NBL1 East Recap | Friday First Nations Round

Violet Morrow starred in the Friday NBL1 East win for the Bankstown Bruins while the Norths Bears blew the Inner West Bulls away and in men's action, Johnny Crnogorac starred for the Sydney Comets and the Bulls consolidated second position.

There were two games on Friday night to open First Nations Round in the NBL1 East and the women's results saw the Bankstown Bruins defeat the Sydney Comets 77-72, and the Norths Bears defeat the Inner West Bulls 116-44.

The men's results produced the Bulls defeating the Bears 95-85 and the Comets downing the Bruins 95-74.

WOMEN

Morrow lifts Bruins over shorthanded Comets

A huge performance from Violet Morrow saw the Bankstown Bruins overcome the Sydney Comets 77-72 at home on Friday night to open First Nations Round in the NBL1 East.

Any minute hope the Comets still had of reaching the top four this season rested on winning their remaining four games so they were in a must-win situation coming into the contest at Bankstown Basketball Stadium.

That didn’t stop it from being an entertaining contest and it was the Bruins who raced out to a 10-point lead before the Comets scored seven straight points.

However, Bankstown got back out to a 10-point lead in the second quarter before still leading 40-33 by half-time.

However, Sydney fired back in the third quarter to briefly grab the lead but Bankstown just weren’t going to be denied.

The Bruins would lead by eight again in the fourth stanza and then ended up winning by five from there for an eighth win of the season. 

The Comets also slip to 11-8 with an eight straight defeat with a continued shorthanded roster with coach Shelley Gorman only going with a rotation of six players, and only having seven suit up.

Violet Morrow was the star of the evening in the win for Bankstown with 27 points and 17 rebounds including going 10/10 at the foul line.

Britney Wright also had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Shalome Dunlop nine points, two rebounds and two assists, and Kiahna Davis-White nine points, six boards, three assists and two blocks.

Jada Crawshaw put up 17 points and 14 rebounds for the shorthanded Comets with Piper Anderson added 18 points, three boards and two steals, Alexandra Kayrouz 17 points and four rebounds, and Vanessa Panousis 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Bears blow Bulls away with huge second half

The Norths Bears outscored the Inner West Bulls 68 points to 16 in the second half on the way to the 116-44 Friday night home victory in the NBL1 East.

With three weeks and four games of the regular season going, the Bears do need to keep winning to make sure of a top four finish and hold out the Sutherland Sharks, and they showed no mercy on the Bulls at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.

While the Bears were on top in the first half, it wasn’t quite the demolition job that was to come but the lead did get out to 22 points after Norths scored 22 consecutive points either side of quarter-time.

The Bears were leading 48-28 by half-time but then it was a remarkable dominance in the second half. Norths would outscore the Bulls 37 points to 11 in the third quarter and 31 to five in the fourth on the way to the eventual 72-point triumph.

Carla Pitman played just under 22 minutes for the Bears but ended up top-scoring with 21 points to go with six rebounds, four steals and three assists on 9/18 shooting from the floor and 2/4 from deep.

Madeleine O'Hehir added 19 points and three assists, Sarah Schicher 11 points and seven rebounds, Emily Simons 11 points, five boards and three steals, and Jolene Anderson 11 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Kate Seebohm also had 10 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and four steals, and Jessica Bygate 10 points and seven boards.

Maja Peric top-scored for Inner West with 10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.

MEN

Crnogorac fires Comets to win over Bruins

The Sydney Comets recorded their ninth victory of the NBL1 East season by defeating the Bankstown Bruins 95-74 on the road on Friday night.

It was a flying start from the Comets on the road to open First Nations Round as they scored 11 consecutive points on the way to leading 30-13 by the end of the first quarter.

Another 26 points to 19 in the second term and the Sydney lead was out to as much as 24 points while they were on top 56-32 with that advantage at the half-time break.

The Comets lead grew further to 25 points in the third quarter and 26 in the fourth to see them end up winning by 21 and improve to an 8-11 record as a result. The Bruins are 4-14 with the defeat.

Johnny Crnogorac ended up delivering 25 points and seven rebounds for the Comets while knocking down 5/9 of his three-point attempts and going 6/6 at the free-throw line.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk also had 23 points, four rebounds and four assists for Sydney, Isaac Ayoubi 13 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals, Archer Woodhill 10 points, seven boards and two assists, and Matthew Wacher 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Hayden Blankley had a significant performance for Bankstown despite the loss with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists with Kobe Shannon adding 16 points, seven boards, four assists and three steals.

Bryant, Morrow ensure Bulls stay second

The Inner West Bulls held off a fast finishing Norths Bears on Friday night in a result that could very well lock them away a top two finish in the NBL1 East.

With the Bulls sitting second at 14-3 and the Bears third at 13-5 coming into the contest at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre meaning there was plenty at stake not to mention the fact it could be an early finals preview.

It was the visiting Inner West who got off to the impressive start with 31 points to 18 in the opening quarter and they would be in control the rest of the way in a mighty impressive showing.

The Bulls would lead by as much as 16 points in the second quarter before being in control at 55-44 at half-time before taking charge further in the third stanza with another 26 points to 17.

That saw the Inner West lead grow to 25 points in the third quarter and from there the Bulls scored the eventual 10-point victory to see them move clear in second position.

With the win, the Bulls improve to a 15-3 record while the Bears are 13-6 with four and three games remaining respectively.

Chris Bryant was one of the stars of the win for Inner West with 28 points, 14 rebounds and three steals on shooting 11/16 from the field while Blake Morrow contributed 23 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Nicko Timonera added 16 points on 4/7 three-point shooting while James MacCann put up nine points and four assists, and Alex Higgins-Titsha eight points, eight rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks.

Robert Moore top-scored for Norths with 17 points and two assists with Michael Golding contributing 16 points, six boards, three assists and two steals, Michael Yoong 16 points and 11 assists, and Lewis Holey 11 points and 17 rebounds.

Alexander Higgins-Titsha finishes the lob??

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