The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles women handed the Sydney Comets their first loss of the NBL1 East season while the Norths Bears men did the same to the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence.
Friday night's women's NBL1 East matches saw the Bankstown Bruins beat the Inner West Bulls 72-60 with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles defeating the Sydney Comets 95-73.
Then in the men's action on Friday night, the Norths Bears beat the Centre of Excellence 83-77 while the Comets defeated the Sea Eagles 88-76 and the Bulls downed the Bruins 90-76.
WOMEN
Bankstown overpower Inner West for impressive win
The Bankstown Bruins maintained their impressive form this NBL1 East season scoring a 72-60 Friday night win at home over the Inner West Bulls.
The Bulls started well at Bankstown Basketball Stadium hunting their second win of the NBL1 East season leading by as much as seven points before Bankstown took over with 29 points to 12 in the second quarter.
The Bruins were then leading 65-43 by three quarter-time and despite scoring just seven points in the fourth quarter, still went on to score the 12-point win to improve to 4-3 on the season.
Violet Morrow was terrific again for the Bruins with 26 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals with Shalome Dunlop contributing 15 points and eight boards, and Britney Wright 10 points, three steals and two rebounds.
Leilani Mitchell put up 21 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals for Inner West with Mikaela Dombkins working tirelessly again with 16 points, 24 boards, five assists and three steals.
Sea Eagles shine to hand Comets first loss
Things are heating up at the top of the NBL1 East women's competition with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles handing the Sydney Comets their first loss with Friday night's 95-73 win.
While the Comets were without Vanessa Panousis, they did still have Shyla Heal and it was a tight first half with the Sea Eagles only narrowly leading 36-35.
However, Manly-Warringah dominated the second half outscoring Sydney 59 points to 38 to end up winning by 22 with both teams now sitting on 6-1 records on the season.
Felicity Henderson finished with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Sea Eagles with Kim Hodge contributing 20 points, 10 boards, three assists and three steals, and Bree Delaney 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Alex Delaney also had 17 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Antonia Henderson 10 points and four boards.
Shyla Heal played all 40 minutes for the Comets to end up with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists with Jada Crawshaw contributing 24 points, seven boards, four blocks and two steals.
Shyla Heal had a big night in the Comets' loss, dropping 3??0?? points ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
Enjoy all of her triples from the night!
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MEN
Bulls prove too strong on the road for the Bruins
The Inner West Bulls proved too strong for the Bankstown Bruins on Friday night even on the road to run out 90-76 winners.
Coming off reaching the grand final in the NBL1 East last year, the Bulls have started off the 2023 season strongly and continued that on Friday night.
Inner West had built up a 70-52 advantage by three quarter-time before ending up winning by 14 points to improve to 6-1 on the season and to keep Bankstown winless.
Blake Morrow finished with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds in the win for the Bulls with Chris Bryant adding 23 points and 12 boards, and Alex Higgins-Titsha 20 points and nine rebounds.
Jonah Pares top-scored for Bankstown with 20 points and six rebounds with Jack Lopez adding 19 points and eight boards, and Miguel Campos 14 points, six assists and three steals.
Comets continue momentum with win over Sea Eagles
Form so far this NBL1 East went to plan on Friday night with the Sydney Comets defeating the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 88-76.
The 12-point victory improves the Comets to a 6-1 record to start the season while the Sea Eagles are now 1-6 following the defeat even with Sydney having to come from five points down at three quarter-time to deliver 27 points to 12 to win by 12.
It was another strong all-round showing from the Comets with Johnny Crnogorac delivering 18 points and seven rebounds with Archer Woodhill contributing 18 points, four rebounds and three assists, Ilisia Washington 11 points and three boards, Matthew Wacher 11 points, four rebounds and three steals, and Nick Jackson 10 points and three boards.
Matthew Eldridge did what he could for the Sea Eagles with 23 points and 12 rebounds with Mitch Evans contributing 15 points, three rebounds and three steals, and Noah Thomas 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.
Bears hand Centre of Excellence first loss of season
The Norths Bears have handed Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence their first defeat of the NBL1 East season, winning 83-77 on Friday night.
The young guns from the CoE had started off winning their first six games of the NBL1 East season in impressive fashion, but they couldn’t keep it going at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.
The newest member of the Perth Wildcats is putting in the work ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
Ben Henshall is coming home strong for the Centre of Excellence!
Watch #NBL1East via https://t.co/NEk1I7kIKG or the NBL1 App ? & ? pic.twitter.com/SEK2ABSDNR
It was a tight game for the first half with the Bears narrowly leading 42-38 at half-time, but Norths pulled away in the third quarter with 23 points to 15 to set up the eventual six-point victory.
Junior Madut continued his terrific form for the Bears as he tries to earn a new NBL contract. He produced another 28 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Brennan Rymer added 27 points and three assists, and Michael Golding nine points and seven rebounds.
Alex Toohey ended the game with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Centre of Excellence, Ben Henshall 12 points and four assists, and Julius Halaifonua 11 points and five rebounds.
Junior Madut is ??????????? in the paint tonight ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
Watch #NBL1East via https://t.co/NEk1I7kIKG or the NBL1 App ? & ? pic.twitter.com/dpQGxX0lGU
