Courtney Woods made an immediate impact for the Darwin Salties, Taylor Lee starred for Gold Coast while the Rollers men won their Grand Final rematch with Ipswich and the Stattmann brothers shone for the Cairns Marlins in the Top End.
Saturday's women's NBL1 North matches saw the Gold Coast Rollers beat the Ipswich Force 89-76, the Rockhampton Cyclones defeat the Townsville Flames 98-73, the Northside Wizards down the Southern Districts Spartans 85-60, and the Darwin Salties beat the Cairns Dolphins 105-68.
The Saturday matches then featured Gold Coast beating Ipswich 102-82 with Townsville defeating Rockhampton 97-90, Northside downing Southern Districts 81-78, and Cairns beating Darwin 90-77.
RECAP NBL1 NORTH | ROUND 1 FRIDAY
RECAP NBL1 NORTH | ROUND 1 THURSDAY
WOMEN
Ipswich Force (76) lost to Gold Coast Rollers (89)
Taylor Lee and Cassidy Gould combined for 50 points to help the Gold Coast Rollers to a season opening 89-76 road win against the Ipswich Force.
Both teams were playing their first game of the NBL1 North season at JBS Stadium on Saturday night and it was a tight contest through the first half with the Rollers leading by just a point at quarter-time, and then by seven at the half-time interval.
Gold Coast was able to extend that advantage to double-figures in the second half and then end up winning by 13 points to start the new season with the road victory.
Gold Coast hit 10/22 from three-point range as a team with Waiaria Henderson landing 4/7 of those on her way to 16 points, four assists and two rebounds.
Taylor Lee top-scored with 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals with Cassidy Gould contributing 22 points and eight boards, and Lisa Koop six points, 11 rebounds and four assists having played last season in the NBL1 West at the Rockingham Flames.
Kate Head top-scored for Ipswich with 23 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals while Claire Fraser contributed 13 points and six rebounds, and Georgia Ralph 12 points, seven boards and three steals.
Gold Coast backs up to play on Sunday at home to the South West Metro Pirates at 1pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Force are away to the Southern Districts Spartans next Saturday.
IPSWICH FORCE 76 (Head 23, Fraser 13, Ralph 12)
GOLD COAST ROLLERS 89 (Lee 28, Gould 22, Henderson 16)
Rockhampton Cyclones (98) defeated Townsville Flames (73)
On the back of reaching the Grand Final last season, the Rockhampton Cyclones signalled their intentions straightaway to open 2024 beating the Townsville Flames 98-73.
Rockhampton got all the way to the Grand Final last year before losing to the Northside Wizards and the Cyclones sent a message straight away to start 2024 on their home floor at Bravus Arena.
The Flames had already played on Friday night to open the season beating the Mackay Meteorettes on the road and it was a tight opening quarter between the two teams with scores level at 21-21 by quarter-time.
That soon changed in the second frame with Rockhampton taking control with 33 points to nine to lead by as much as 24 points on the back of going on an 18-0 scoring streak.
The Cyclones remained in control from there leading by as much as 35 points in the fourth term and then winning by 25 to open their season.
Lauren Heard finished with 22 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four steals for Rockhampton with Morgan Yaeger contributing 22 points, six assists and three steals, and Sam Bowman 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Elizajane Loader added 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Lara McSpadden 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Indiah Bowyer delivered 25 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists for Townsville with Saffron Shiels contributing 24 points, eight assists and seven boards, and Alex Fowler 18 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Townsville will be at home to the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Friday at 6pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Rockhampton will also be at home to the Brisbane Capitals on Saturday.
ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 98 (Heard 22, Yaeger 22, Bowman 20)
TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 73 (Bowyer 25, Shiels 24, Fowler 18)
Southern Districts Spartans (60) lost to Northside Wizards (85)
The NBL1 North championship defence couldn’t have started more emphatically with two wins inside 24 hours capped off with beating the Southern Districts Spartans 85-60.
On the back of winning the championship last season, the Wizards raised the championship banner on Friday night at home on the way to beating the Brisbane Capitals by 38 points.
That led into the Saturday match up on the road to the Spartans at Rowland Cowan Stadium and again the Wizards were on top all evening.
Northside led the entire night with a 13-point advantage in the first quarter which grew to 23 in the second on the back of the Wizards completing a 16-0 scoring run.
The lead grew to 29 points in the third frame with Northside settling on the 25-point victory to have still not lost a game in the NBL1 North since July 22 last year.
AJ Johnson was outstanding for the Wizards in the win with 21 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two steals on 9/18 shooting.
Erin Bollmann produced another 20 points, seven assists, six steals and four rebounds with Nadeen Payne contributing 13 points and nine boards, and Jess McDowell-White 10 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Alice Dart top-scored for Southern Districts with 14 points and four rebounds with Kalani Purcell contributing 11 points and nine boards, and Maddy Allen 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The Spartans back up on Sunday to play away to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix at 2pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Wizards are next on the road to the Phoenix also next Saturday.
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 60 (Dart 14, Purcell 11, Allen 11)
NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 85 (Johnson 21, Bollmann 20, Payne 13)
Darwin Salties (105) defeated Cairns Dolphins (68)
The Darwin Salties started their NBL1 North season on fire with the 105-68 win at home against the Cairns Dolphins.
Both teams were playing their first game of the season at Darwin Basketball Stadium on Saturday night with the Salties looking to send a message in front of their home fans.
Even though Darwin opened up a 12-point lead in the opening quarter, Cairns did well to pull that back to just a six-point deficit by quarter-time.
They weren’t able to do that the rest of the night, though, with the Salties going on a 17-0 scoring run in the second period to open up a 24-point lead, and then to go into the half-time break leading 53-31.
It was more of the same throughout the second half for the Salties as they outscored the Dolphins 52 points to 37 on the way to leading by as much as 40 points, and winning by 37 to open the season in style.
Courtney Woods was a huge off-season signing for Darwin and one game in it's already paying off after she produced 27 points, six rebounds and three steals on 10/15 shooting from the floor.
Ruby Porter added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, Cat MacGregor 14 points, two boards and two assists, Abigail Curtin 13 points and eight rebounds, Abbey-Lee Wood 11 points and three boards, and Abby Solway 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Teyahna Bond had an impressive start to the season for Cairns with 26 points and five assists on 9/14 shooting from the field and 8/11 from the charity stripe.
Amy Lewis added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Leichan Williams 14 points, five boards and two steals.
Darwin remains home to host the Logan Thunder next Saturday at 6:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Cairns will also be at home to the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Saturday.
DARWIN SALTIES 105 (Woods 27, Porter 14, MacGregor 14)
CAIRNS DOLPHINS 68 (Bond 26, Lewis 18, Williams 14)
MEN
Ipswich Force (82) lost to Gold Coast Rollers (102)
Nothing makes up for losing a Grand Final series and a lot of the faces are different, but the Gold Coast Rollers opened their season spoiling the celebrations of the Ipswich Force, winning 102-82.
Ipswich broke through in spectacular fashion to win a first championship last year coming back from losing the opening game of the Grand Final series to Gold Coast to win the next two matches.
That championship was then celebrated in the first home game of the season at JBS Stadium on Saturday night and it just happened to be a Grand Final rematch at the same time up against Gold Coast.
A lot of the stars weren't there from that series including MVP Nathan Sobey, Deng Deng, Jaylin and Kyrin Galloway and Matt Hodgson for Ipswich.
Even Gold Coast was without Todd Blanchfield, Preston Le Gassick and Cameron Thew.
That didn’t take away the feeling in Saturday's contest, though, added to with the presence of DJ Mitchell suiting up for Ipswich having been part of Gold Coast's championship win back in 2022.
It was a tight contest for the first half with scores level at quarter-time before Gold Coast led narrowly 55-51 at the half-time break.
However, it was all Gold Coast from there with the Rollers outscoring Ipswich 47 points to 31 in the second half to end up leading by as much as 22 points, and winning by 20.
Reigning league MVP Jason Cadee put up 21 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for Gold Coast with Boston Mazlin contributing 21 points, six boards and four assists, but it was Elijah Kamu who dominated.
Kamu ended up with 34 points and 12 rebounds on shooting 16/21 from the floor.
Daniel Titus also contributed 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.
DJ Mitchell's season at the Brisbane Bullets ended through injury early, but he was showing no sign of that on debut for Ipswich with 35 points on 13/23 field goal shooting with 5/8 from three-point land.
Championship captain Jason Ralph added 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Henry Makeny 11 points and five boards, and Henry Pwono 10 points, 12 rebounds and two steals.
Gold Coast backs up to play on Sunday at home to the South West Metro Pirates at 3pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Force are away to the Southern Districts Spartans next Saturday.
IPSWICH FORCE 82 (Mitchell 35, Ralph 11, Makeny 11)
GOLD COAST ROLLERS 102 (Kamu 34, Cadee 21, Mazlin 21)
Rockhampton Rockets (90) lost to Townsville Heat (97)
The Townsville Heat bounced back from a first up loss to beat the Rockhampton Rockets 97-90 on the road on Saturday night.
Townsville opened its 2024 season beginning a road double losing to the Mackay Meteors on Friday ahead of taking on the Rockets at Bravus Arena on Saturday with Rockhampton making its first appearance of the campaign.
It turned out to be quite the seesawing contest with the Heat leading by four points at quarter-time and still by two at half-time.
Rockhampton was warming into the contest nicely and grabbed the lead briefly in the third quarter, and then were able to open up a six-point lead in the fourth period with seven minutes to play following a three-pointer from Xavier Ford.
But Townsville hit back and it was Marshall Wilson who put the visitors back in front where they would stay the rest of the way with Matthew Rees making the biggest bucket of the game with just over a minute to play.
That made it a five-point margin and the Heat would go on to win by seven to open their account for 2024.
Harry Morris is coming off a season as a development player in the NBL at the Illawarra Hawks and he delivered 24 points, 10 rebounds and two assists including 10/12 at the foul line for Townsville.
Kyrin Galloway added 20 points, 11 boards, five blocks and four assists after his season in Adelaide with Ethan Betts finishing with 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Marshall Wilson added 14 points and five rebounds, Matthew Rees 13 points and five boards, and Richard Peachey seven points and six rebounds.
Despite the result, there was a lot to be encouraged about for Rockhampton with Xavier Ford putting up 31 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Nighael Ceaser 24 points, 17 boards, six blocks, four steals and three assists.
Cameron Goldfinch added 16 points as well with Ben Tweedy contributing 11 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
Townsville will be at home to the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Friday at 8pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Rockhampton will also be at home to the Brisbane Capitals on Saturday.
ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 90 (Ford 31, Ceaser 24, Goldfinch 16)
TOWNSVILLE HEAT 97 (Morris 24, Galloway 20, Betts 15)
Southern Districts Spartans (78) lost to Northside Wizards (81)
The Northside Wizards made it two from two to open the NBL1 North season inside 24 hours with the 81-78 road win against the Southern Districts Spartans.
The Wizards opened the NBL1 North season on Friday with the eight-point win at home against the Brisbane Capitals ahead of taking on the Spartans at Rowland Cowan Stadium.
And what a star-studded Spartans line-up it is too playing under coach Peter Crawford, himself a 489-game NBL veteran.
It's a Southern Districts team featuring Brisbane Bullets centre Tyrell Harrison and point guard Mitch Norton along with Tasmania JackJumpers championship winning forward Jarred Bairstow, and former Perth Wildcats guard Corey Shervill.
That all set the stage for a fascinating match up and it didn’t disappoint even though the Wizards were able to open up an 11-point advantage during the third quarter.
The Spartans fired back, though, and made it a one-point ball game with just under five minutes remaining thanks to a floater from Mason Honeyman.
It was still just a two-point ball game with four minutes to play after a Harrison dunk for the home team but Northside continued to have the answers including a big bucket from Jamie Ahale, and then clutch free-throws from Jackson Makoi.
That saw the Wizards win by three to improve to 2-0 with Jackson Makoi putting together another 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals on the back of re-signing at the Sydney Kings.
Jamie Ahale added 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, Lual Diing 16 points, 12 boards, three assists and two steals, and Mitch Poulain 14 points, five rebounds and three steals.
On the back of the best NBL season of his career, Tyrell Harrison put up 21 points, five rebounds and four blocks for Southern Districts with his Bullets teammate Mitch Norton contributing 12 points and seven rebounds.
Jarred Bairstow also had 18 points and six rebounds, Corey Shervill nine points and seven boards, and Nicholas Fee eight points and three assists.
The Spartans back up on Sunday to play away to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix at 4pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Wizards are next on the road to the Phoenix also next Saturday.
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 78 (Harrison 21, Bairstow 18, Shervill 9)
NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 81 (Makoi 19, Ahale 17, Diing 16)
Darwin Salties (77) lost to Cairns Marlins (90)
The Stattmann brothers combined for 53 points to lead the Cairns Marlins to a season-opening 90-77 road win in the Top End against the Darwin Salties.
Both teams were playing their first games of the NBL1 North season at Darwin Basketball Stadium on Saturday night and the Salties made a good start inspired by Kouat Noi to lead 26-20 by the end of one.
However, Cairns soon settled well into a groove and put up 28 points to 14 in the second quarter to take a 48-40 advantage into half-time.
Darwin did fire back with 20 points to 12 in the third quarter, but Cairns had all the answers and the Marlins delivered another 30 points to 17 in the final stanza to claim the season-opening 13-point victory.
It was a night to remember for the Stattmann brothers who inspired the Marlins to the win. Kody put up 33 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals with 12/14 free-throw shooting while Ky added 20 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.
Kian Dennis also had 14 points, two rebounds and two steals, and Alex Mudronja 12 points, eight boards, five assists and three steals.
It wasn’t the start to the season at home Darwin was hoping for with Sydney Kings forward Kouat Noi doing all he could with 35 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals while going 11/14 at the free-throw line.
Chier Maker also had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk nine points and six boards.
Darwin remains home to host the Logan Thunder next Saturday at 8:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Cairns will also be at home to the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Saturday.
DARWIN SALTIES 77 (Noi 35, Maker 17, Swaka Lo Buluk 9)
CAIRNS MARLINS 90 (Kody Stattmann 33, Ky Stattmann 20, Dennis 14)
