Feature images via: Denise Saba / Taylor Earnshaw
Miela Goodchild and Mikaela Ruef continued to dominate in the NBL1 North for the North Gold Coast Seahawks while the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and Logan Thunder got their first wins, and Preston Le Gassick starred in overtime win for Gold Coast Rollers.
Saturday night's women's matches saw Logan Thunder beat the Southern Districts Spartans 83-76, the Townsville Flames defeat the Mackay Meteorettes 101-73, the Sunshine Coast Phoenix down the Cairns Dolphins 88-68, the North Gold Coast Seahawks won 106-74 against the Ipswich Force, and the Northside Wizards beat the Gold Coast Rollers 95-63.
The men's matches then saw the Spartans beat the Thunder 106-64, the Meteors defeat the Heat 102-87, the Phoenix beat the Marlins 99-94, the Force down the Seahawks 91-87, and the Rollers win 98-94 against the Wizards.
RECAP NBL1 NORTH | ROUND 5 FRIDAY
WOMEN
Gold Coast Rollers (63) lost to Northside Wizards (95)
The defending champion Northside Wizards delivered another dominant showing with Nadeen Payne starring in the 95-63 road win over the Gold Coast Rollers.
On the back of winning last year's NBL1 North championship, the Wizards have kept that momentum going to start 2024 coming into Saturday's match at Carrara Stadium on a nine-game winning run including the Friday night win against the Cairns Dolphins.
Gold Coast were back home looking for a second win of the season but that already looked decidedly unlikely by the end of the first quarter with the Wizards already leading 36-18.
Northside continued to dominate the contest the rest of the evening leading by as much as 24 points in the second quarter, 31 in the third and then 33 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 32-point victory.
The win improves the defending champions to a 7-0 record on the season with Nadeen Payne outstanding once more with 28 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals on 10/12 shooting from the field and 7/7 at the free-throw line.
Erin Bollmann also delivered 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots with AJ Johnson contributing 15 points, eight boards and seven assists, and Saskia Gunness 12 points and five rebounds.
Gold Coast is now 1-4 on the season having lost four straight with Kate Deeble top-scoring with 20 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Myah Selland added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, Taylor Lee 14 points, four boards, four assists and two steals, and Lisa Koop six points and five rebounds.
Gold Coast is on the road to Logan Thunder next Saturday with the Wizards away to the Mackay Meteorettes.
GOLD COAST ROLLERS 63 (Deeble 20, Lee 14, Selland 14)
NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 95 (Payne 28, Bollmann 21, Johnson 15)
Ipswich Force (74) lost to North Gold Coast Seahawks (106)
Another 39 points from Miela Goodchild and a huge triple-double from Mikaela Ruef ensured the North Gold Coast Seahawks overcame the 38 points from Kahlaijah Dean to beat the Ipswich Force 106-74.
The Seahawks arrived at JBS Stadium fresh off beating the Sunshine Coast Phoenix the previous night and continuing their impressive form while the Force were at home and looking for their first win still of 2024.
Fresh off that big Friday night win with Goodchild and Ruef on fire, the Seahawks got out to an eight-point lead in the opening period but Ipswich did well to stay in the contest and cut it to three at quarter-time.
However, North Gold Coast took charge in the second frame piling on 31 points to 13 to head into the half-time break leading 56-35.
From there the Seahawks continued to pull away with the lead blowing out to 30 points in the third quarter and 34 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 32-point victory.
North Gold Coast has now won five straight to improve to 5-1 on the season with Miela Goodchild continuing her stunning form with another 39 points, six rebounds and three assists on 11/20 shooting from the floor, 5/8 from downtown and 12/12 at the free-throw line.
Mikaela Ruef also delivered a monstrous triple-double made up of 19 points, 30 rebounds and 10 assists with Grace Champion contributing 13 points, three boards and three steals, Majella Carey 11 points and seven rebounds, and Kendell Heremaia 11 points and four boards.
The Force have now lost their first five games of the season despite Kahlaijah Dean coming up huge with 38 points and two steals on 12/25 shooting from the floor, 5/11 from deep and 9/12 at the charity stripe.
Claire Fraser added 18 points and two rebounds, and Lorna Shepherd seven points and three boards.
Ipswich will be in the Top End to take on the Darwin Salties next Saturday night with the Seahawks to host the South West Metro Pirates next Sunday.
IPSWICH FORCE 74 (Dean 38, Fraser 18, Shepherd 7)
NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 106 (Goodchild 39, Ruef 19, Champion 13)
Sunshine Coast Phoenix (88) defeated Cairns Dolphins (68)
The Sunshine Coast Phoenix are on the board for 2024 with Carlie Smith starring in their 88-68 win at home over the Cairns Dolphins.
It was the battle of the two teams yet to record a win this NBL1 North season with both of them also coming off losses on Friday night with the Phoenix going down to the Seahawks and the Dolphins to the Wizards.
So both teams had remarkably similar back stories coming into their Saturday match up at Maroochydore Stadium and by the end of the first quarter, it was the visiting Dolphins with the narrow 21-20 lead.
Sunshine Coast began to pull away, though, leading into half-time and by the break were on top 40-31.
The lead for the Phoenix got out to as much as 12 points in the third quarter and then 21 in the fourth as they completed the job in style for the 20-point victory to open their account for 2024.
Carlie Smith was the star of the victory for Sunshine Coast finishing with 30 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and four steals on the back of shooting 13/21 from the floor.
Haylee Andrews added 15 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, Madeleine White 14 points, five boards and five assists, and Amy Browne 11 points, four steals and three rebounds.
The Dolphins are now 0-6 on the season following the loss but the signs from the Bond sisters was especially encouraging despite the result. Taryn finished with 26 points, five rebounds and three steals, and Teyahna 17 points, three boards, three assists and three steals.
Sunshine Coast will be next in action next Sunday host the Brisbane Capitals while Cairns is back home to the Townsville Flames on Saturday.
SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 88 (Smith 30, Andrews 15, White 14)
CAIRNS DOLPHINS 68 (Taryn Bond 26, Teyahna Bond 17, Pearson 7)
Townsville Flames (101) defeated Mackay Meteorettes (73)
The Townsville Flames continued their winning ways with a dominant 101-73 victory at home to the Mackay Meteorettes.
The Flames were back home at StarFM Stadium on a four-game winning streak playing host to a Meteorettes team attempting to win a second game of the season.
Townsville made a flying start to the contest with 30 points to 15 in the first quarter before extending that lead further to as much as 20 in the second term.
The Flames were still leading 49-36 by half-time and then continued on with the job in the second half with the lead growing to 23 points in the third frame, and 30 in the fourth.
Townsville ended up winning by 28 points to improve to a 5-1 record on the season with the five wins in-a-row with Alex Fowler continuing her standout form with another 22 points, six rebounds and five assists on 10/16 shooting from the field.
Kate Gaze also delivered 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists on 8/11 shooting with Saffron Shiels adding 17 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks, and Indiah Bowyer 14 points, two assists and two steals.
Ella Tofaeono also finished with 11 points and eight rebounds with Katherine Anderson adding nine points and two boards on 4/6 shooting.
Mackay is now 1-3 to start the season with Taylor Mole finishing with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists, Chelsea Brook 15 points, 12 boards, three assists and two steals, and Sara Storeshaw 13 points, two assists and two steals.
Townsville is on the road to Cairns next Saturday while Mackay is back home to play host to the Northside Wizards.
TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 101 (Fowler 22, Gaze 20, Shiels 17)
MACKAY METEORETTES 73 (Mole 20, Brook 15, Storeshaw 13)
Southern Districts Spartans (76) lost to Logan Thunder (83)
Logan Thunder are on the board for 2024 with Chevannah Paalvast and Mikhaela Cann combining for 54 points in the 83-76 victory on the road to the Southern Districts Spartans.
Logan had lost its opening four matches of the season upon arrival at Rowland Cowan Stadium to take on Southern Districts who were looking to bounce back from last week's loss to the Brisbane Capitals.
The Thunder did open up an eight-point lead in the opening quarter but by quarter-time that lead was back to just the one-point.
Then just as Logan went back up 10 in the second period, Southern Districts responded impressively scoring 11 straight points to end up leading 40-37 heading into half-time.
The Spartans were still leading by eight early in the fourth quarter, but then the Thunder dug deep for their most impressive finish to a game this season to turn that eight-point deficit into the eventual seven-point victory.
Logan improves to 1-4 on the season as a result of the win with Mikhaela Cann delivering 27 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals with 11/16 free-throw shooting.
Chevannah Paalvast also had 27 points, 14 rebounds and two steals with 4/8 three-point shooting while Sharni Reisinger added 14 points and four rebounds, and Jade Kirisome eight points, three boards, two assists and two steals.
Southern Districts are now 3-3 with the loss despite Maddy Allen putting up another 19 points and seven assists with 4/8 shooting from beyond the three-point line.
Ariana Moorer also had 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, Steph Bairstow 12 points and six boards, and Kalani Purcell 10 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.
The Spartans hit the road again to play the South West Metro Pirates next Saturday with the Thunder to play host to the Gold Coast Rollers.
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 76 (Allen 19, Moorer 19, Bairstow 12)
LOGAN THUNDER 83 (Paalvast 27, Cann 27, Reisinger 14)
MEN
Gold Coast Rollers (98) defeated Northside Wizards (94)
Will Magnay and Preston Le Gassick were in for the Gold Coast Rollers and they got the win over the Northside Wizards, but only just 98-94 in overtime.
Gold Coast won the first two games of the season and then had lost the last two heading into Saturday night's match up at Carrara Stadium up against a Wizards team looking to bounce back from Friday night's loss at home to the Cairns Marlins.
The Gold Coast team was boosted with the addition of 2022 championship winner Le Gassick and Tasmania JackJumpers championship winning centre Magnay, and the Rollers narrowly led 17-16 by quarter-time.
Northside then turned the tide with 33 points to 24 in the second period to go into the half-time break 49-41.
The Wizards remained in control for a lot of the second half too leading by 14 points in the third quarter and still by 11 in the fourth, but the Rollers wouldn’t go away and it was Le Gassick who sparked their resurgence.
He knocked down a three-pointer and then scored going to the basket to cut the deficit to three with four minutes to play before Jason Cadee threw an alley-oop for Magnay to flush and make it a one-point ball game.
Northside responded with the next four points but Cadee free-throws kept Gold Coast close and then a Daniel Titus dunk tied scores up.
Lual Diing put the Wizards back on top with a minute to play with Mitchell Poulain stretching the lead to three at the foul line but it was Le Gassick who was feeling it in his first game of the season.
He hit another triple to tie scores up and ultimately send the game to overtime, and then in the extra period Gold Coast were able to keep the momentum rolling to outscore the Wizards 14 points to 10 to score the four-point win.
Reigning MVP Jason Cadee was superb for Gold Coast delivering 25 points, 15 assists and six rebounds while hitting 4/7 from downtown with Preston Le Gassick marking his return with 21 points on 4/7 three-point shooting.
Elijah Kamu also delivered 18 points and six rebounds, Daniel Titus 12 points and eight boards, Boston Mazlin 10 points and three rebounds, and Will Magnay 10 points, 14 boards and five blocked shots fresh off winning the NBL championship.
It was a tough loss for the Wizards to swallow as they slip to 2-5 on the season despite 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists from Cairns Taipans signing Jackson Makoi.
Lual Diing added 21 points and 14 rebounds, Jamie Ahale 18 points, seven boards and three assists, and Nikau McCullough 12 points and three rebounds.
Gold Coast is on the road to Logan Thunder next Saturday with the Wizards away to the Mackay Meteors.
GOLD COAST ROLLERS 98 (Cadee 25, Le Gassick 21, Kamu 18)
NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 94 (Makoi 26, Diing 21, Ahale 18)
Ipswich Force (91) defeated North Gold Coast Seahawks (87)
It was only fitting that it was a dunk from Henry Makeny that secured the Ipswich Force the 91-87 home win against the North Gold Coast Seahawks.
The defending champions were back home on Saturday night at JBS Stadium looking to hit back from losing its past two matches up against a Seahawks team having beaten the Sunshine Coast Phoenix the previous evening.
It was a high scoring opening quarter with the two teams combining for 61 points and North Gold Coast would lead by as much as 11 points, and still be on top 34-27 by the end of one.
The scoring dried up in the second term and with the teams combining for just 24 points, Ipswich scored 16 of those and that saw them lead 43-42 at the half-time break.
The Force were then able to open up an eight-point lead in the second half but North Gold Coast weren’t going away and got back to within two points late thanks to a three-point bomb from William Mahoney.
Nathan Sobey was able to find Henry Makeny, however, for the game sealing dunk for the Force to secure the four-point win and improve the defending champions to a 3-3 record on the season.
DJ Mitchell starred in the win for Ipswich with 24 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots with 4/6 three-point shooting.
Nathan Sobey added 20 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, Henry Makeny 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Henry Pwono 10 points and seven boards.
North Gold Coast is now 3-4 on the season after splitting its weekend with Cameron Healy finishing with 25 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Kane Bishop added 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Nathaniel Salmon 16 points, three boards and two assists, William Mahoney 11 points, and Matt Kenyon 10 points and 17 rebounds.
Ipswich will be in the Top End to take on the Darwin Salties next Saturday night with the Seahawks to host the South West Metro Pirates next Sunday.
IPSWICH FORCE 91 (Mitchell 24, Sobey 20, Makeny 15)
NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 87 (Healy 25, Bishop 21, Salmon 16)
Sunshine Coast Phoenix (99) defeated Cairns Marlins (94)
The Sunshine Coast Phoenix withstood 36 points from Kody Stattmann to bounce back from a Friday night loss to score the 99-94 victory at home to the Cairns Marlins.
Sunshine Coast were back home at Maroochydore Stadium looking to respond to a loss to the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Friday while Cairns opened a double-header road trip beating the Northside Wizards.
The Phoenix had already opened up a seven-point lead by quarter-time with that lead ballooning to 21 points in the second period before the home team went into the half-time break on top 56-37.
The Sunshine Coast lead was back out to 21 points in the third quarter as well but Cairns fought back and on the back of scoring 13 points in-a-row, even grabbed the lead briefly in the fourth quarter.
However, Ky Stattmann fouling out didn’t help their cause and Sunshine Coast was able to retake the lead by scoring seven straight points to end up winning by five to improve to a 4-2 record with both teams splitting their double-header weekends.
Nelson Kahler ended up with 23 points, 13 rebounds and two assists on 11/12 shooting in the win for the Phoenix with Jamaal Robateau producing 22 points, eight boards, three assists and three steals.
Duom Dawam added 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots with 3/3 three-point shooting while Kobe McDowell-White had 15 points and 16 assists, and Jeryn Lucas 12 points and three assists.
Cairns is now 3-3 following the loss with Kody Stattmann coming up huge with 36 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Alex Mudronja also had 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Ky Stattmann 14 points, six boards and three assists, and Aron Farmer eight points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Sunshine Coast will be next in action next Sunday host the Brisbane Capitals while Cairns is back home to the Townsville Heat on Saturday.
SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 99 (Kahler 23, Robateau 22, Dawam 18)
CAIRNS MARLINS 94 (Kody Stattmann 36, Mudronja 14, Dennis 14, Ky Stattmann 14)
Townsville Heat (87) lost to Mackay Meteors (102)
The firepower of the Mackay Meteors was again on show as they remained the lone undefeated team left in the NBL1 North men's competition beating the Townsville Heat 102-87.
Townsville was back home at StarFM Stadium looking to bounce back from a loss to the Darwin Salties up against the undefeated Meteors who arrived having won their opening three matches in impressive fashion.
The Heat made an exciting start on their home floor with an 11-0 run in the first quarter to open up a 13-point advantage, but by quarter-time Mackay had worked back into the contest to cut the deficit to four.
Townsville was still clinging to a 46-45 advantage at half-time and the Heat did manage to lead again by four in the third frame, but the longer the game went and the more the Meteors began to work their way on top.
Mackay would put up 26 points to 14 in the third quarter and end up leading by as much as 17 points in the final period on the way to the 15-point win to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Brisbane Bullets NBL guard Isaac White starred in the win for the Meteors with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists on 9/18 shooting from the field, 3/7 from downtown and 5/6 from the foul line.
Luca Yates also had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Jerron Jamerson 19 points, three boards and two blocked shots, and Todd Blanchfield 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Townsville is now 2-4 following back-to-back defeats with Richard Peachey producing 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Harry Morris 21 points and six rebounds.
Ethan Betts also had 12 points, six assists and five rebounds, Matthew Rees 12 points, nine boards and four assists, and Chris Kann 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
Townsville is on the road to Cairns next Saturday while Mackay is back home to play host to the Northside Wizards.
TOWNSVILLE HEAT 87 (Peachey 22, Morris 21, Betts 12, Rees 12)
MACKAY METEORS 102 (White 26, Yates 20, Jamerson 19)
Southern Districts Spartans (106) defeated Logan Thunder (64)
The Brisbane Bullets pairing of Tyrell Harrison and Mitch Norton lifted the Southern Districts Spartans to the dominant 106-64 win at home to Logan Thunder.
The Spartans were back home at Rowland Cowan Stadium looking to snap a three-game losing slide hosting a Logan team having won three of four matches so far in 2024.
Considering it's a Spartans team not only featuring Bullets pair Harrison and Norton, but also Tasmania JackJumpers championship winner Jarred Bairstow and former Perth Wildcats guard Corey Shervill, and wins shouldn’t be too far away.
Coached as well by Peter Crawford and there's the recipe there for success and it started to come together at home on Saturday night with the Spartans managing to lead 29-23 by quarter-time.
Southern Districts then dominated the rest of the contest with 28 points to 12 in the second quarter, 26 to 16 in the third, and 23 to 13 in the fourth on the way to leading by as much as 44 points and to win in the end by 42.
The victory improves the Spartans to a 2-4 record with Bullets centre Tyrell Harrison a dominant force with 30 points, 18 rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 12/18 shooting from the floor.
His Bullets point guard Mitch Norton also had 18 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals with Corey Shervill contributing 13 points and 10 boards.
Andre Ugrinic also had 12 points and eight rebounds, Jarred Bairstow 11 points, four boards and three assists, and Mason Honeyman 10 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Logan slips to 3-2 with the defeat with Zac Triplett finishing with 19 points and six rebounds, Callum Dalton 12 points and five boards, and Shaun Bruce 12 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
The Spartans hit the road again to play the South West Metro Pirates next Saturday with the Thunder to play host to the Gold Coast Rollers.
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 106 (Harrison 30, Norton 18, Shervill 13)
LOGAN THUNDER 64 (Triplett 19, Dalton 12, Bruce 12)
