opening night of the NBL1 North finals still went to the death before the Townsville Flames held out the Southern Districts Spartans 85-83 to advance.

The finals got underway on Friday night at Carmichael Ford Stadium in Townsville with the season of both teams going on the line with the Flames having finished the regular season third and the Spartans sixth but both on identical 11-5 records.

Townsville did lose at the same stage to Cairns last year while Southern Districts lost the Grand Final last year so one of the teams was going to be decidedly disappointed to lose straight away as the 2026 playoffs got underway.

The Flames made the fast start on their home floor with an 11-0 run and even with the 18 points from Courtney Woods, they only managed to lead 21-15 by quarter-time.

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Southern Districts managed 19 points to 11 in the second quarter to go into half-time with the 34-32 lead with Mikayla Cowling having 14 points while Woods was up to 25 out of the 32 for Townsville in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams were struggling offensively with Southern Districts only shooting 41 per cent from the field and 3/14 from the outside with Townsville going 39 per cent and 4/17 – but 0/11 from everyone not named Woods.

The scoring picked up from both teams in the third quarter but Townsville worked on top with 33 points with 14 of those again from Woods as they shot 10/20 from the field and 3/8 from downtown, but did a lot of the damage with 11/12 at the foul line.

Southern Districts did have 25 points in the term with 11/16 shooting but they did cough up four offensive rebounds to Townsville and had five turnovers themselves.

The Spartans picked up the momentum in the fourth quarter with Cowling putting them in front with seven minutes to go before a three-point play from Hayley McDowell-White extended their lead to four.

It was a Chailee Ward triple that returned Townsville to the lead before she hit another soon after to stretch the lead to seven and Mia Murray scored from the outside as well for the Flames to be up by eight with 3:45 to go.

The Spartans kept on coming and got back within two when Jess McDowell-White hit a three with just over a minute to play, but in the end that would prove the last score of the game with a steal from Ward on Jess McDowell-White pivotal for Townsville to win by two.

The Flames now will take on the Cairns Dolphins next week for a spot in the Grand Final with Courtney Woods starting on fire with those 18 points in the first quarter and another 14 in the third.

She finished the night with 42 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals with 15/24 shooting from the field, 5/8 from the outside and 7/7 from the foul line.

Ella Tofaeono added 15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, Mia Murray 13 points, six boards, two assists and two steals, and Chailee Ward 13 points, three assists and two steals with 4/12 shooting from downtown.

That's the season over for the Spartans after making last year's Grand Final and winning Game 1 against Logan Thunder with Mikayla Cowling finishing with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Hayley McDowell-White added 20 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Jess McDowell-White 17 points, six assists, three boards and two steals.

As a result of the win, Townsville now heads to Cairns to take on the Dolphins next Saturday night with a place in the Grand Final on the line for 2026.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | QUALIFYING FINAL

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 85 (Woods 42, Tofaeono 15, Murray 13, Ward 13)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 83 (Cowling 23, H McDowell-White 20, J McDowell-White 17)