Playing in front of a bumper 4831 crowd for the First Nations Round clash on Turrbal and Yuggera land, the Firebirds split the difference in the early stages of the contest but couldn’t keep up with a rampant Vixens as they took out a 70-52 win.
The Firebirds took the court in an eye-catching First Nations dress featuring bold orange elements from an original artwork by Mayi-Kulan and Kalkadoon woman Leah Cummins and made a bright start in a hotly-contested first quarter that finished 16-all.
The visitors turned up the heat from that point on however, taking a four-goal lead into the halftime break with Kiera Austin and Lily Graham both hitting Suncorp Super Shots.
A 17-13 third term in the Vixens favour meant the margin was eight going into the final term with the Firebirds bringing Abigail Latu-Meafou onto the court alongside Emily Moore in a moving circle to try to claw back the difference from two-point range.
Latu-Meafou would finish the game with three Suncorp Super Shots but it wasn’t enough to make a dent on the scoreboard as the Vixens pulled away for their third win of the season.
With English midcourter Imogen Allison sidelined, Lara Dunkley, Macy Gardner and Hulita Veve played the entire match in midcourt with Dunkley ending game with 22 goal assists and 32 feeds.
Co-captain Ruby Bakewell-Doran continued her impressive form in defence as she picked up seven gains, three intercepts and five deflections.
The Firebirds were however their own worst enemies at times with a missed shot conversion of 38 per cent and a gain to goal rate of just 42 per cent to the Vixens’ 56 per cent.
Having now suffered five defeats on the spin to reach the halfway mark with a 2-5 record, Firebirds Head Coach Kiri Wills admitted improvements need to be made in the back half of the season.
“We've seen some really great growth in individual games, but pulling it all together and everybody taking responsibility in every second of the game - that's what this competition demands and we are not up to that right here, right now,” Wills said.
“The last four games have shown us that. So we do have to do something a little bit different at training, like we're a little bit kinder to ourselves on the first training out of a game, like we try things that we want to do, but yeah, it's about accuracy.
“At the end of the day, possession wins games, and we're not holding on to ours.”
The Firebirds will be hoping for an improved display next Sunday when they travel to Perth to face the West Coast Fever at RAC Arena.
Tickets for all Queensland Firebirds home games in 2025 are available now through Ticketek.
