The Canberra Capitals ended a dismal year with another pair of losses and an embarrassing uniform gaffe which led to them being fined by the WNBL.
The Capitals travelled to Melbourne on Wednesday with the wrong set of uniforms to take on the Southside Flyers, both teams in clashing shades of blue.
Without an alternate set, the Caps were forced to don yellow Knox Raiders NBL1 gear instead.
The Flyers romped home 76-54, celebrating bronze medal-winning Opal Sara Blicavs' 250th game in style, while the Capitals were fined $1,000 for failure to play in the correct uniform.
Two days later, in front of 3,963 fans at Qudos Bank Arena, Canberra's woes continued, succumbing to the Sydney Flames 81-70.
The only positive for the winless Capitals across the back-to-back defeats was teenage sensation Shaneice Swain's form off the bench.
Swain poured in 22 points in as many minutes against Southside and 21 points, including five triples, against Sydney.
Shyla Heal (26 points, seven assists) and Keely Froling (21 points, 13 boards) starred for the sixth-placed Flames, who were also hit in the hip pocket, docked $5,000 for the unauthorised use of mobile phones during gametime.
On New Year's Eve, the rampant Melbourne Boomers confirmed their standing as the competition's benchmark, defeating Townsville Fire 86-76 in a high-quality clash at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.
Trailing at quarter-time and halftime and still down by seven points late in the third, the Boomers uncorked a match-turning 12-0 burst, capped by Miela Goodchild's triple on the three-quarter-time bell.
Import Tiffany Mitchell (22 points) was superb for the reigning champions who enter 2023 riding an eight-match winning streak.
In Adelaide, reigning league MVP Anneli Maley paired 19 points with a whopping 24 rebounds as Bendigo Spirit outmuscled the Lightning 78-66 on Wednesday.
Too big and strong in the paint, the Spirit thumped Adelaide on the boards (55-34).
Lightning captain Steph Talbot (21 points, 10 rebounds) was the home side's best player.
Forty-eight hours later, Adelaide's losing skid stretched to five when Perth Lynx triumphed 82-72 at Bendat Basketball Stadium.
The contest was in the balance before being busted open in the third quarter when Lynx produced a five-minute, 15-0 burst.
Chloe Bibby (25 points, nine boards) was outstanding, while centre Lauren Scherf (11 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists) threatened a triple-double.
