Crunch Time: The key moments from Round 4

This weekend's games saw six blockbusters take place all across the country.

Highlighting this round were game-winners, milestones, record crowds and career-highs, in one of the most exciting weekends to date.

Join us as we recap all the top moments from Round 4 during our weekly column.

Tolo has ice in her veins

The WNBL26 season had its first game-winner of the season on Saturday and it came via the calm hands of Australian Opal Marianna Tolo.

With scores tied at 71-all with 4.6 seconds left, the Spirit put the ball in hands of the Paris Olympic Games bronze-medallist and the rest is history, with Tolo scoring from inside the paint as time expired.

That win moved the reigning champions to 3-1 for the season.

Road warriors

The Townsville Fire completed their challenging five-game road trip to start the WNBL26 season with a 4-1 record, capped by a convincing victory in Geelong on Friday night.

The Fire, who reached last year's grand final, sit in first as the competition heads into Round 5.

Next up is their long-awaited first home game of the 2025-26 campaign against Adelaide, tipping off at 7pm AEDT on Saturday, live on ESPN2 and 9Now.

Record crowd numbers

The revamped WNBL may only be four rounds old but the fans are already speaking with their feet, to the tune of record numbers.

In Round 4 alone, 7,386 fans attended the six exciting fixtures, which is a 12.5 per cent increase year on year.

While, through the opening four rounds, the competition has attracted 34,195 fans, which is a 19.5 increase (year on year) than last season.

Career-high nights

This round saw plenty of breakout and career-high performances by the competition's stars all across the country.

None were bigger than Venom guard Lilly Rotunno exploding for 21 points, 10 assists and four rebounds (all career-highs) in her side's win over Perth.

Other career-highs across the weekend included Geelong's Jaz Shelley (eight assists vs Townsville), Adelaide's Dallas Loughridge (six assists vs Sydney), Sydney's Shaneice Swains (five steals vs Adelaide), Townsville's Lucy Olsen (five rebounds and three steals vs Geelong) and Canberra's Kadi Sissoko (three triples vs Bendigo).

Milestones

Friday night saw Geelong coach Chris Lucas chalk up his 400th game in the WNBL, with Perth celebrating Ally Wilson's 250th WNBL game during their home fixture against Southside Melbourne.

While Adelaide's Jordyn Freer and Townsville's Catekln Van Es made their WNBL debuts, taking the number to 28 this season (including 10 imports and 11 development players).

Finally, Capitals' Jade Melbourne chalked up her 250th made free-throw during her side's clash with Sydney.