Rigoni and Flames keen for Capitals challenge 

Second year Townsville Flames guard Jasmine Rigoni is confident her team can bounce back when they host the Brisbane Capitals tonight.

The Adelaide product and her team scored a great road win against Rockhampton last Friday before falling short in Mackay the next night.

Rigoni said the Flames could take plenty of positives from both games as they look to improve to 2-2 on the year when they battle the Capitals.

“We played a good game against Rocky, it’s always hard to win there especially with their home crowd and we hadn’t won there in a few years,” Rigoni said.

“That was a really good team game by the girls and we weren’t far off the next night against Mackay. It came down to the last few plays and we know what we need to improve on that result.

“At training on Monday we focused on ourselves, our own confidence, defence, and then Thursday was about helping get Tayla (Flames recruit Tayla Dalton) up to speed with the team and some plays.

Rigoni, 24, played with Sturt Sabres in NBL1 Central from 2021-2023 before linking with Townsville after moving to the region for work.

“I came from Adelaide and moved here to work at the hospital so I had a few connections last year that led me to getting involved with the Flames,” she said.

“It’s a really good group to play with and I’ve made some good friends here.

“Obviously we had a strong team last year with a lot of WNBL players so we've got a whole different look this year and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

Like the Flames the Heat also suffered a narrow last start loss to Mackay, with tonight’s clash with Brisbane a chance to get their strong start to 2025 back on track.

The Capitals are led by NBL star

The 2-1 Heat are bracing for a tough battle against the reigning NBL1 North MVP Sam McDaniels but heat swingman Richard Peachey said they were up for the challenge.

“Obviously Sam is going to be a big focal point for myself and the team’s defence, but they’ve also got some good veteran guys plus some size in the front court,” Peachey said.

“We were a bit down after falling short to Mackay last week but we also take a lot of confidence knowing that we were right there with the defending champions.

“If we can keep knocking out some early wins and get a winning record pretty early, we'll set ourselves up well for season, and it just builds confidence within the group.

“We're building confidence right now, and there's not a game we look ahead and think we can’t win.”

The Townsville Flames host the Brisbane Capitals at 6pm tonight before the Heat’s game at 8pm at Carmichael Ford Stadium.