Georgia Amoore has lived up to her highly anticipated WNBL debut by stepping up in Perth's moment of need to beat the reigning premiers Townsville 86-83 in the grand final rematch.
After losing sharpshooter Amy Atwell, Opal Ally Wilson and Chinese international Han Xu in the off-season, the Lynx fielded a largely different team to last season's star-studded squad at the Perth High Performance Centre on Saturday.
All eyes were on Perth point guard Amoore, and she dazzled, registering 13 points and seven assists despite missing a large chunk of the game with foul issues.
But most crucially, the Lynx needed a big defensive stop after forward Haley Peters scored with 31 seconds remaining and the Washington Mystics star secured a crucial steal to dash the Fire's hopes of a win.
Amoore's performance also came after she landed in Western Australia just days ago and was tasked with filling the shoes of superstar Sami Whitcomb, who is out of the season with a knee injury.
Import Teonni Key (15 points, three blocks) was also busy for Perth, although she fouled out in the final quarter, while Steph Gorman nailed five triples.
"I've not seen the replays initially, but I would hope honest fouls were given ... A lot of those were genuine fouls. (But) the first two or three TK (Key) were given, with bias, were non-fouls or soft," coach Ryan Petrik said.
"If that was the grand final last year, not one of them gets called ... So we'll all learn and adapt."
The Fire were without three-point specialist Miela Sowah (WNBA finals), but Alicia Froling (15 points, 10 rebounds) and grand final MVP Courtney Woods (20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists) sparkled.
It was one of their new faces, German international Marie Gulich, who shone brightest though, registering 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
"She (Gulich) was tremendous tonight ... She's going to be a great player for us this season," coach Shannon Seebohm said.
"It (Townsville's performance) was frustrating ... I didn't like our defence very much. I just feel like we probably aren't in the shape we need to be to play WNBL basketball right now."
The Lynx started fast, producing an 11-2 run before the visitors settled to draw the deficit back to five points at quarter-time.
Perth's advantage vanished as the Fire upped the ante and went on a 10-0 spree to lead 51-45 at the main break.
The home team dug deep after emerging from the locker room and laid the platform for a thrilling final term as one point separated the two teams.
No side could give themselves any breathing room, but Alex Ciabattoni lofted the ball to Peters before Amoore sealed the victory with a steal and a free throw.