With a 4666-strong home crowd cheering them on, the Firebirds battled hard against an in-form and experienced Lightning line-up but were unable to prevent falling to a 72-62 loss.
The Firebirds take-no-prisoners attitude for the Queensland derby was evident straightaway in the first quarter when Abigail Latu-Meafou and Emily Moore combined in a two-point moving circle for the opening Power Five.
Latu-Meafou and Moore combined to hit Suncorp Super Shots and put the Firebirds ahead before a Steph Fretwell two-pointer right on the buzzer put the Lightning up by one at the first break.
The visitors extended their lead at halftime to four points but the Firebirds were very much in the contest at the main break.
A poor start to the third term saw the Lightning's lead blow out to 14 at one stage before some more Suncorp Super Shot action from Latu-Meafou cut that back to 11 at the final change.
With rookie Ashlee Barnett thrown into the defensive end, the Firebirds showed great spirit in the final quarter, at one point reducing the deficit to seven on the back of a 6-2 start to the quarter.
The hosts would go on to win the final term 16-15 in a positive end to the match.
Birthday girl Macy Gardner was a standout with 19 goal assists and 45 feeds while Latu-Meafou finished with six Suncorp Super Shots.
Up against Australian Diamonds captain, English Rose Imogen Allison also put in a noteworthy display at wing defence, recording five gains and playing the full 60 minutes.
"Tonight, I was proud of them, because I think in the last few games, that lack of consistency and dropping off for long periods of time has killed us, whereas tonight, I felt like they got themselves back in there," Head Coach Kiri Wills said.
"Sunny Coast didn't have the moments they had in Round Three. They pushed us to the floor and rubbed our face in it last time, and we were not going to let that happen tonight."
The Firebirds travel to face the Adelaide Thunderbirds in South Australia next Saturday.
Tickets for all Queensland Firebirds home games in 2025 are available now through Ticketek.
