The Boomers flew to Canberra on game-day morning after grinding out an extra-time win over West Coast in Melbourne on Saturday. But they dug deep to dominate Canberra down the stretch.

Up by just two points at three-quarter time, the Boomers went on a 15-2 run to start the final term and seal victory at Tuggeranong Basketball Stadium.

Fourth-placed Melbourne (7-5) has now won five in a row and the Capitals (4-6) have plenty of work to do if they are to snap a three-year play-off drought.

They host league leaders Townsville next week, before a "doomsday double" road trip to Adelaide and West Coast the following week.

Wilson said the defensive lapses, which allowed Melbourne lay-up after lay-up early in the last term, were particularly telling.

By contrast, the Capitals were forced to settle for jump shots as the Boomers began to lock down star forward Abby Bishop in the second half.

"It was a really disappointing fourth quarter, I don't even know what happened," Wilson said. "It felt like we were right in it and I was really confident we were going to run over them.

"What was most disappointing in the last quarter was our defence and I'm included in that. They got too many easy looks.

"It was just [defensive] breakdown from us after breakdown. That's what makes it so hard to swallow.

"I guess we were maybe a bit complacent, expecting it to happen, rather than making it happen."

Far too much was again left to Capitals skipper Bishop, the forward outstanding with 24 points, 15 coming in the first quarter, and 11 rebounds.

Melbourne's win, its fifth in succession, was made all the more impressive by the fact that it also played two games in as many days the week before.

The Capitals ran the ball as much as possible, expecting Melbourne to run out of gas. But the visitors showed tremendous resolve.

Australian Opals forward Rebecca Allen (18 points, four assists, four rebounds) led the way for Melbourne and praised her side's resilience after a gruelling schedule.

"Having another double-header, we knew it was going to be hard, but we ground it out," she said.

"We were all really tired but our defence was fantastic and we got them out of their sets.

"Abby's going to do well no matter what. We had to make every shot she took as tough as possible."

Capitals coach Carrie Graf insisted her side remained well in the finals hunt, but admitted they need a more even contribution across the board.

"I'm not talking crunch time yet, the season's still wide open in a lot of ways," Graf said.

"We had a lot of players not focused today. We can't leave it to Bishop to carry the scoring and rebounding load.

"We got beaten by a better team today and a lot of people underperforming makes it hard.

"This league is too good to win with three or four people sub-par."

MELBOURNE BOOMERS 74 (Rebecca Allen 18, Rebecca Cole 12, Tess Madgen 11) bt CANBERRA CAPITALS 59 (Abby Bishop 24, Steph Talbot 10) at Tuggeranong Basketball Stadium on Sunday.