Isa Brancatisano led the Mount Gambier Pioneers to a home NBL1 South win over the Launceston Tornadoes on Friday before Akech Aliir fired against a tenacious North West Tasmania Thunder.
It was a pair of wins for the Mount Gambier Pioneers at home to open Round 3 in the NBL1 South with the women beating the Launceston Tornadoes 79-63, and the men defeating the North West Tasmania Thunder 91-84.
RECAP NBL1 SOUTH | ROUND 2 SUNDAY
WOMEN
Mount Gambier Pioneers (79) defeated Launceston Tornadoes (63)
The Mount Gambier Pioneers continued their unbeaten start to the season defeating the Launceston Tornadoes 79-63 at home on Friday night.
Mount Gambier had won is opening four games of 2024 ahead of hosting the winless Tornadoes at Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre with the Pioneers stamping their authority on the contest.
The home team went on a 13-0 scoring run to end up leading 31-13 by quarter-time and the Pioneers remained in control the rest of the evening.
The lead for Mount Gambier kept on growing out to 25 points in the third quarter and 30 in the fourth.
To Launceston's credit they did keep fighting and even scored 10 consecutive points, but the Pioneers still won by 16 to improve to 5-0 on the season with the Torns now 0-4.
Isa Brancatisano produced a dominant display for Mount Gambier with 19 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and four steals with Zitina Aokuso adding 16 points, six assists, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
Haliegh Reinoehl also finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, Samantha Fatkin 13 points and six boards, and Zoe Hurley seven points, seven boards and three assists.
Trinity Oliver finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals for Launceston with Ava McDonald contributing 14 points and four boards, and Sarah O'Neill 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
It's the only game of the round for Mount Gambier while the Tornadoes back up against the Keilor Thunder on Sunday at 1pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.
MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 79 (Brancatisano 19, Aokuso 16, Reinoehl 14)
LAUNCESTON TORNADOES 63 (Oliver 20, McDonald 14, O'Neill 10)
MEN
Mount Gambier Pioneers (91) defeated North West Tasmania Thunder (84)
The Mount Gambier Pioneers had to dig deep and come from behind to overcome the North West Tasmania Thunder for the 91-84 home win on Friday night.
Mount Gambier came into the contest at Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre having lost its first game of the season last week also at home to the Ballarat Miners ahead of hosting a Thunder team having just one win from three games so far in 2024.
North West made a blistering start too opening up an 11-point lead in the first quarter and still being on top 28-19 by the end of one.
The Pioneers were able to turn the tide in the second frame outscoring North West 26 points to 16 to hold a narrow 45-44 advantage heading into half-time.
While Mount Gambier were able to open up a 10-point edge in the third quarter, the Thunder kept on coming and even regained the lead early in the final period on the back of a three-pointer from Tre Armstrong.
Akech Aliir continued his huge night for the Pioneers, though, to regain the lead for his team and they would hold on to that the rest of the way to end up winning by seven and improve to 4-1 on the season.
Even though North West finished the night taking 32 more field goal attempts than Mount Gambier on the back of pulling down 30 offensive rebounds to seven, it was the shooting of the Pioneers that was the difference.
Mount Gambier ended up shooting 57 per cent from the field opposed to the 37 per cent from the Thunder.
Akech Aliir ended the night with 30 points and seven rebounds for the Pioneers on 12/18 shooting from the field with Nick Marshall contributing 21 points, six boards and six assists.
Christian Peevy added 12 points and seven rebounds, Austin Shelley 10 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Dylan Marshall 11 points, four assists and three steals.
Tre Armstrong finished with 25 points for the Thunder on 7/19 shooting from three-point land.
Sekou Sylla also had 17 points and 17 rebounds, Seth Swalve 14 points, three assists and three steals, and Paul Campbell pulled down 12 rebounds including nine at the offensive end.
It's the only game of the round for Mount Gambier while North West Tasmania back up against the Keilor Thunder on Sunday at 3pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.
MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 91 (Aliir 30, N Marshall 21, Peevy 12)
NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 84 (Armstrong 25, Sylla 17, Swalve 14)
