Morgan Yaeger was huge as the Rockhampton Cyclones pushed the Northside Wizards to a Game 3 while the trio of Joel Khalu, Isaac White and Todd Blanchfield has delivered an NBL1 North championship for the Mackay Meteors.
REACTION NBL1 NORTH | MEN'S GRAND FINAL GAME 1
REACTION NBL1 NORTH | WOMEN'S GRAND FINAL GAME 1
RECAP NBL1 NORTH | GRAND FINALS GAME 1
WOMEN
Northside Wizards (76) lost to Rockhampton Cyclones (81)
The Rockhampton Cyclones had 12 months to get ready for the chance of revenge on the Northside Wizards and they have now forced the Grand Final series to a deciding Game 3 after Saturday night's 81-76 Game 2 victory.
On the back of playing one another in last year's Grand Final series where the Wizards prevailed, both teams again finished the regular season in 2024 in the top two positions.
They would then both win their home semi finals against the North Gold Coast Seahawks and Townsville Flames respectively to set up their Grand Final rematch with the Wizards earning hosting rights at Northside Indoor Sports Centre.
Game 1 on Friday night was a hard fought affair as usual between the two teams but it was the Wizards prevailing 80-71 with Rockhampton losing Elizajane Loader along the way to a dislocated shoulder.
That meant Rockhampton was up against it to try and force the series to a deciding Game 3 on Sunday, but the visitors started well to open up a 28-21 lead already by the end of the opening quarter.
The Cyclones had led by as much as 12 points in that opening term but the Wizards worked back into the contest and by half-time it was Rockhampton just clinging to the 48-41 lead still.
Northside then outscored Rockhampton 23 points to 20 in the third quarter and kept the momentum going into the fourth period to grab the lead following a three-point bomb from Courtney Middap and then a bucket to Erin Bollmann.
The lead continued to switch hands from there and then the scoring really dried up for both teams with the tension building.
After Nadeen Payne scored to put Northside back in front with five minutes to play to make the score 76-75, neither team would score again until there was 45 seconds to go with Lauren Heard scoring after a steal going to the basket to put the Cyclones back up one.
An offensive foul on AJ Johnson then saw Morgan Yaeger score after a timeout for the Cyclones and with Erin Bollmann continuing to be unable to buy an outside shot, Sam Bowman secured the win for Rockhampton.
They won by five with the last six points of the game and holding Northside scoreless for the final five minutes with the deciding Game 3 now tipping off on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
Morgan Yaeger ended up having a monster night in the win for Rockhampton with 32 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals on the back of shooting a phenomenal 14/18 from the field and 3/5 from three-point territory.
Lauren Heard produced another 21 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals with Sam Bowman contributing 17 points and five boards, and Lara McSpadden 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Tai Wakelin-Gray came into the starting group with Elizajane Loader out injured and had 11 rebounds in her 37 minutes.
The Wizards now need to respond to their second loss of 2024 to make it back-to-back championships with Erin Bollmann finishing with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists but shooting just 6/22 from the floor and 0/11 from behind the arc.
Nadeen Payne added 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists, AJ Johnson 14 points, 10 boards and three assists, and Jess McDowell-White 13 points, six assists and four rebounds.
NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 76 (Bollmann 18, Payne 16, Johnson 14)
ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 81 (Yaeger 32, Heard 21, Bowman 17)
MEN
Mackay Meteors (102) defeated Brisbane Capitals (80)
The trio of superstars Todd Blanchfield and Isaac White, and coach Joel Khalu has proven unstoppable this NBL1 North season with the Mackay Meteors securing the championship with the 102-80 Game 2 win at home to the Brisbane Capitals.
Mackay might have been the standout team throughout the 2024 season, but with a team featuring the MVP Sam McDaniel and a dangerous playing group headed up by coach Greg Vanderjagt, the Caps weren’t about to hand them anything.
Blanchfield returned to Mackay this season after being part of the Gold Coast Rollers team that made the Grand Final last year to team up with Brisbane Bullets guard White as they aimed to give coach Khalu the fairytale farewell to his time with the Meteors.
Mackay went on to win 15 of 17 games in the regular season to finish two games clear before then moving straight into the Grand Final and earning the rights to be the home team with the semi-final win over the Southern Districts Spartans.
The Capitals ended the season in fourth place at 11-6 but having built impressive momentum winning 10 of the last 12 games before beating the Rockhampton Rockets and Darwin Salties to reach the Grand Final series.
Mackay then started Game 1 on Friday night with the opening 11 points to set the tone for the eventual 12-point win to be one victory away from securing a championship coming into the weekend.
Brisbane couldn’t afford a similar start again to Game 1 and they did somewhat the opposite scoring the first five points on this occasion, but by quarter-time the Meteors had managed to lead 22-18.
It was another 22 points to 18 in the second period for Mackay to see the home team go into the half-time break leading 44-36.
The lead then continued to grow throughout the second half for the Meteors and the 22-point margin by the final buzzer was the biggest of the game and it was time to celebrate the championship on their home floor.
It's a fifth men's championship for Mackay and a first since 2021 with all five having come since 2010 while this was an emotional one with the pending departure of coach Joel Khalu.
Having joined Justin Tatum for the back end of the last NBL season, he will be moving full-time to join the Illawarra Hawks for NBL25 and now will leave the Meteors as a three-time championship winning coach.
Todd Blanchfield received the Grand Final MVP award to mark his return home to play with Mackay in 2024.
He had 24 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists in Game 1 on Friday before the 402-game NBL veteran put up 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in Game 2.
Isaac White is now a championship winning captain with the Brisbane Bullets NBL guard delivering 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists while Emmett Naar put up 19 points along with being a masterful playmaker with 11 assists to go with eight rebounds.
Luca Yates had an impact once more with 10 points and three rebounds with Amarco Doyle contributing 10 points and four boards, and Aiden Krause seven points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
Brisbane will be disappointed to lose the series in two games but deserve to be proud of the efforts just to get there and the work done to build the team to a force in the second half of the season under coach Greg Vanderjagt.
MVP Sam McDaniel came back on valiantly after hurting a shoulder to finish with 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while his Bullets NBL teammate Gabe Hadley knocked down 7/10 from three-point territory for 29 points, six boards, three assists and two steals.
Geordan Papacostas added 11 points on 4/6 shooting with Isaih Tueta ending up with 10 points, four assists and two rebounds.
MACKAY METEORS 102 (Blanchfield 27, White 22, Naar 19)
BRISBANE CAPITALS 80 (Hadley 29, McDaniel 15, Papacostas 11)
