But it wasn't close enough.

They fell short by 10 points to the Townsville Fire and remain without a win at 0-5 on the bottom of the ladder.

However, they will have a chance to turn the tables on Tuesday night when they meet the Fire again

Spirit head coach Tracy York said the team's overall performance had improved.

"But it was also a game we could've won," she said.

There's no doubt the Spirit put on their best performance, leading at the first two quarters, but it all came undone in the second half with the Fire securing the game 91-81.

"Clearly we had a good start to the game with a starting five combination that worked well together," York said.

Mary Goulding, who has been a starting five player all season found her groove and put on a top performance.

In addition, Chevannah Paalvast made her first starting five appearance.

"The combination worked well in terms of body strength and really putting in an effort to attack the rim," York said.

The Fire took control of the scoreboard, boosted by the effort of former Spirit player Shyla Heal.

"Moving forward we need to ensure certain (opponent) players don't take over games, we need to take the ball out of their hands and make someone else do it," York said.

"Come Tuesday we know we have to play a certain way to get the job done which we will be ready for."

RELATED: Stout Spirit fall short against Townsville Fire

In other WNBL news, there has been adjustments to the 2020 fixture on the back of interruptions to the season last week due to the Adelaide Lightning travelling party having to self-isolate.

"We were supposed to play on Sunday after the Saturday match, but we didn't due to the schedule changes," York said.

"It worked in our favour as we had been travelling the day prior and we didn't need to back it up on Sunday.

"It gave us more time to rest and now we will play an extra game this week."

v Townsville Fire

Tuesday November 24

at Townsville (8pm)

v Adelaide

Wednesday November 25

at Townsville (9pm)

v Canberra

Saturday November 28

at Townsville (7.30pm)

v Perth

Tuesday December 1

at Townsville (9pm)

v Melbourne

Saturday December 5

at Cairns (5pm)

v Sydney

Sunday December 6

at Cairns (1pm)

v Adelaide

Wednesday December 9

at Cairns (8pm)

v Melbourne

Friday December 11

at Cairns (6pm)

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.