The incredible journey by Courtney Woods to reach 100 WNBL games with Townsville Fire and earn selection in the 2024/25 All-WNBL First Team

Writing and photographs by Dean Andrews

On Wednesday 26 February Townsville Fire co-captain Courtney Woods reached 100 Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) games in the club’s 106-76 semi final game 2 victory against Perth Lynx at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. The Fire defeated Perth two games to nil in the semi final to progress to the Grand Final against minor premiers, Bendigo Spirit. Woods made her WNBL debut for Townsville Fire on 11 November 2020 in Mackay and reached the milestone of 100 WNBL games late in her fifth season in the league, playing 100 of a possible 104 games for the Fire.

Woods achieved the rare feat of playing her first 100 WNBL games for the club she made her league debut with. Only three players that played in the WNBL in 2024/25 are in this category with Woods being joined by two players that are on the opposition Bendigo Spirit team in the 2024/25 Grand Final, Kelsey Griffin and Sami Whitcomb. Griffin played the first 121 games of her WNBL career for Bendigo Spirit from 2012/13 to 2017/18. Whitcomb played her first 117 WNBL games for Perth Lynx from 2015/16 to 2022/23. On 11 February 2025 Townsville Fire announced that Woods had signed with the club for the next two seasons until the end of the 2026/27 WNBL season. It is very likely that Woods will surpass Griffin’s tally of playing the first 121 games of her career with the team she made her league debut with. If Woods maintains her excellent durability and Townsville make the finals it is possible that Woody will reach 150 WNBL games late in the 2026/27 season.

Woods grew up in Brisbane and at eight years of age started playing junior basketball for the Northside Wizards, a club she later represented at senior level with distinction in NBL1 North. Woods represented Queensland at several junior National Championships. From 2015/16 to 2019/20 Woods played five seasons of college basketball for Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Woods was selected in the 2019/20 All-MAC First team and finished her college career as Northern Illinois’ all-time leader for three-pointers made (323) and games played.

2024/25 is the third season that Woods has been a member of a Townsville Fire team that made the WNBL Grand Final, however Woods has significantly more responsibility this season than in 2020 and 2022/23 when she was commencing games on the bench for the Fire. In the past 24 months Woods has taken her game to another stratosphere to be not just one of the top five players on Townsville’s team but one of the top five players in the entire WNBL, earning selection in the 2024/25 All-WNBL First Team. During the 2024/25 regular season Townsville co-captain Woods ranked fourth in the league in scoring with 16.3 points per game and second with 5.7 assists per game, a 228% improvement on her previous WNBL career-high of 2.5 assists per game in 2023/24. In 2023/2024 Woods achieved the very rare feat of having a 50/40/90 shooting season, having the following shooting accuracy, 51.7% from the field, 40.7% for three-pointers and 90.8% for free throws.

Throughout Woody’s entire WNBL career at Townsville Fire Shannon Seebohm has been the club’s Head Coach. At the press conference following Townsville’s road victory against the Southside Flyers on 31 January 2025 I asked Seebohm “You were talking about Courtney Woods and the assists, she had another six assists tonight, she is averaging six assists for the season, ranked second. Can you just talk a little bit about her development, it has been amazing, she has gone from a role player to now be an absolute star of the competition.” Seebohm responded “Credit goes to Courtney, she has really committed herself. I think she came back from college, she had a really good college career and got to the WNBL and honestly, I hope she doesn’t mind me saying this she had no idea what it was going to take to make it at this level. It is a totally different level (to college) and to her credit she has gone from her first year she barely played, her second year she has played sparingly and earnt opportunities later in the season. Then she became a really important role player for us. Last year she started 15 games for us and if you went off any of the metrics they use in the NBA she was the MVP of the league and we were the number one team in the league. She has really blossomed into not just a scoring player now, a well rounded player and she is constantly trying to find things to improve on, her defense, as I said this season her playmaking ability to read not just when to score but when to find open teammates and she has done that really well. She is a really important cog for our team and I think that now that everyone is starting to get on the same page we don’t just have her and Lauren Cox that are scoring now. We have always got five people or six people in double figures and a seventh and eighth sort of pushing that. Really proud of Courtney and I think she has turned into a phenomenal WNBL player.”

Of the nine players in Townsville’s 2024/25 Grand Final team that have averaged more than 10.0 minutes per game this season co-captain Woods is one of only two players along fellow guard Saffron Shiels that played for the club in 2023/24. Woods’ outstanding on-court performances throughout the 2024/25 season and the leadership she has provided to a new look Fire team were critical factors in the club progressing to the 2024/25 WNBL Grand Final against Bendigo Spirit. Against a far more experienced Bendigo Spirit team Townsville led 33-28 at half time in game 1 of the 2024/25 WNBL Grand Final at Red Energy Arena on Wednesday 5 March. The Spirit overran the Fire 42-27 in the second half to record a 70-60 victory. On Sunday 9 March at 2.00pm AEST Townsville Fire host game 2 of the 2024/25 WNBL Grand Final against Bendigo at the Townsville Entertainment Centre needing to win to keep their season alive. Townsville have demonstrated that they are able to make adjustments after suffering a loss against a quality opponent to record a victory in the next encounter between the two clubs. After suffering a one point loss to Perth Lynx in the final game of the 2024/25 regular season Townsville played brilliant team basketball to win the semi final series two games to nil against Perth to advance to the Grand Final. If Townville can level the Grand Final series at one game apiece Bendigo Spirit will host game 3 at Red Energy Arena on Wednesday 12 March.

Below Courtney Woods’ amazing basketball career is covered from juniors through to college basketball at Northern Illinois, playing in NBL1 and playing five WNBL seasons for Townsville Fire.

Early life, junior career and college career
Courtney Woods was born on 24 May 1997 and grew up in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland which is located on Australia’s east coast approximately 1,350 kilometres by road south east of Townsville. Courtney’s mum Dana Woods (nee Fish) played College basketball at the University of Idaho from 1980 to 1984 and in the WNBL for the Sutherland Sharks, based approximately 40 kilometres by road from Sydney.

In an article title “Huskie star builds family legacy” published by Northern Star on 22 March 2018 Dana commented on daughter Courtney’s introduction to basketball, saying “Because I played, my husband played and her older brother and sister played, she just grew up on the court,” Dana said. “[Courtney] definitely showed her love for the sport at an early age. She had an indoor hoop before she had an outdoor hoop and was already shooting at the age of 3.”1

Courtney first played junior basketball for the Northside Wizards at eight years of age. Woods attended St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Ascot, a suburb of Brisbane, was the basketball captain and with her Mum Dana as the coach Courtney was a member of two premiership winning seasons with the basketball team.

On Courtney’s basketball skills Dana told Northern Star “She has always been pretty good. She always liked [basketball] and always worked hard. She had good all-around skills, didn’t have any bad habits and just really loved the game. Courtney was the only kid that coach would have them run line sprints and she’d be smiling the whole time.”2

Woods played basketball for Queensland at several junior National Championships. At the 2015 Under 20 National Championships held in Dandenong, Victoria, Woods made a significant contribution for Queensland off the bench to average 16.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Courtney followed in her mother’s footsteps and after completing high school went to the United States to play College basketball. Woods played five seasons of college basketball for Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a guard/forward from 2015/16 to 2019/20. After having 11 starts in 30 games as a freshman in 2015/16 Woods started all 100 games that she played for the Huskies in her last four seasons at the University. After playing seven games in 2018/19 Woods suffered a knee injury which ended her season. In four consecutive seasons from 2016/17 to 2019/20 Woods averaged over 16.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. At Northern Illinois University Woods played 130 games including 111 starts, averaging 17.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game during her career. Woods was selected in the 2019/20 All-MAC First team and finished her college career as Northern Illinois’ all-time leader for three-pointers made (323) and games played. At Northern Illinois Woods completed a Bachelor of Health Science and a Masters in Sports Management.

Debut WNBL season with Townsville Fire in 2020
On 2 July 2020 Townsville Fire announced that the club had signed Woods for the next two WNBL seasons. Townsville Fire Head Coach Shannon Seebohm commented “I am excited to add a young talent like Courtney to our team for this season. She was a Queensland junior and has proven to be a tremendous scorer over the course of her college career. Her ability to shoot the ball is definitely going to add value to our team. I think she has a huge upside and am excited to coach her here in Townsville.”3
On joining North Queensland club Townsville, Woods commented “After 5 years of playing on the other side of the world, I am very excited to return home and be given the opportunity to begin my dream of being a professional basketball player in my home state. I made the easy decision to sign with Townsville because it felt like the perfect fit and provides me with the opportunity to learn from great coaches and players. I believe Townsville will provide me with the tools and support to make the jump from collegiate to professional basketball and I can’t wait to get started at my new home with my new team!”4

Due to the impact of COVID-19 the 2020 WNBL season had a very different structure to previous seasons and imports weren’t eligible to play in the league. All eight WNBL clubs were located in North Queensland for the duration of the 2020 WNBL season which was played at three locations, Townsville, Cairns and Mackay. The regular season was condensed to five rounds commencing 11 November and each team played 13 regular season games.

Townsville Fire’s starting line-up in 2020 was Australian Opals squad members Lauren Nicholson and Shyla Heal in the backcourt along with Mia Murray, Nadeen Payne and Megan McKay in the front-court. Three players in the core rotation averaged more than 15 minutes game time off the bench – point guard Steph Reid, power forward/centre Zitina Aokuso and shooting guard Kate Gaze. Woods and Lara McSpadden each played at least 11 games for Townsville in 2020 and averaged more than 7.0 minutes per game.

On 11 November 2020 Woods made her WNBL debut at 23 years of age for Townsville against Perth Lynx at McDonalds Mackay Multi Sports Stadium. On debut Woods scored six points in 13 minutes and 55 seconds court time in the Fire’s 73-48 victory.

During Townsville’s 95-66 victory against Adelaide Lightning on 11 December at Cairns Pop-Up Arena Woods was very efficient to make four of five three-pointers at an accuracy of 80% to score 12 points in 11 minutes and 46 seconds court time to make a significant impact off the bench.

Townsville finished second on the WNBL ladder in 2020 with nine wins and four losses, two wins behind minor premiers Southside Flyers. Townsville finished runners-up losing to the Southside flyers in the semi final and Grand Final. In between those games the Fire had a 65-62 preliminary final victory against the Melbourne Boomers at Townsville Stadium on 18 December. For the finals Seebohm shortened Townsville’s rotation and Woods played less than 150 seconds court time in total across the three finals comprised of 28 seconds in the semi final against Southside, no court time in the preliminary final win against the Boomers and two minutes and one second in the Grand Final against the Flyers.
In 2020 Woods played 14 of a possible 16 games for Townsville and averaged 6.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 11.8 minutes per game. Woods ranked seventh at Townsville for points per game and ninth for minutes. Woods shot proficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 56.9%, three-point accuracy of 51.6% and shot at 85.7% for free-throws. Among players that had at least 10 shot attempts Woods ranked fourth in the WNBL for field goal accuracy, third for three-point accuracy and ninth for free throw accuracy.

During the 2020 WNBL season Nicholson averaged 18.9 points, ranked second in the WNBL, was selected in the All-WNBL First Team and finished third in the Suzy Batkovic Medal and the league’s Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award. In a Courtney Woods reflects video published by Townsville Fire on 11 February 2025 Woods commented “I think coming in my biggest influence would probably be Lauren Nicholson. I think coming into the Fire I was 23, Loz was 27 and we had that hub year and she was absolutely incredible and I think just being able to watch and guard someone like that every day. I didn’t realise how good the WNBL was when I was in college and when I came back watching her and how talented and amazing she was I realise like OK, I need to get so much better if I am ever going to be on the court with these people. She was a massive eye-opener, just how hard she works (and) how professional she is.”

2021/22 WNBL season with Townsville Fire
Seven of the 10 players that averaged at least 7.0 minutes per game in 2020 for Townsville Fire suited up for the club again in 2021/22 with Woods being joined in this category by Nicholson, Reid, Payne, Aokuso, Murray and McSpadden. Townsville recruited American import duo, forward Monique Billings and point guard Sug Sutton. The Fire welcomed back 2015/16 Rachael Sporn medallist and former Townsville captain Micaela Cocks for her 10th season with the club after missing the 2020 hub season. For 2021/22 Townsville Fire appointed Nicholson and Murray as club co-captains. Early in the 2021/22 season Townsville’s full-strength starting line-up was Sutton and Nicholson in the back-court along with Murray, Billings and Aokuso in the front-court.

In Townsville’s first eight games of the 2021/22 WNBL season Woods played more than 10 minutes in a game only once, playing 12 minutes and 34 seconds in the Fire’s opening game of the season on the road against Adelaide Lightning on 11 December. Five times during this period Woods played less than five minutes court time and in another game she wasn’t given any court-time. In Woods’ first seven games for Townsville in 21/22 she scored a total of five points comprised of a three-pointer in a road game against the Melbourne Boomers on 22 January and two free throws in a New Years’ Eve home game against the UC Capitals.

Courtney was given more responsibility in the second half of the season, playing more than 10 minutes court time in each of the Fire’s last nine games of 2021/22. In each of Townsville’s four games from 6 to 19 February Woods played between 12 and 25 minutes court time. Woody scored at least four points in each of these games, culminating with 10 points and seven rebounds to set then season-highs in both categories playing 18 minutes and 43 seconds against the UC Capitals in a road game on 19 February.
A trio of players were starters for Townsville in every game they were available for during the 2021/22 season – shooting guard Nicholson, import point guard Sug Sutton and import forward Monique Billings. JCU Townsville Fire were hard hit by injuries in the back half of the season with Nicholson (ankle injury) and Sutton (back injury) both playing their final game for the season on 19 February whilst Billings (knee injury) made her last appearance for the season in the following game on 25 February. This resulted in Townsville being undermanned late in the season as in the last seven games of the season after February 12 this starting trio only played a total of six games between them comprised of three games for Billings, two games for Nicholson and one game for Sutton.

Townsville Fire team huddle before the game against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 February 2022

The upside to Townsville being undermanned late in the season was that two players – Woods and Reid thrived with increased opportunities. After commencing Townsville’s first 11 games of the 2020/21 season on the bench Woods relished being a starter for the Fire in a road game against the Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 February. Against the Boomers Woods made a team-high four three-pointers from nine attempts at an accuracy of 44.4%, scored a team-high 18 points, took four rebounds and made a game-high three steals playing a then season-high 28 minutes and 15 seconds court time. It was only the third time to that point of the season that Woods had scored more than five points in a game.

Courtney Woods shooting for Townsville Fire against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 February 2022

Woods made the most of her elevation into the Fire’s starting line-up to be Townsville’s leading scorer in four consecutive games from 25 February to 18 March, scoring at least 18 points in all four games. Against Adelaide in a road game on 5 March Woods made three of six three-pointers at 50%, scored 21 points, took five rebounds and made two steals. In a home game against the Southside Flyers at Townsville Stadium Woods scored a season-high 22 points, took eight rebounds and made four assists on 13 March.

On 18 March Woods registered a double-double comprised of 19 points and a season-high 11 rebounds in a home game against the Perth Lynx at Townsville Entertainment Centre. Woods shot efficiently to have an accuracy of 53.8% from the field, 50% from the three-point line and made an equal team-high two steals playing 39 minutes and 45 seconds court time in a 68-75 loss.

Townsville finished the 2021/22 regular season sixth on the ladder with seven wins and 10 losses. During 2021/22 Woods averaged 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.8 steals and 17.6 minutes court-time per game. Woody ranked fifth at Townsville for rebounds and steals, sixth in scoring, equal sixth in assists and ninth for minutes played per game.

Courtney Woods playing for Townsville Fire against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 25 February 2022

At Townsville Fire’s 2021/22 end of season presentation night Woods won two awards, the ‘Commitment to Excellence’ award and the ‘Players Player’ award. On receiving the awards Woods commented “I’m really honoured, I think something Shannon’s really instilled in me is kind of an obsession of getting better. So that’s what I think about every day and that’s what motivates me, is to try and be a better player than I was the day before.”5

2022/23 WNBL Championship winning season with Townsville
Townsville Fire announced on 29 April 2022 that Woods had signed a two year contract with the club until the end of the 2023/24 WNBL season. Townsville General Manager Sam Pascoe told WNBL Media “Courtney brings passion and excitement to the game; she is also remaining in Townsville for the off-season and will head up the clubs School Program, she has immersed herself in the community and truly understands the importance of the club, our fans and members.”6 On continuing her WNBL career with Townsville Woods said “I have absolutely loved my last two years with the Fire on and off the court and I am so excited and thankful to be signed for another two seasons.”7

Seebohm entered his fourth season as Townsville’s Head Coach in 2022/23, having commenced the role in 2019/20. Five players from Townsville’s 2020 WNBL team that made the Grand Final were playing their third consecutive season as teammates at the Fire in 2022/23 – guards Woods, Nicholson and Reid along with front-court duo Zitina Aokuso and Lara McSpadden. This continuity provided stability and familiarity for the organisation as a whole and Seebohm as coach.

Two players were recruited by the Fire from rival WNBL clubs in the off-season, power forward/centre Mikaela Ruef and guard Morgan Yaeger. Townsville recruited two imports with WNBA experience, American forward/centre Tianna Hawkins and British/American guard/forward Karlie Samuelson. Hawkins was a member of the Washington Mystics 2019 WNBA Championship winning team and had more than 250 games WNBA experience. On 26 August 2022 Townsville signed New Zealand guard Krystal Leger-Walker, finalising their 10 player main roster for the 2022/23 WNBL season.

JCU Townsville Fire team huddle before the game against Melbourne Boomers at the State Basketball Centre on 7 December 2022

Townsville Fire announced on 4 November 2022 that Nicholson had been appointed captain of the club in 2022/23 and that Reid and Ruef were vice captains. In Townsville Fire’s opening game of the 2022/23 Cygnett WNBL season against UC Capitals on Sunday 6 November at Townsville Entertainment Centre Reid and Nicholson started in the backcourt alongside frontcourt trio Ruef and imports Hawkins and Samuelson. All five Townsville season opener starters played at least 20 of a possible 25 games and averaged more than 27.5 minutes per game in 2022/23. Four players on Townsville’s 10 player main roster at the start of the season played at least 15 games for the club and averaged between 9.0 and 20.0 minutes per game – Woods, Aokuso, Leger-Walker and McSpadden. Injuries restricted main roster member Yaeger to two games.

Due to a foot injury Nicholson missed three consecutive games from 29 January to 4 February. Townsville’s starting point guard Reid missed three of Townsville’s four games from 20 January to 1 February due to a back injury. In Townsville’s first 11 games of the season Woods usually played between 10 and 22 minutes court time. With Nicholson and Reid each missing multiple games from 20 January to 4 February Woods played significantly more court time, playing more than 32 minutes in four of these games and 25 minutes and 18 seconds in the other game. Against the UC Capitals on 27 January Woods scored three points, took five rebounds and made seven assists and three steals to set game-highs in the latter two categories in the Fire’s 81-80 victory.

On 1 February 2023 Townsville Fire announced that they had signed guard, Shyla Heal for the remainder of the 2022/23 season. Townsville Head Coach Seebohm commented on Townsville’s addition of Shyla to WNBL Media “She is familiar face to the team and fans due to her being a key part of our run during the 2020 hub season where we played in the grand final. Her addition is due to our current injury situation and the need to provide our players the ability to look after their bodies without the pressure to play through significant pain. Shyla will add to our guard depth and provide a scoring punch for us as we aim to qualify for the finals.”8

As a starter for Townsville in a pair of Round 13 road games against Perth Woods excelled. On 1 February Woods made three of five three-pointers at 60%, scored 20 points at 66.7% from the field, took six rebounds and made two assists and two steals in the Fire’s 91-81 victory at Bendat Basketball Centre. Against the same opponent at the at the same venue three days later Woods shot efficiently to make eight of 14 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 57%, made one of two three-pointer at 50% and made all five free throw attempts and made three assists in Townsville’s 95-91 victory. Across the Fire’s Round 13 road double against Perth Woods as a starter scored at least 20 points in each game whilst shooting a combined 16 of 26 from the field at an accuracy of 51.5% to earn selection in the WNBL’s Round 13 Team of the Week.

With Reid and Nicholson back for Townsville’s following game at home against the Melbourne Boomers on 15 February Woods returned to a supporting role, playing five minutes and 24 seconds in the Fire’s 101-96 victory. During Townsville’s last three games of the regular season Woods was in phenomenal shooting form, making 15 of 23 field goal attempts at an accuracy of 65.2%. in the final game of this sequence against Southside Woods made five of six field goal attempts at an accuracy of 83% and made two of two three-pointers.

In a Round 15 home game at Townsville Entertainment Centre on Sunday 26 February Nicholson started for Townsville but was substituted out with five minutes and eight seconds remaining in the first quarter and took no further part in the game due to a foot injury. Townsville trailed Sydney 57-58 at three quarter time and were able to recover to lead 71-70 with a minute and 40 seconds to play in the last quarter. Neither team was able to score for over a minute and a half until Keely Froling made a two point jump shot to give Sydney a one point lead, 72-71.

Townsville called a time-out with 1.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and advanced the ball. After the time out Woods inbounded the ball to Hawkins who had her back to the basket and was just outside the key, slightly closer to the free throw line than the baseline. After receiving the pass Hawkins being defended by Jocelyn Willoughby turned and made a hook shot swish to secure a thrilling 73-72 victory. After making the game-winning shot Hawkins ran to coach Seebohm nodding her head. Hawkins finished the thrilling victory against Sydney with 20 points and eight rebounds. Woods scored six points at 60% from the field, took six rebounds and made three assists.

In The WNBL Show – Ep 16 published on 28 February 2023 Woods was a co-host along with Megan Hustwaite. On the concluding stages of Townsville’s victory against Sydney Woods commented “Shannon, of course a genius, drew up an amazing play. When I threw it to Tianna I was like there is no way that is going in and this little fade away hook shot swish and it was amazing. That is why we play and it is an incredible feeling and the fans were insane. It was definitely one of the most special wins of the season.”
Townsville Fire had 17 wins and four losses during the 2022/23 Cygnett WNBL regular season to finish on top of the ladder, two wins ahead of the second placed Southside Flyers and third placed Melbourne Boomers. Perth completed the top four with 13 wins and eight losses, two wins ahead of Bendigo Spirit in fifth place. Townville won their last 12 games of the regular season and in the process set a new club record for the longest winning sequence. Townsville’s winning ratio of 81.0% was the highest in club history for a regular season. It was the third time that Townsville had finished on top of the ladder with 17 wins at the end of the regular season, however on the two previous occasions each team played more than 21 games in the WNBL season. In 2014/15 Townsville had a record of 17 wins, five losses and a winning ratio of 77.3%. Townsville had 17 wins and seven losses in 2015/16 for a winning percentage of 70.8%.

In the semi finals Townsville defeated Perth two games to nil, having a 81-68 victory in a home game at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on 9 March followed by a 91-84 road victory at Bendat Basketball on 12 March. In game 1 Woods made her only field goal attempt playing two minutes and 16 seconds in game 1 and didn’t play any court time in game 2.

In the other 2022/23 semi final series Southside Flyers defeated Melbourne Boomers two games to one after recording a 73-72 victory in game 3 at the State Basketball Centre on Wednesday 15 March. It was the second time in three seasons that Townsville and Southside played each other in the Grand Final. In a single game Grand Final in Townsville during the 2020 season Southside defeated Townsville 99-82.
Townsville hosted game 1 of the 2022/23 WNBL Grand Final series against Southside on 18 March at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. In the first quarter Townsville gained the ascendancy to lead Southside by 14 points at quarter time 28-14. Townsville went on to record a convincing 94-63 victory over Southside with Woods scoring 11 points at 57% from the field in 14 minutes and 40 seconds court time. Townsville’s 31 point victory broke the record for the biggest win in a Grand Final game in the history of the WNBL. This record was surpassed last season when Southside defeated Perth by 34 points in game 3 of the Grand Final.

Southside hosted game 2 of the Grand Final at the State Basketball Centre on Wednesday 22 March. The sides were evenly matched for more than three quarters and with six minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Townsville and Southside were tied at 64 points apiece. Townsville went on an 18-5 run for the remainder of the game to defeat Southside 82-69 to win the game and the Grand Final series two games to nil to win the Fire’s fourth WNBL Championship in nine seasons, having previously won in 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2017/18. Nicholson scored six points, took four rebounds and blocked one shot in the Fire’s game 2 victory. With their four finals victories Townsville extended their winning streak to 16 games.

Courtney Woods along with JCU Townsville Fire teammates and staff with the WNBL Championship trophy after defeating Southside Flyers in game 2 of the WNBL Grand Final at the State Basketball Centre on 22 Match 2023

Woods played 24 of a possible 25 games in Townsville’s 2022/23 Championship winning team, averaging 6.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals and 19.7 minutes per game. At the Fire Woods ranked fourth for assists, equal fifth for steals, seventh for rebounds and minutes played and eighth in scoring per game. Woods had a field goal accuracy of 49.2%, three-point accuracy of 34.1% and shot free-throws at 78.1%. Among players who had at least 10 field goal attempts Woods ranked 18th in the WNBL for field goal accuracy.

2023/24 WNBL season with Townsville Fire
In the off-season three members of JCU Townsville Fire’s 2022/23 WNBL Championship winning team signed with the club for 2023/24, point guard Reid and front court duo Ruef and Hawkins. Core rotation members Woods and Aokusu who each averaged more than 16.0 minutes each per game in 2022/23 also returned. Three players that averaged more than 20 minutes per game and played more than 10 games for Townsville in 2022/23 did not return to the club in 2023/24, Lauren Nicholson and Karlie Samuelson along with guard Shyla Heal.

During the off-season Townsville recruited two Australian Opals – guard Sami Whitcomb and forward Alice Kunek. Two point guards made their WNBL debut with Townsville Fire in 2023/24 – Jessica McDowell-White and Saffron Shiels. Canadian forward Cassandra Brown made her WNBL debut in 2023/24 after playing for Mount Gambier in the 2022 and 2023 NBL1 South seasons. In the latter season Brown was teammates with fellow Townsville frontcourt player Aokuso.

Townsville had completed their 10 player main roster but on 30 October published an article that stated “The Townsville Fire wish to announce that Tianna Hawkins will not be joining the team for the upcoming 2023/24 WNBL season due to injury. We wish Tianna all the best in her recovery.”9 With Hawkins being unable to play due to injury JCU Townsville Fire were down to nine players on their main roster at the start of the regular season.

Townsville’s full strength starting line-up at the start of 2023/24 was Reid and Whitcomb in the back court along with Kunek, Ruef and Aokuso in the front court. Six Fire players averaged more than 22.0 minutes per game in 2024/25 with Woods joining the club’s early season starters in this category. Another four Townsville players averaged between five and 20 minutes per game, import duo Brown, and mid-season recruit, import Ammanda Zahui B along with guard duo Shiels and McDowell-White.

During Townsville’s first six games of the season Woods commenced games on the bench and averaged 8.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 19.5 minutes per game. Woods scored at least nine points in a game four times in this stretch including 15 points at 55% from the field in a home game against the Southside Flyers on 11 November.

In a road game against the UC Capitals at the National Convention Centre on 10 December 2023 Townsville Fire starter Alice Kunek suffered a wrist injury with three minutes and 33 seconds left in the second quarter and took no further part in the game. Woods was substituted back into the game replacing Kunek. In Townsville’s 84-55 victory against the UC Capitals Woody played a brilliant all-round game to score a game-high 17 points, took six rebounds, made four assists and had a game-high six steals playing 28 minutes and 58 seconds court time, ranked second for the Fire behind Whitcomb with 34 minutes and 45 seconds. Woods shot the ball exceptionally to make six of nine field goal attempts at an accuracy of 66.7% and made all five free throws to set a game-high for FTM. Woods’ six steals accounted for a third of the 18 steals in the game which highlights how effective she was in this aspect of the game, the Caps team has a whole had six steals and all of Woody’s teammates combined had six steals.

An article published on Townsville Fire’s website on 13 December stated Townsville Fire star “Alice Kunek, suffered an injury to her wrist in Sunday’s game against the Canberra Capitals. Alice underwent surgery yesterday and everything went very well. Please join us in wishing Alice a speedy recovery and we can not wait to see her back on the court in Fire colours soon.”10

With forward Kunek out injured Woods was promoted into Townsville’s starting line-up for the club’s next game on the road against the Southside Flyers on 14 December at the State Basketball Centre. As was the case in 2021/22 Woods was prepared for when she got an opportunity in the Fire’s starting line-up. In the Round 7 road against the Flyers Woods scored 15 points at 50% from the field, made three of five three-pointers at 60%, made all four free throws, took three rebounds, made four assists and two steals in Townsville’s 105-77 victory. Two days later in a road game at the Quaycentre against the Sydney Flames Woods scored a game-high 19 points at 50% from the field, made all four free throws, took seven rebounds and made an equal game-high five assists along with Lauren Nicholson in the Fires’ 70-48 victory. Woods was recognised for her superb performances in Townsville’s Round 7 road double by being selected in the WNBL’s Team of the Week.

Courtney Woods contesting a rebound for Townsville Fire against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 14 December 2023

In each of her first six games starting for Townsville in 2023/24 Woods scored at least 15 points including an equal season-high and equal game-high 22 points at 62% from the field in a home game against the Melbourne Boomers on 23 December.

By far the longest road trip in the WNBL is for games between Townsville and Perth. The amount of travel required for the three regular season games between the two clubs in 2024/25 was reduced with Perth playing back to back road games against the Fire on 31 December 2023 and 3 January 2024. Woods scored 21 points at 73% from the field, made four of five three-pointers at 80% and made five assists in Townsville’s 87-64 NYE victory. In the game on 3 January Townsville won a shootout 104-91 with Woods making three of five three-pointers at 60%, scoring 18 points, taking five rebounds, making a game-high and season-high seven assists and having an equal game-high two steals.

Courtney Woods and Townsville Fire teammates including Steph Reid after the victory against Bendigo Spirit at Geelong Arena on 7 January 2024

Courtney Woods shooting a three-pointer for Townsville Fire against the Melbourne Boomers at Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville on 10 January 2024

At home on 20 January Woods scored 20 points at 53% from the field, made all four free throws, took seven rebounds, made an equal team-high four assists along with Whitcomb and made a game-high five steals playing all 40 minutes in a 75-90 loss to Adelaide Lightning.

Despite losing import Tianna Hawkins on the eve of the 2023/24 season due to injury Townsville maintained their lofty standards and won their second consecutive minor premiership, finishing top of the ladder at the end of the 2024/25 regular season with a record of 14 wins and seven losses. The gap between first and sixth in 2023/24 was only three games, far less than a typical WNBL season. Southside finished second with 13 wins and eight losses, one win ahead of the Melbourne Boomers on 12 wins and nine losses. Three teams, Perth, Sydney and Bendigo had a record of 11 wins and 10 losses, Perth won the tie-breaker due to having the best record in the head to head games between these clubs and finished fourth. The four finalists for 2023/24, Townsville, Southside, Melbourne and Perth finished in the same order as last season, resulting in the same semi final match ups as 2022-23 with Southside playing Melbourne and Townsville playing Perth. In the 2023/24 regular season Perth lost all three games to Townsville with the smallest losing margin being 13 points.

Townsville hosted game 1 of the semi final series against Perth on Thursday 29 February at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. At half time Townsville led Perth 51-44. Perth had a phenomenal third quarter, outscoring the Fire 27-14 to lead by six points, 71-65 at three quarter time. Townsville fought back to go on a 17-10 run to lead by one point 82-81 with four minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Former Perth player Whitcomb made a three pointer with one minute and 15 seconds left to give Townsville an 87-86 lead. On the next play McDonald responded with a driving lay up to give Perth a one point lead 88-87 with 56 seconds left. Neither team scored again and Perth held on for a one point victory. In the dying minutes Perth almost cost themselves the game with inaccurate free throw shooting, making one of seven free throws in the last four and half minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Lynx hosted game 2 of the semi final series against Townsville on Sunday 3 March at Bendat Basketball Centre. After trailing 18-19 with two minutes and 10 seconds left in the first quarter Perth closed the first term with a 10-4 run to lead by five points, 28-23 at quarter time. With four minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter Perth led Townsville by 17 points, 71-54. Townsville were able to get back within striking distance and several times in the last quarter reduced the deficit to six points, each time Perth responded with the next score. In a shoot out Perth defeated Townsville 108-102 to win by six points and make the WNBL Grand Final for the second time in three seasons. Perth shot the ball proficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 53.0% and made 15 of 33 three-pointers at an accuracy of 45.5%. Townsville had 20 more field goal attempts than Perth 86-66 but an inferior field goal percentage of 39.5% proved costly for the Fire.

In 2023/24 Woods played all 23 games for Townsville including 16 as a starter and averaged 13.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 29.5 minutes per game to set new career-highs in all five categories. Woody ranked 12th in the league in scoring and second at the Fire behind Whitcomb (15.4 points per game). Despite commencing Townsville’s first seven games of the season on the bench Woods ranked fourth for the club in minutes played per game in 2024/25.

Woods’ shooting prowess was on full display in 2023/24 to achieve the rare feat of having a 50/40/90 shooting season. In 2023/24 Woods had 51.7% FG (ranked 10th in the WNBL*), 40.8% 3P (3rd) and 90.8% FT (3rd). *Among players with at least 10 shot attempts. Woods was the second player to achieve a 50/40/90 shooting season in the WNBL from 1998 to 2023/24 with a minimum of 10 shot attempts of each type, joining Karlie Samuelson who achieved the feat as a teammate of Woods’ on Townsville’s 2022/23 WNBL Championship winning team.

Courtney Woods shooting a free throw for Townsville Fire against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 14 December 2023

At the 2023/24 WNBL Awards Woods won the league’s Community Award in the second year that the league was awarded. It was back-to-back wins for the Fire with Steph Reid winning the Community Award in 2022/23. Community work that Woods did included being an ambassador for Ronald McDonald House and being involved in basketball camps.

Career in NBL1 North
After completing her college basketball career with Northern Illinois University in 2019/20 Woods returned to Brisbane and represented her junior club Northside Wizards at senior level in a state league. During the 2020 and 2021 NBL1 North seasons Woods played a total of 18 games for the Northside Wizards and averaged 22.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

During the 2022 NBL1 North season Woods played for the Townsville Flames coached by Shannon Seebohm, her teammates included 2021/22 Fire trio Steph Reid, Mia Murray, Woods and development player Aliza Fabbro. Mid-season the Townsville Flames had a high profile mid-season recruit, Australian forward Alanna Smith who joined the club after being waived by WNBA team the Indianna Fever. Woods was a starter on the Townsville Flames team that won the 2022 NBL1 North Championship and averaged 23.3 points per game (ranked fifth in the conference), 5.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. In the 2022 NBL1 North Grand Final Townsville Flames defeated the previously undefeated Logan Thunder two games to nil to win the Championship. At the NBL1 National Finals held at the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna, Victoria from 9 to 11 September Townsville Flames won two of their three games.

Above: Courtney Woods shooting a free-throw for Townsville Flames against Albury Wodonga Bandits at the State Basketball Centre on 10 September 2022

Below: Courtney Woods and Townsville Flames teammates being instructed by Head Coach Shannon Seebohm during the game against Albury Wodonga Bandits at the State Basketball Centre on 10 September 2022

Playing in the unfamiliar role of a point guard during the 2023 NBL1 North season with Northside Wizards Woods excelled to average 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game to win the conference’s Most Valuable Player Award. Among players that played at least five games Woods led NBL1 North in scoring and ranked sixth for assists. Northside had 16 wins and three losses during the regular season to finish on top of the ladder. The Wizards defeated Rockhampton Cyclones two games to nil in the Grand Final series to win the NBL1 North Championship and Woods won the Grand Final MVP Award. In Northside’s 70-59 game 2 victory Woods made three of six three pointers at an accuracy of 50%, scored a game-high 23 points, made a game-high 10 assists and had seven rebounds in a brilliant all-round performance. Incredibly Woods played on a championship winning team in three consecutive basketball seasons, the 2022 NBL1 North Championship with Townsville Flames, the 2022/23 WNBL Championship with Townsville Fire and the 2023 NBL1 North Championship with the Northside Wizards.
On playing in three consecutive championships Woods commented to Lachlan Everett for an article titled Courtney Woods: Building confidence from championships and published on the NBL1 website on 15 January 2024 ““I didn’t even realise (all the success she had) until the Northside one. This has been a fair few in a row, and it all started in that first sequence when I decided to stay (in Townsville for 2022 NBL1). I was coming off my second WNBL season, I was doing okay, but I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted to. Staying in that off-season and winning that first title with the Townsville Flames I think is what started the whole 16 months. I think how much better I got in that sequence and everything I learnt from Shannon… I don’t really consider those my championships. But when I got to Northside, I brought everything I learned to that program and then was able to do it without Steph and Shannon – which was a whole different experience. That Northside championship was really special, it was kind of cool to do one on my own… I can’t explain how much that championship did for my confidence.”11

Woods played for the Darwin Salties in the 2024 NBL1 North season and worked part time for Ventia as a project co-ordinator. In an article titled Hoops & Dreams: Balancing the court and a career that was published on Ventia’s website on 30 October 2024 Woods commented “I love that I can play the game I’m so passionate about as well as gaining experience in project management. But it’s not as simple as going out and getting a job, as I need a role that’s flexible and enables me to move around. At the moment that means splitting my year between Darwin, Townsville and a few weeks in Brisbane with my parents. Ventia’s sponsorship of the Darwin basketball stadium was something else that attracted me to the organisation.” 12

Woods was appreciative of the opportunity Ventia gave her, commenting “Ventia was willing to take a chance on me and give me the support and training I need to build a career in project management. I love the Project and Workplace Solutions team. They get really excited about everything and I love the enthusiasm. They’ve been so welcoming and they’re a very supportive team.” 13

In the article written by Everett and published on the NBL1 website Woods commented on playing in NBL1 “The first thing is that I think it’s fun. It’s a really good brand of basketball, I think there’s a bit more freedom in it than WNBL and you are able to work on your development in a lot of different ways. Try new things, play with different people and play under different coaches. It also gives me the opportunity to see new cities, I don’t think I ever would have lived in Darwin if it wasn’t for this program.”14 During the 2024 NBL1 North season Woods played 16 games for the Darwin Salties and averaged 23.7 points (ranked 5th in NBL1 North), 7.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists (5th) and 1.9 steals per game. Woody shot the ball proficiently for the Salties to have a field goal accuracy of 58.6% and a free-throw accuracy of 85.3%. Woods was selected in the 2024 NBL1 North Second Team.

Earning All-WNBL First Team selection playing for Townsville Fire in 2024/25
The Townsville Fire had a new look roster in 2024/25 and the only two returning players from 2023/24 that have averaged more than 10 minutes per game this season are guard duo Courtney Woods and Saffron Shiels. In the off-season Townsville recruited three players from rival WNBL clubs, Lauren Mansfield (Adelaide Lightning), Alicia Froling (Bendigo Spirit) and Alex Fowler (UC Capitals). On their main roster at the start of the season Townsville also had five players making their WNBL debut, American import duo Lauren Cox and Zia Cooke along with Australian trio Abbey Ellis, Nya Lok and Lucy Cochrane.

Courtney Woods in a huddle with Townsville Fire teammates during the game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 January 2025

At Townsville Fire’s 2024/25 season launch on 25 October the club announced that Woods, Froling and Mansfield had been appointed co-captains for the 2024/25 season. In the article published by Townsville Fire on the co-captain appointments the paragraph on Woods said “Courtney Woods, entering her 5th season with the Fire, the fan favorite, has continued to evolve as one of the Fire’s most dynamic and consistent performers. After being an integral part of the team’s success across the last seasons, Woods steps into a leadership role for the first time. Known for her scoring ability and commitment to the club, her passion and club pride will drive her to inspire the next generation of Fire fans and teammates alike.”15

Seebohm commented “Lauren, Courtney, and Alicia each bring something different to the table. They have the respect of the playing group, and they embody what this club stands for—toughness, resilience, and excellence. I’m confident they’ll drive the standards and culture we’ve built here.”16

In 2023/24 Woods averaged a career-high 2.5 assists per game, ranked third at Townsville behind Reid (4.7 assists per game) and Whitcomb (4.5). Reid and Whitcomb ranked fifth and seventh respectively in the WNBL for assists per game. With the guard duo’s departure in the off-season there was more opportunity for Woods to have play-making responsibility. Woody has thrived in this role to have at least six assists in a game 11 times in 2024/25 including four games reaching double figures in assists.
Townsville opened the 2024/25 WNBL season with a road game against Geelong United who were playing their first ever WNBL game. Townsville’s starting line-up in the season opener at Geelong Arena on 30 October was Ellis, Mansfield, Woods, Froling and Cox. Five players from each club made their WNBL debut in the game making it difficult to know what to expect from the encounter. With Woods scoring 12 points Townsville had a convincing road victory against Geelong 84-58.

For their second game Townsville had a road trip to Perth on to play a Lynx team that made the Grand Final in 2023/24 and had stability with their roster. Townsville recorded an upset 84-80 road victory at Bendat Basketball Centre off the back of winning the rebound count against the Lynx 48-29. Woods scored an equal game-high 25 points at 57.9% from the field in the victory against Perth.

In a road game against Adelaide Lighting on Friday night 29 November at Adelaide 36ers Arena Townsville trailed by 15 points, 50-65 with nine minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Woods was the catalyst for the Fire going on a 17-3 run to reduce the deficit to one point with 16 seconds remaining in the term. In this Fire hot streak Woods was phenomenal, scoring nine points comprised of in order, a two point pull up jump shot from just inside the top of the key, two free throws, a three-pointer and a left handed lay up. Adelaide had possession but turned the ball over due to an offensive foul with 12 seconds remaining. Woods from the top of the three point line passed to Mansfield who attempted a three-pointer, the miss was rebounded by Woods on the right hand side of the key, a metre closer to the basket than the free throw line. With quick footwork Woods got past Brianna Turner and from the edge of the key made a banked jump shot as time expired to give Townsville a miraculous one point win. Woods raised her arms in the air jumped up in the air and did a chest bump with fellow Fire co-captain Mansfield and celebrated the victory with teammates. In the Fire’s win Woods scored a game-high 25 points, took five rebounds and made a game-high eight assists.

Woods was selected in the Team of the Week for Round 5 After Townsville’s amazing fightback victory Froling commented on fellow Fire co-captain Woods “Courtney was amazing, obviously some massive plays, game winner. Yeah she’s probably the heart and soul of this team.”17

Townsville Fire General Manager Sam Pascoe told WNBL Media “This is her fifth season at the Fire and you can really see that in those games where she kind of puts everyone on her back and goes let’s get this done. So I’m very proud of Courtney, especially with how she’s taken to this new leadership role.”18

Courtney Woods playing for Townsville Fire against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 January 2025

Townsville celebrating after Abbey Ellis made a buzzer beating game winning three pointer in a road game against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 January 2025

Guard Cooke played seven games for the Fire before leaving the club and returning to America. Townsville spent some time playing with one import whilst assessing their options. On 5 January Townsville announced that they had signed American import Nia Coffey. In her previous WNBL season with Adelaide Lightning in 2018/19 Coffey excelled to win the club’s MVP Award and was selected in the All-WNBL First Team. Coffey played Townsville’s last eight games of the regular season including seven as a starter.

In a video Athlete Spotlight – Courtney Woods published by the WNBL on 15 January 2025 Woods spoke about the decision making process to sign with the Fire for the 2024/25 season, commenting “I think we kind of started conversations early last year and I wasn’t exactly sure what it would even look like and then who would be returning. Towards the middle part of the season I took some time to think about it and realised that it didn’t even necessarily matter to me, like who he was going to re-sign, I just knew if Shannon was going to be the Head Coach again that was a program I wanted to be a part of. I think I have grown a lot in that program. Obviously it was awesome to be able to play more last year, I think it is such an incredibly talented league and it is honestly quite hard to get on the court sometimes and I found in Townsville I was playing behind amazing players. A lot of the time they were Opals and that didn’t make me any less talented it just meant that I was playing behind really good players. We had some injuries and I was able to get some more minutes on the court and that was awesome at that period but those performances came from years and years of kind of being ready, preparing for that moment. That was something Shannon told me when I got there, he is like ‘You have no idea when you are gong to get an opportunity but you need to make sure that you are ready.’ So it was really awesome to kind of get out there and play and I ended up doing well in a couple of games which was exciting. It is nice to go into this year with a bit more confidence.”

Later in the Athlete Spotlight – Courtney Woods video Woods commented “Townsville’s a really special club because it is community owned, so all of our sponsorships, everything that is money based comes from our community, so we don’t exist without them and I think that community award was really awesome and I was really grateful to win it but I think anyone on our team could have won it. I think what I was doing we had three or four, five people that were doing the exact same thing. It was really awesome to bring it back to Townsville. I think even just the kids coming up to you after games and whether you win or you lose you look into the little kids face who is wearing a Woody jersey and they are so excited to see you, talk to you, meet you. You could have played the worst game of your life, you could have played the best game and they are so happy just to be connecting with you. I think that’s something that’s really special about Townsville is that we are all aware of the opportunity we have here to be one of the main sports in Townsville. I don’t think we take for granted and I think that’s such a humbling (experience) and it gives you such perspective. Basketball is amazing and it is so important to me but at the end of the day you just want to be one of those players that a little kid can come watch and be like I want to play like her, I want to be like her, I am going to start playing basketball because I loved how the Fire play. We definitely have that here and we get to connect with fans at all our games, we get to see them on the street, at cafes, at Woolworths, everywhere so I think that is a really special part of playing for the Fire.”

Against the UC Capitals in 1 105-71 home win at the Townsville 18 January Woods scored a game-high 24 points, took four rebounds and made 11 assists to record a double-double. Woody shot adeptly to have a field goal accuracy of 54%, made four of eight three pointers at 50% and made all six free throws.
On 22 January Townville Fire registered their 11th win of 2024/25 in a home game against Sydney at the Townsville Entertainment Centre to lock in a finals berth. Throughout the season Townsville’s team chemistry has developed and in 2025 the Fire won their first eight games of the year. The victory margin for the Fire in six of these games was at least 10 points.

Only three of Townville’s players had more than 30 games WNBL experience at the start of the 2024/25 season, Mansfield (196 games), Woods (77) and Froling (73). This trio were appointed as the Fire’s co-captain’s and have played pivotal roles in the club finishing in the top three with a new look roster. At the post game press conference after Townsville’s round 14 victory against Southside at the State Basketball Centre on Friday 31 January Fire Head Coach Seebohm commented on the Fire’s co-captains “They all bring something different, Loz is kind of the arm around the shoulder person, Frols leads by her effort and physicality, and the grunt work sort of stuff and I think Woody is really starting to develop as the person that can kind of say ‘This is what we need to do, why you are doing that’ lead with her voice a lot more.”

In the post game press conference after Townsville’s Round 14 road win against Southside the Fire’s Head Coach Shannon Seebohm commented “We have a lot of players that we really believe in, we are trying to play that style where it is a really team oriented style where we share the ball and hopefully a lot of our baskets come off assists and not one on one creation. We are getting better at it, we are really starting to understand different pick and roll coverages that we see, what we are meant to do against each one and how we attack them. I think just the better we get at that the better it is going to be for us.”

On 11 February Townsville Fire announced that Woods had committed to the club until the end of the 2026/27 season. Woods commented “I’m very thankful to continue my career in Townsville. This club has given me so much as a human and basketball player and I’m so proud to continue to be a part of this very special community.”19

Fire Head Coach Seebohm was delighted to have Woods continue her career with the club, commenting “Courtney has been a huge part of what we’ve built here and having her locked in for the long term is fantastic for our program. She brings so much to our group—not just with her scoring ability but with her leadership, toughness, and the way she connects with our fans and community.”20

Earlier in this Milestones and Misses article a quote was included from the Courtney Woods reflects video published by Townsville Fire on 11 February 2025 of Woods saying that Lauren Nicholson was a big influence. In this video Woods also commented “Shannon would be another big influence. I think finding someone like him so early in my career that kind of made it bigger than basketball for me. I am so appreciative of everything Shannon does on the court but finding a coach that is willing to invest that much time and love and energy and effort into you, not because they want you to play better. Like that is great, he just wanted me to be happy and he wanted me to have a fulfilling career. I am so lucky that I was able to meet both those people when I came here and they were both willing to pour all of that into me, because I think without either of them I am not really sure what I would be doing, I’d probably be working at Subway. (Woods laughs and then continues) I would not be sitting here.”

In the final game of the regular season on Sunday 16 February Townsville hosted Perth at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. Entering the game Perth and Townsville had identical win-loss records of 15 wins and five losses and were tied in their Head to Head series one game all. The two clubs would meet in the semi final with the team that won their game on 16 February finishing second and gaining home court advantage for the semi finals.

For the fourth time in 2024/25 a WNBL game went to overtime with Townsville and Perth locked together on 75 points apiece at the end of the fourth quarter. Townsville looked to be in a commanding position when they led by six points with 33 seconds left in overtime. Perth struck back to score the last seven points of the game, culminating in a made Alex Ciabattoni three-pointer with five seconds left that turned a Perth two point deficit into a one point lead.

Maley made two free throws with 26 seconds left. Perth pressed, got a quick steal and Maley made a field goal to reduce the margin to two points with 19.9 seconds remaining. Townsville advanced the ball and had a 14 second shot clock. After the Fire inbounded the ball and made a couple of passes Cox received the ball in the corner and dribbled the ball towards the basket, just before the key Amihere stole the ball. Amihere dribbled the ball down the centre of the court and just after getting inside the three point line passed to Alex Ciabattoni on the wing. Chibba made the three-pointer with 5.1 seconds remaining to turn a two point Lynx deficit into a one point lead. The ball was inbounded to Abbey Ellis who dribbled the ball up the court and just after crossing half-court attempted a three-pointer. The shot hit the backboard, bounced off the rim and missed resulting in Perth recording a fightback road victory by a solitary point.
Perth’s victory resulted in them finishing second on the ladder one win ahead of Townsville, 16 wins to 15 to earn home court advantage for the semi final series between the two clubs. Bendigo Spirit finished on top of the ladder with 18 wins and three losses to make the finals for the first time since 2014/15.

Bendigo Spirit’s winning ratio of 85.7% in 2024/25 is the highest a club has recorded in 11 seasons since the same club, Bendigo had 22 wins and two losses during the 2013/14 regular season for a winning ratio of 91.7%. In 2024/25 there was a sizeable gap between the top three teams Bendigo, Perth and Townsville and the five teams from fourth to eighth. Sydney eventually won the battle for fourth position with a record of eight wins and 13 losses, the same record as the UC Capitals. Sydney won the tie-breaker due to winning the head-to-head series between the two clubs three games to nil.

The 2024/25 WNBL Awards were held on Monday 17 February at Zinc at Federation Square, Melbourne. The Shooting the Breeze team of Co-hosts Paul Camillos and Jacinta Govind along with producer Mary recorded Shooting the Breeze No. 193: Live from WNBL Orange Carpet 2025 Awards. Govind asked Townsville co-captain Courtney Woods “This is going to be your third finals series in a row where you are starting the semi’s playing against Perth, is it something that you are kind of getting used to or are you a bit like hey universe, give us a break?” Woods responded “I think kind of by the third time you are like OK, this is a bit more than a coincidence. Obviously it is exciting every time we get to play Perth and then again when we get to play them in the finals. The only thing that does suck is just the travel, obviously it is on the other side of the country which is unfortunate. They are a fun team to play so obviously the last three years have been really exciting and this one should be nothing different.”

Later in the STB Orange Carpet 2025 Awards Govind asked Townsville Head Coach Seebohm “That type of game and like you said having those types of learning curves is it sometimes a blessing in disguise when it is right before the finals or would you have preferred that it happened earlier in the season?” Seebohm replied “No, I think it has happened at the best time. As we saw last year we beat Perth three times in the regular season and then got swept in the playoffs. I think for our girls to go through that, we have obviously had a pretty good run where we have played some good basketball, I think we had won eight in a row going in to that game, so to have a loss and the way we played as well we were pretty disappointed with. We let ourselves down in a lot of areas, I think it is good that it has happened now and we at least have the opportunity to now know what can happen if we play like that and hopefully we can fix it on Saturday.”

During the 2024/25 regular season Townsville Fire ranked first in the WNBL with a field goal accuracy of 44.7%. Six players that are currently on Townsville’s roster average more than 8.5 points per game led by Woods (16.3 points per game) and Cox (13.8). Late in the season Townsville’s starting line up was Ellis, Woods, Coffey, Froling and Cox. Woods led the Fire with 31.6 minutes per game and was one of five Townville players on the club’s roster at the end of the season to average more than 25 minutes per game along with fellow late season starters. Mid-season departure Cooke also averaged more than 25 minutes per game. Another four Fire players played at least 16 regular season games and averaged between 10.0 and 25.0 minutes per game, Fowler, Mansfield, Shiels and Lok. McDowell-White and Cochrane played at least seven regular season games each and averaged less than six minutes per game.

Woods ranked fourth in the league in scoring and second with 5.7 assists per game, a 228% improvement on her previous WNBL career-high of 2.5 assists per game in 2023/24. Woods was recognised for her magnificent 2024/25 WNBL season by being selected in the All-WNBL First Team. Woods was one of five nominees for the Suzy Batkovic Medal awarded to the league’s Most Valuable Player and finished runner-up to Bendigo Spirit guard Sami Whitcomb.

Courtney Woods making a pass for Townsville Fire against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 January 2025

Townsville Fire had several other award winners at the WNBL Awards including Head Coach Shannon Seebohm winning the WNBL’S Coach of the Year Award, breaking Tom Maher’s record of winning the award four times. Rookie guard Ellis won the Betty Watson Breakout player of the Year Award and import Cox won the Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year Award. Cox ranked equal first in the league with 3.1 blocks per game and equal eighth for rebounds (7.8). Co-captain Woods was selected in the All-WNBL First Team and won the Cygnett Community Award for the second season in a row. Woods was also one of the five nominees for the Suzy Batkovic Medal. Alex Fowler was a nominee for the WNBL’s Sixth Woman of the Year Award which was won by Bendigo Spirit guard Abbey Wehrung. The five players nominated for the 2024/25 Suzy Batkovic Medal were all selected in the ALL-WNBL First Team, Whitcomb, Woods, the Southside Flyers Naz Hillmon and Perth Lynx duo Ally Wilson and Laeticia Amihere.

An article published on Townsville Fire’s website celebrating the club’s winners at the WNBL Awards said “Courtney Woods was a standout on the night, earning Community Player of the Year for her tireless efforts in engaging with the Townsville community and inspiring the next generation of basketballers. Her dedication to grassroots programs and charitable initiatives has made her a role model both on and off the court. Adding to her accolades, Woods was also named to the WNBL All-Star Five First Team, recognising her outstanding contributions throughout the season. Her offensive prowess leadership, and ability to perform in clutch moments made her an undeniable choice for the league’s elite lineup.”21

Townsville and Perth are the two most geographical isolated clubs in the WNBL and the distance from Townsville airport to Perth airport is 3,382 kilometres. With one or two stops between the two cities the actual kilometres travelled by plane are much higher than this. On the court Perth and Townsville have been familiar foes during the finals and 2024/25 is the third consecutive season that the clubs have met in the semi finals.

Six days after concluding the 2024/25 Cygnett WNBL regular season on Sunday 16 February at the Townsville Entertainment Centre Perth Lynx and Townsville Fire commenced the finals series on the opposite side of the country on Saturday 22 February at Bendat Basketball Centre. Townsville’s starters were Ellis, Woods, Coffey, Froling and Cox. Perth’s starting lineup included four players that earnt 2025 All-WNBL selection – Ally Wilson and Laeticia Amihere (both in the first team) along with Anneli Maley and Miela Sowah (nee Goodchild). Besides this quartet Perth had two players – Steph Gorman and Alex Ciabattoni who were among the five nominees for the WNBL’s 2024/25 Sixth Woman of the Year Award and had 2023/24 All-WNBL Second Team member Amy Atwell. Gorman completed the Lynx starting line-up for the semi final against Townsville.

Townsville started semi final game 1 against Perth on the road brilliantly with Coffey leading the way to have a 27-16 advantage over the Lynx at quarter time. Perth were able to fight back to level the scores at 66 apiece with 13 seconds left in the third quarter. Townville were able to regain the ascendancy to have a 92-87 victory with Woods recording a double-double comprised of 17 points and a game-high 10 assists and also contributed four rebounds and a game-high three steals. Mid-season recruit Coffey played a phenomenal game to score 36 points at 71% from the field and made six of seven three-pointers at an accuracy of 86%.

After two close fought contests between Townsville and Perth with split results the Fire recorded a comprehensive 105-76 victory against Perth in game 2 at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on 26 February. Townsville recorded the equal fourth highest score in a WNBL final in league history and set up the win with a decisive 24-13 third quarter. Woods scored an equal team-high 18 points along with Ellis, took eight rebounds and made three assists. Woody shot efficiently to have a field goal accuracy of 50%, made four of seven three-pointers at 57% and made both free throws. In an even team performance six Townsville players reached double figures in scoring with Woods and Ellis being joined in this category by Fowler (16 points), Cox (15), Coffey (13) and Froling (12).

With their semi final victory Townsville Fire made their eighth Grand Final in 13 seasons from 2012/13 to 2024/25, an incredible strike rate of 61.5%. The Fire have won four WNBL championships, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2022/23. Townsville have been runner-up three times in the past 13 seasons, 2012/13, 2012/14 and 2020. For the fourth time in the past 13 seasons Townsville and Bendigo play each other in the Grand Final. In the last three editions of a single game Grand Final from 2012/13 to 2014/15 Townsville and Bendigo played against each other. After Bendigo won in 2012/13 and 2013/14 Townsville broke through to win the club’s first WNBL championship in 2014/15.

On 27 February Woods was included in a 21 player Australian Opals squad for a training camp to be held in Melbourne from April 7 to April 11. The training camp forms part of the Opals preparation for the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2025 to be held in China from 13-20 July. Three players, Woods, Miela Sowah and Isabelle Bourne were selected in an Australian Opals squad for the first time. Opals Head Coach Sandy Brondello commented “Courtney, Miela and Isabelle have all earned their opportunity to be part of their first Opals camp and I’m looking forward to working with them and the whole squad.”22

In a WNBL Weekly article written by Megan Hustwaite and published by ESPN on 3 March Woods commented on being selected in the Opals squad. “I feel like everyone dreams of playing for the Opals but I’d never even told anyone other than Shannon that it was a goal because I thought it was so unattainable. It is quite surreal. To be in the conversation is awesome but to be named in a squad when a year ago I thought that was never going to happen is amazing. It’s something I’ll reflect on more after the season, for now my focus is on the team and winning a championship for Townsville.”23 Woods and Seebohm will continue to work together at the Opals with Seebohm having the role of Assistant Coach.

Woods commented to WNBL Weekly on the phone call from Brondello finding out she was in the Opals squad “We obviously have a young team (in Townsville) and she just thought I’d done a good job keeping us together, getting others involved, likes the way I’d played and noticed over the last couple of years that I’d got a lot better. She was excited to bring that pick and roll playing and passing into camp.”24
On the road In game 1 of the 2024/25 WNBL Grand Final at Red Energy Arena on Wednesday night 5 March Townsville started well to lead Bendigo by seven points at quarter time 23-16 and had shot at 50% from the field. In a low scoring grind Bendigo outscored Townsville 25-18 over the middle two quarters to tie the scores at 41 apiece at three quarter time. Bendigo’s experience came to the fore in the last quarter to shoot at 69% from the field and outscore the Fire 29-19 to win by 10 points 70-60. Woods scored 13 points at 80% from the field and took seven rebounds.

After the loss Townsville Head Coach Seebohm commented “Bendigo have over 1000 WNBL games played more than our team, but we’ve been in this position before. We had a similar outcome in our last regular season game against Perth, took the lessons from that, and responded the right way. We’ll do the same again this time.”25

On Sunday 9 March at 2.00pm AEST Townsville Fire host game 2 of the 2024/25 WNBL Grand Final against Bendigo at the Townsville Entertainment Centre needing to win to keep their season alive. If Townville can level the Grand Final series at one game apiece Bendigo Spirit will host game 3 at Red Energy Arena on Wednesday 12 March.

Up until and including game one of the Grand Final Woods has played all 24 games for Townsville Fire in 2024/25 and has averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.5 points, 1.5 steals and 31.6 minutes per game. Woody has set new WNBL career-highs for points, rebounds, assists and steals per game.

Courtney Woods playing for Townsville Fire against the Southside Flyers at the State Basketball Centre on 4 January 2025 with Tera Reed playing defense

During the 2024/25 WNBL finals Townsville Fire have announced that two of their starters have re-signed for 2025/26, guard Ellis and centre Cox, with the duo joining Woods in suiting up for the Fire again in 2025/26. This will provide the Fire with more continuity next season then they had in 2024/25.

It has been an incredible journey by Courtney Woods in her first five WNBL seasons to progress from playing limited minutes, to being a valuable role-player to now in 2024/25 be a co-captain and rank in the WNBL’s top five for assists and points per game to earn selection in the All-WNBL First Team. Whilst much of this progress is down to Woody’s hard work valuable, support has been provided by Townsville coaches, players and staff including current coach Seebohm and former Fire player Lauren Nicholson. Woods has immersed herself in the Townsville community with her work has a Ronald McDonald House ambassador and being involved in basketball camps to win the WNBL’s Cygnett Community Award in 2023/24 and 2024/25. Congratulations Courtney Woods on reaching 100 WNBL games, earning selection in the 2024/25 All-WNBL First Team and the important work you have done in the Townsville community.

Article and photographs by Dean Andrews
Twitter – @DeanAndrews7777

Milestones and misses

The incredible journey by Courtney Woods to reach 100 WNBL games with Townsville Fire and earn selection in the 2024/25 All-WNBL First Team

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