First blood goes to Fire

THE Townsville Fire are one win away from a third WNBL championship in four years after defeating the Melbourne Boomers 69-64 in the opening game of the grand final series last night.

The home side broke open a tight contest by outscoring Melbourne 17-10 in the third quarter and finished the job in the final term in front of a packed house at Townsville Stadium.

The Boomers closed the gap to one point early in the fourth quarter but could not find a third scoring option beyond Liz Cambage and Jenna O’Hea and could only connect on 3of-23 shots from long range.

The Boomers need to win game two of the best-of-three series at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne on Thursday night to set up a deciding game three in Townsville.