Another 42 points in a near triple-double from Jason Cadee continued the Gold Coast Rollers' NBL1 North championship defence on Friday night while Abby Cubillo was equally as brilliant helping the Brisbane Capitals to a big victory.
Round 4 in the NBL1 North women's competition began on Friday night with the Brisbane Capitals beating the Mackay Meteorettes 92-55 while the Cairns Dolphins defeated the Gold Coast Rollers 74-63, and the Townsville Flames downed the Ipswich Force 100-80.
Then in the men's action, the Meteors beat the Capitals 96-90 while the Rollers downed the Marlins 97-82 and the Force defeated the Heat 99-94.
WOMEN
Super efficient Cubillo leads Caps to thumping win
Abby Cubillo produced a stunning performance to help the Brisbane Capitals continue their strong start to the NBL1 North season with a 92-55 victory at home to the Mackay Meteorettes.
Brisbane made a fast start on Friday night at Auchenflower Stadium with 29 points to 19 in the opening quarter. Another 26 points to 15 in the second period saw the Caps up 55-34 at the main break before 19 points to seven in the fourth saw them claim the 37-point win.
The Capitals improved to 4-1 on the season with the win with Cubillo the star with 34 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals on shooting a remarkable 14/16 from the field, 3/4 from beyond the arc, and 3/5 from the foul line.
She had good support too with Mia Loyd delivering 18 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and two assists, Courtney Middap eight points, four boards, four assists and three steals, and Anna Cameron eight points and 10 rebounds.
Charli Bliss ended up with 10 points and three rebounds for Mackay and Ellie Collins 10 points, two boards, two assists and two blocked shots.
Swain, Davidson spark Dolphins to win over Rollers
The one-two punch of Shaneice Swain and Penina Davidson has helped lift the Cairns Dolphins to an impressive 74-63 win on the road to the Gold Coast Rollers.
Gold Coast came into the contest looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season last Saturday against the Logan Thunder, but it wasn’t to be even though they started well.
The Rollers were leading 24-15 by quarter-time but the Dolphins worked their way on top from there to end up winning by 11 points and hand Gold Coast consecutive defeats.
WNBA draftee Swain was superb for Cairns finishing with 25 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and four steals with Davidson equally as brilliant with 20 points and 20 boards on 8/11 field goal shooting.
Teyahna Bond also had 15 points and three assists for the Dolphins, and Taylor Mole 10 points and eight rebounds.
Ariana Moorer did what she could to lift the Rollers with 31 points, 15 rebounds, seven steals and four assists with Riley Evans contributing 14 points and six rebounds.
We can see why Shaneice Swain is off to the @LASparks with those moves ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
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Reid lifts Townsville to first win of championship defence
The defending NBL1 North champion Townsville Flames are on the board for the 2023 season with a 100-80 road win over the Ipswich Force.
It had been a rough start to the season for the Flames coming off last season's championship, but a lot of that was just simply due to a lack of personnel.
That's starting to change and as a result they looked ominous on Friday night scoring the 20-point win over Ipswich at JBS Stadium.
Steph Reid was inspiring for Townsville finishing with 33 points, 14 assists and three rebounds while shooting 9/15 from the floor, 3/5 from downtown and 12/14 from the foul line.
Indiah Bowyer added 23 points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocks, Kate Gaze 22 points, eight boards and four assists, and Majella Carey eight points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.
Alison Gorrell finished with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds for Ipswich, Meg Essex 17 points, six boards and three assists, Lorna Shepherd 12 points and four rebounds, and Georgia Ralph 11 points and four assists.
Steph Reid got ??? ??? ????? in a big win for Townsville ??
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
33 points at 60% shooting and 14 assists were the highlights of her huge night!
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MEN
White brilliant as Mackay remain unbeaten
The Mackay Meteors stayed unbeaten in 2023 and the Brisbane Capitals remained winless but it was a much tighter affair at Auchenflower Stadium than that suggests.
It turned out to be a tremendous contest despite it featuring one winless and one undefeated team.
However, Mackay did lead 30-25 by quarter-time and were on top 54-43 at half-time and ended up converting that into the 96-90 victory to improve to 3-0 on the season while the Capitals are 0-5.
Isaac White was brilliant in the win for the Meteors finishing with 36 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals including hitting 4/9 from three-point range and going 8/12 at the free-throw line.
Tyler Williams added 22 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals for Mackay, Christian Maran 10 points, five boards, five assists and three steals, and Djery Jean Baptiste eight points and 10 boards.
Malok Majak ended up top-scoring for Brisbane with 20 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals with Trevor Lakes contributing 13 points and three boards, and Anthony Kopcikas 12 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Cadee dominates in huge finish from Rollers over Marlins
The defending NBL1 North champion Gold Coast Rollers are building into the season nicely with captain Jason Cadee again unstoppable in the 97-82 home victory against the Cairns Marlins.
With Cadee leading the charge in brilliant fashion for Gold Coast and with Tanner Krebs back in the line-up for coach Anthony Petrie, the Rollers ended up beating the Marlins by 15 points at Carrara Stadium.
However, it took until the fourth quarter for Gold Coast to take over and in fact it was Cairns leading 66-63 at three quarter-time. The Rollers put up 34 points to 16 in the final period, though, to end up winning by 15.
Cadee was outstanding for the Rollers as he prepares to return to the Adelaide 36ers and finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
Krebs marked his return fresh off signing at Melbourne United with 13 points and eight rebounds while Jaryd Eustace contributed 11 points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds.
For three quarters it was a terrific performance too from Cairns despite the end result.
Jonah Antonio hit 5/11 from three-point range for 25 points and eight rebounds with Tad Dufelmeier adding 20 points, five boards and five assists, Travis Drinnan 10 points, and Ky Stattmann 10 points and four assists.
Jason Cadee went ??? for the Rollers, guiding them to victory with a staggering:
— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023
4??2?? points
1??0?? rebounds
8?? assists
2?? steals
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Ipswich stay unbeaten with win in tough affair with Townsville
Ipswich and Townsville put on a spectacular show at JBS Stadium with two hugely talented squads with the Force remaining undefeated with the eventual 99-94 victory.
Ipswich was at home attempting to continue its unbeaten start to the NBL1 North season and while they did end up doing that, they had to earn every bit of the victory against the Flames.
Townsville was leading 73-72 at three quarter-time but Ipswich put up 27 points to 21 in the fourth quarter to end up securing the five-point win to improve to 4-0 to start the 2023 campaign.
Jaylin Galloway was terrific in the win for the Force with 27 points, six assists, five blocks, three rebounds and two steals on 10/14 shooting from the field, 2/4 from beyond the arc and 5/6 from the foul line.
Deng Deng added 23 points and nine rebounds, Atem Atem 17 points and six boards, and Nathan Sobey 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds despite shooting 3/14 from three-point range.
Ethan Betts finished with 19 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and three steals for Townsville, Marcellus Garrick 18 points on 4/9 three-point shooting, Michael Cedar 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Luca Yates 16 points and 11 boards.
