WNBL: Spirit back on court for heated double-header against Fire, Flames

The team are on the road for an inter-state double-header which gets underway on Friday night in Townsville before they head south to NSW on Sunday for their second clash against Sydney.

Spirit co-captain Kelsey Griffin expected the Shannon Seebohm-coached Townsville Fire to dish up a challenge.

"They have definitely shown that they will be up there come the pointy end of the season," Griffin said.

"Missing finals last year was a bit of an outlier for them and since then Shannon has recruited specific parts of the team to cover their deficits.

"Any time you go up against a team like this, it's bound to be a good game and I expect nothing less than a challenge."

Related: Lavey elated to be back on the basketball court with Bendigo Spirit

Fire head into the game with an identical 3-0 record to the Spirit and have players such as Lauren Nicholson, Mikaela Ruef and Stephanie Reid within their ranks.

The spirit have gone nearly three weeks without game-time as their round three match against the Southside Flyers that was scheduled to be held on November 14 was postponed and will now be played in early 2023.

Even though there's been a long break between games, Griffin said that was no problem as the Spirit seek any opportunity to express their competitive nature.

"From the first day I stepped back into the Spirit uniform everything has been competitive," she said.

"There's not a training session where each and every one of us are competing against each other.

"So competing on the court in the absence of games hasn't been hard at all," Griffin laughed.

After the game on Friday they are back on the road to Sydney for their second match of the season against the Flames.

Spirit defeated the Shane Heal-coached Flames 77-57 during round two and will look for a repeat this Sunday.

"Last time we played Sydney there were definitely elements that we could've done better such as defence," Griffin said.

"This time it's going to be even more important to hone in on this and take pride in our defence.

"The more we play together and get challenged by teams it shows what our weaknesses are and where we need to improve."

During the week Griffin and Sophia Locandro headed back to the classroom as a part of a community reading program to boost literacy among primary school students.

Locandro enjoyed the experience, but was equally as passionate about getting back to action this weekend.

"Townsville are a tough team and it's going to be a great match-up against some strong competition," she said.

"Going up against Sydney again will be a challenge as no doubt they've made some adjustments since we last met."

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