Feature images: Megan Low / Kieron Place Art & Photography
Mikaela Ruef produced a remarkable 36-point, 26-rebound performance to keep the North Gold Coast Seahawks winning in the NBL1 North while the Townsville women, Logan men and Mackay men also had Friday night wins.
Friday night's women's NBL1 North results saw the Townsville Flames defeat Logan Thunder 79-64 and the North Gold Coast Seahawks beat the Mackay Meteorettes 104-90.
Then in the men's match ups, Logan defeated Townsville 93-85 and Mackay downed North Gold Coast 99-83.
RECAP NBL1 NORTH | ROUND 6 SUNDAY
WOMEN
Townsville Flames (79) defeated Logan Thunder (64)
The Townsville Flames kept their hot form going this NBL1 North season with the 79-64 home victory against the Logan Thunder.
Townsville arrived home at StarFM Stadium on a five-game winning streak to play host to a Logan team also having found some form winning its past two matches.
Even though Townsville managed to build a 12-point advantage during the second period, by half-time Logan were right back in the contest and the Flames' lead was just 37-33.
However, in the third quarter the home team rammed home their advantage as the Flames outscored the Thunder 25 points to 10 to end up leading by as much as 19 points.
That lead for Townsville grew to 24 points as well in the final stanza before they would end up winning by 15 on their home floor to make it six straight to improve to 7-1 on the season.
Alex Fowler delivered 20 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two steals on 8/14 shooting in the win for the Flames with Ella Tofaeono contributing 17 points, 14 boards and three assists.
Indiah Bowyer also had 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Saffron Shiels 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
The Thunder are now 2-5 with their winning run coming to an end with Chevannah Paalvast finishing with 16 points and five assists.
Prasayus Notoa also had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Mikhaela Cann 12 points, five assists and four steals, and Jade Kirisome eight points, five rebounds and two steals.
Logan is back in action in Far North Queensland also against the Cairns Dolphins on Saturday night with Townsville on the road next Friday night to the Northside Wizards.
TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 79 (Fowler 20, Tofaeono 17, Bowyer 15)
LOGAN THUNDER 64 (Paalvast 16, Notua 14, Cann 12)
North Gold Coast Seahawks (104) defeated Mackay Meteorettes (90)
With a remarkably dominant performance from Mikaela Ruef backed up by another 31 points from Miela Goodchild and the North Gold Coast Seahawks made it seven straight beating the Mackay Meteorettes 104-90.
The Seahawks were back home at Runaway Bay Stadium on a six-game winning streak with the combination of Ruef and Goodchild proving to be quite the dynamic combination.
Mackay arrived on a three-game losing slide as well with North Gold Coast racing to a 29-15 advantage by the end of the opening quarter.
That lead did get out to as much as 18 points in the second frame but the Meteorettes did well to stay in touch and cut that North Gold Coast lead to 50-39 by half-time.
The Seahawks could never quite completely put Mackay away, but they did maintain a handy lead throughout the second half with the advantage getting back to 18 once more in the final stanza.
North Gold Coast went on to win by 14 points to make it seven in-a-row at 8-1 with Mikaela Ruef having a stunningly dominant night ending up with 36 points, 26 rebounds and six assists on 14/22 shooting from the floor.
Miela Goodchild kept her form rolling with another 31 points, seven boards and four assists with Kendell Heremaia adding 21 points and three assists, and Grace Champion eight points, two rebounds and two steals.
Mackay is now 1-5 with four consecutive defeats with Taylor Mole ending the night with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Sam Halby also had 20 points, three rebounds and two assists with Cheyenne Bobongie contributing 14 points, Chelsea Brook 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, Phoebe Holmes 12 points, and Sara Storeshaw 10 points and eight assists.
The Meteorettes back up on the road to play the Gold Coast Rollers on Saturday night while the Seahawks don't play again until next Saturday night away to the South West Metro Pirates.
NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 104 (Ruef 36, Goodchild 31, Heremaia 21)
MACKAY METEORETTES 90 (Mole 20, Halby 20, Bobongie 14)
MEN
Townsville Heat (85) lost to Logan Thunder (93)
Logan Thunder were able to withstand the late charge from the Townsville Heat to score the eventual 93-85 victory to start their road double.
The Heat were back home at StarFM Stadium to host Logan on Friday night with the home team attempting to snap a three-game losing slide while the Thunder were looking to maintain pace with the top teams.
Logan did start the better to be leading 20-13 by quarter-time before pushing that lead out to eight in the second period and going into half-time up by that margin at 43-35.
The Thunder were threatening to blow the game wide open going out to an 18-point lead in the third quarter, but Townsville pulled it back well starting with an 11-0 scoring run to be back within nine points by three quarter-time.
The Heat then kept the momentum going into the final period and even grabbed the lead thanks to a couple of back-to-back baskets from Kyle Leslie even with Harry Morris out of the game injured.
Ethan Betts stretched that lead out to four as well but a Tom Howard triple for Logan cut the margin back to one.
Zac Triplett soon hit a three ball as well to tie scores up one more but the Thunder faced challenges to match the size of Townsville down the stretch with Callum Dalton and Howard then fouling out.
However, a couple of huge three-point bombs from Chris Cedar put Logan back on top and from there they were able to close the deal with Shaun Bruce showing his cool head with a big bucket and some clutch free-throws.
Logan improves to 5-2 on the season with the victory with Zac Triplett delivering 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals with 4/8 three-point shooting.
Tom Howard added 20 points and five rebounds while hitting 5/10 from three-point land with Shaun Bruce delivering 14 points and 12 assists, and Callum Dalton 19 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Townsville is now 2-6 following the defeat at home with Harry Morris top-scoring with 19 points on 6/10 shooting even though he played just over 15 minutes before going out hurt.
Ethan Betts added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Heat, Richard Peachey 13 points and three assists, Kyle Leslie 13 points, four boards and two steals, and Matthew Rees nine points, four rebounds and two assists.
Logan is back in action in Far North Queensland also against the Cairns Marlins on Saturday night with Townsville on the road next Friday night to the Northside Wizards.
TOWNSVILLE HEAT 85 (Morris 19, Betts 15, Peachey 13, Leslie 13)
LOGAN THUNDER 93 (Triplett 24, Howard 20, Dalton 19)
North Gold Coast Seahawks (83) lost to Mackay Meteors (99)
The Mackay Meteors kept their undefeated start to the NBL1 North season going with Todd Blanchfield and Isaac White leading them to the 99-83 road win over the North Gold Coast Seahawks.
Both teams brought winning form into the match up at Runaway Bay Stadium with the Seahawks winning last up against the South West Metro Pirates while the Meteors have won all five matches so far in 2024.
Despite Blanchfield catching fire for the Meteors to start the game and to open up an early 10-point lead, the Seahawks soon took over with a 12-0 scoring run to open up a 29-24 lead by quarter-time.
It was Mackay's turn to take the momentum back late in the second quarter scoring 16 straight points to turn a 10-point deficit into a six-point lead, and to be on top 49-43 by the half-time interval.
The Meteors were able to pull further away throughout the second half with their lead growing to 14 points in the third quarter and then 18 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 16-point victory.
The win improves Mackay to a perfect 6-0 record on the season with 402-game NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield leading the charge with 23 points and 10 rebounds on 10/18 shooting from the floor.
Brisbane Bullets guard Isaac White also had 15 points and 10 assists with Aiden Krause contributing 14 points and five rebounds, Jerron Jamerson 15 points and four boards, and Emmanuel Malou 11 points.
North Gold Coast is now 4-5 on the season following the defeat with Nathaniel Salmon top-scoring with 18 points and nine rebounds on 7/10 shooting from the field.
Matt Kenyon also ended up with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists, Kane Bishop 15 points, six boards and three assists, Cameron Healy 14 points and nine assists, and William Mahoney 10 points and four assists.
The Meteors back up on the road to play the Gold Coast Rollers on Saturday night while the Seahawks don't play again until next Saturday night away to the South West Metro Pirates.
NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 83 (Salmon 18, Bishop 15, Kenyon 15)
MACKAY METEORS 99 (Blanchfield 23, White 15, Krause 14)
