Woods burns bright as Fire blaze through Venom

Courtney Woods has fallen agonisingly short of ending her elusive wait for a WNBL triple-double, but lifted Townsville to an 80-67 victory over Geelong.

Despite their depleted roster, long voyage and short turnaround, the reigning champions dug deep to claim their third consecutive victory.

Woods was once again at the centre of it, as she cemented her status as an early-season MVP contender with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

The co-captain could have had two more assists as her teammates had multiple opportunities to finish off her slick ball movement.

But instead, the guard's wait for a first league triple-double will continue after she was two rebounds shy on Tuesday and an assist and a board short of the milestone in round one.

Beyond Woods, Opals forward Alex Fowler was prolific with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while American Lauren Jensen had 23 points.

"She's [Woods], if not the best, one of the best players in the league in terms of her all-round offensive output. I'm sure she'll get a couple of triple-doubles this year at some point," coach Shannon Seebohm said.

"It was a grind. I thought we played really well in patches."

For Geelong, they were also on a short turnaround, having beaten the Bendigo Spirit on Monday, but they couldn't keep up with their opponents' shooting pace.

Han Xu was a usual shining light for the home team, posting 25 points and four boards.

But the loss overshadowed Opals guard Maddy Rocci's return from a foot niggle, where she produced four points and three rebounds on restricted minutes.

"It was good to be back. I'm not someone who likes to sit on the sidelines," Rocci said.

"We play in patches of the game and one thing that we need to fix is our defensive rotations."

Jensen exploded out of the gates, firing 18 points to help the visitors take a 29-17 advantage into quarter-time.

The Fire's fatigue began to set in during the second period, and Geelong capitalised to pull the deficit back to eight points at the main break.

But Woods found another gear as Townsville increased their lead to 13 at three-quarter time before guard Abbey Ellis nailed back-to-back triples early in the fourth to open up an unassailable lead, which even a 9-0 Venom run couldn't pin back.