Defending Women's National basketball League champion Canberra is gaining momentum at the right time, with an ominous New Year's form surge.

Round 16 home wins over Perth 89-56 and Bulleen 83-67 put Canberra on 14-6 for the season, level with second placed Sydney, which holds the season split over the Capitals.

Emerging centre Abby Bishop top scored for Canberra in both games, tallying 19 against Perth and 25 and 15 boards against Bulleen.

Canberra could have third spot at worst wrapped up by the weekend, if Dandenong (10-8) lose both their rescheduled game at Sydney on Monday and Friday's away clash with the Capitals.

The Capitals have won all six of their matches in 2008.

"Certainly out of Christmas we've started to play the style of basketball that were known for," Canberra coach Carrie Graf said.

"Our defence has started to come together and were playing like who we are, that's our focus.

"We're not about winning streaks or anything like that, were about the old cliché one game at a time and focused on continual improvement and working our way towards play-off style basketball."

Relentless ladder leader Adelaide (17-3) strolled to a 12th straight win with a crushing 101-76 away conquest of fading Bendigo (10-11), which suffered a fourth successive loss.

Five Lightning players scored 15 or more points, headed by Renae Camino with 22 and Jessica Foley 20.

Adelaide could secure the minor premiership as soon as this weekend, if they win at Sydney next Friday and Dandenong wins at Canberra on the same night.

Sydney became only the second opponent in nine matches to beat the Sirens (7-13) in Christchurch, winning 71-56 at Cowles Stadium, with Natalie Porter scoring 24 for the Flames.

Sparked by 26 points from veteran Michelle Brogan, Dandenong (10-8) enhanced their top four prospects with a 64-60 away win over Townsville (8-12).

Depleted Perth (4-16) ended a 13 match losing streak with a 76-73 away win over AIS (8-13), who had scored a 75-71 home victory over Bulleen (8-12) the previous night.

Basketball Australia's general manager of national teams and competitions Lorraine Landon anticipated no repetition of the problems with the Sydney court, which caused the cancellation of their January 18 game against Dandenong due to a slippery surface caused by humidity.

"It was the air vents where the humidity came in and that's what settled on the court, so they've covered all of those and they've brought in some air conditioning units as well," Landon said.

Sydney coach Karen Dalton said she was confident the court would be fine and was focusing on a tough Dandenong, the only team to have beaten Adelaide twice this season.

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