Featured image: Tanya Hawkins Photography | @tanyahawkinsphotography
Callie Bourne produced a huge triple-double to close NBL1 East regular season for Canberra Nationals with Lauren Nicholson dominating for Sutherland Sharks while the Gunners finished clear on top and Jack Lopez hit the game winning three for Bankstown Bruins.
RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 14 SATURDAY
RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 14 FRIDAY
WOMEN
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (78) lost to Canberra Nationals (92)
Callie Bourne had a massive triple-double, Lizzy Tonks came up huge too and the Canberra Nationals locked in a top eight spot with the 92-78 win against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.
Canberra just needed to win to guarantee their playoff position ahead of taking on the Spiders at The Brickhouse.
Hornsby came into the match up having lost their past four matches while the Nationals were coming off beating the Sydney Comets last Saturday.
Canberra were holding a 23-22 lead by quarter-time before the Nationals ended up taking charge in the second term with an 11-0 run to open up a 13-point lead.
That advantage continued to grow in the second half getting out to 14 points in the third frame and 17 in the fourth before the Nationals went on to score the eventual 14-point victory.
The win means that Canberra finished the season with a 9-11 record with the last two wins with Callie Bourne producing a spectacular triple-double made up of 24 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
Lizzy Tonks maintained her hot form too with 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals with Jasmyn Boutzos contributing 20 points, three assists and two steals, and Maddison Penn 11 points, four boards and three assists.
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai finishes the season with five consecutive defeats with a 5-15 record with teenage sensation Jessie-May Hall outstanding once more with another 27 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals on 11/18 shooting.
Keira Hudson added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, Haruna Inamura 10 points, two boards and two assists, Ay'Anna Bey 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Nicola Sainsbury eight points, three steals and two boards.
HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 78 (Hall 27, Hudson 15, Bey 10, Inamura 10)
CANBERRA NATIONALS 92 (Tonks 25, Bourne 24, Boutzos 20)
Sutherland Sharks (92) defeated Bankstown Bruins (62)
Lauren Nicholson was spectacular with 35 points as the Sutherland Sharks sent a message ahead of the NBL1 East finals with the 92-62 home victory against the Bankstown Bruins on Sunday.
Sutherland were already locked into a finals position before Sunday's match up with the Bruins at Sutherland Basketball Stadium, but they put together quite the emphatic performance.
Nicholson has returned to the Sharks this weekend after being part of the Australian Opals preparations for the Paris Olympic Games, and after solid in Saturday's win over the Illawarra Hawks, she dominated against the Bruins.
On the back of that, Sutherland opened up a nine-point lead in the first quarter before leading 19-12 by quarter-time and then 43-33 at the half-time break.
From there, the Sharks went on an 11-0 run in the third quarter to lead by as much as 22 points and then the lead got out to 30 by the final buzzer.
The result means that the Sharks end the regular season with three straight victories to end up in fifth position with a 12-8 record and Lauren Nicholson delivered 35 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals with 5/11 three-point shooting.
Maddie Norris also ended up with another 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with Emily Garland contributing 15 points and two boards, Aliza Fabbro 12 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Olivia White seven points, nine boards and two assists.
Bankstown finished the regular season with five straight defeats to end up with a 4-16 record with Jihyun Park top-scoring with 21 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and two assists.
Violet Morrow added 20 points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists while Kiahna Davis-White contributed 10 points, seven boards and two blocked shots.
SUTHERLAND SHARKS 92 (Nicholson 35, Norris 15, Garland 15)
BANKSTOWN BRUINS 62 (Park 21, Morrow 20, Davis-White 10)
MEN
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (74) lost to Canberra Gunners (91)
The Canberra Gunners will enter the playoffs as the top seed after finishing the regular season with Sunday's 91-74 road victory against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.
Coming into the Sunday contest on the last day of the regular season, it was the Spiders looking to continue their strong finish to the season and it would have been quite the statement to knock off the league-leaders.
The Spiders were at home at The Brickpit fresh off beating the Central Coast Crusaders on Friday night while the Gunners were playing for the first time since beating the Sydney Comets last Saturday.
Canberra started on fire with 30 points to 16 in the first quarter and that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon with the Gunners ensuring they enter the finals in ominous form trying to repeat their championship success from 2022.
Canberra would lead by as much as 22 points in the first quarter before going into half-time still on top 55-37 with the lead out to as much as 24 points in the second half.
The Gunners went on to complete the job with the 17-point victory to finish the regular season a game clear in top spot with an 18-2 record and five-match winning streak.
Will Mayfield delivered 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win for Canberra with Glenn Morison contributing 21 points, 12 boards, four assists and four blocked shots.
James Toohey also had 11 points, nine assists, six rebounds and two steals, Cameron Pender 11 points, 15 boards and four assists, and Derek Emelifeonwu seven points, three rebounds and two steals.
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai might have lost but finished the season in encouraging fashion winning three of the last six matches to end on a 3-17 record.
Brian Ansuh-Yeboah top-scored for the Spiders with 17 points and seven assists while going a perfect 3/3 at the three-point line with Kody Finch contributing 16 points and five boards.
Nathaniel Chappell also had 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals with Aaron Redhead contributing six points and two steals, and Alexander Sidhu five points, 10 boards, three assists and two steals.
HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 74 (Ansuh-Yeboah 17, Finch 16, Chappell 12)
CANBERRA GUNNERS 91 (Mayfield 24, Morison 21, Pender 11, Toohey 11)
Sutherland Sharks (83) lost to Bankstown Bruins (86)
With both teams just looking for a winning finish to the season, they put on quite the show and it went to overtime before the Bankstown Bruins beat the Sutherland Sharks 86-83 with Jack Lopez the hero with the game winning three.
It was a crucial game for Bankstown too with a finals spot on the line while finals were out of the equation for the defending champion Sharks coming into Sunday's game at Sutherland Basketball Stadium.
Coming off winning last year's championship and then being more than competitive at the National Finals in Perth, the Sharks have never got going in 2024 while coming up against Bruins team having won three of the last four ahead of Sunday's encounter.
Sutherland was playing its last game as the defending champions and started well to open up an 11-point lead early on, but Bankstown hit back with a 12-0 run of their own and by half-time it was the visitors narrowly leading 46-45.
The scoring dried up with just a combined 23 points in the third period but Bankstown extended its lead to eight points completing an 18-0 run that started to end the first half.
However, the Sharks hit back and set up a big finish and they were back in front thanks to a putback from Chris Vera with 3:45 remaining in regulation.
The lead continued to change hands the rest of the way with an offensive rebound and score from Naaman Hightower giving Bankstown a two-point lead with 1.6 seconds to go.
The Sharks called the timeout and had one last chance and it was a perfect alley-oop pass from Geoff Gerlach to Lochlan Hutchison. He grabbed it near the rim and put the layup up. Jack Lopez attempted to block it but goaltended and the game went to overtime in spectacular fashion.
Then in the extra period, ultimately it was Lopez knocking down the three in the dying seconds that gave the Bruins the three-point victory with Hutchison unable to respond up the other end to force a second overtime.
The result sees Bankstown finish the season with an 11-9 record to clinch eighth position with Andre Wolford providing 20 points, five rebounds and four assists on 4/11 three-point shooting.
Thomas Buvac added 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals with Gum Majak contributing 13 points and seven boards, Naaman Hightower 13 points, 12 rebounds and three steals, and Hayden Blankley 12 points, four assists, four steals and three boards.
The championship defence of the Sharks is over with an 8-12 record this season with Lochlan Hutchison finishing with 20 points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Brian Williams also contributed 18 points, six rebounds and two steals, Klairus Amir 15 points and nine boards, Chris Vera 11 points and 15 rebounds, and Angus Lake seven points, three steals, two boards and two assists.
SUTHERLAND SHARKS 83 (Hutchison 20, Williams 18, Amir 15)
BANKSTOWN BRUINS 86 (Wolford 20, Buvac 17, Majak 13, Hightower 13)
