NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Round 10

It was a dramatic Saturday in the NBL1 East with a Lauren Nicholson triple-double for the Sutherland Sharks, while Shyla Heal and Vanessa Panousis combined for 47 points for the Sydney Comets while the Sharks men and Canberra Gunners snapped winning runs for the Hills Hornets and Inner West Bulls.

Saturday's NBL1 East women's results saw the Newcastle Falcons defeat the Bankstown Bruins 86-66 while the Canberra Nationals beat the Inner West Bulls 89-60, the Centre of Excellence downed the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 99-65, and the Sydney Comets prevailed 82-70 against the Illawarra Hawks.

The Albury-Wodonga Bandits also beat the Maitland Mustangs 68-63 while the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles downed the Penrith Panthers 114-61, the Norths Bears defeated the Central Coast Crusaders 107-63, and the Sutherland Sharks downed the Hills Hornets 83-43.

In the men's action, the Centre of Excellence beat Hornsby 104-54, Newcastle defeated Bankstown 66-62, Norths downed Central Coast 89-78, Sutherland prevailed 95-88 against the Hornets and the Canberra Gunners beat the Inner West Bulls 99-73, the Hawks beat the Comets 77-55, the Mustangs defeated the Bandits 91-80, and the Sea Eagles won 81-69 over the Panthers.

WOMEN

Shiels leads Centre of Excellence to bounce back win

The Centre of Excellence bounced back from a rare loss and put up a monstrous first quarter to set up the eventual 99-65 win against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Basketball Australia team were coming off just their second loss of the season last week at the hands of the Sutherland Sharks, but they took out that frustration on the winless Spiders at The Brickpit.

The CoE emerging stars put on a blistering first quarter with 36 points to already have a 19-point lead by quarter-time. From there, the Centre of Excellence pushed their lead out to 30 points in the second quarter and 37 in the second half before ending up winning by 34.

The result improves the CoE to a 9-2 record on the season while the Spiders remain winless in 12 attempts in their first season in the NBL1 East.

Newcastle product Saffron Shiels had a breakout performance for the Centre of Excellence with 21 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists on 9/14 shooting with West Australian Jayda Clark adding 20 points, six boards and two assists.

Sienna Harvey contributed 16 points, two assists and two steals, Bonne Deas 11 points and five boards, and Isla Juffermans 10 points and five rebounds.

Kristina Moore delivered 28 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals for Hornsby with Mizuki Wakamatsu contributing 11 points and two assists.

Falcons beat Bruins to keep hot form going

The Newcastle Falcons made it five consecutive wins with Saturday's 86-66 victory on the road to the Bankstown Bruins.

The Falcons made a flying start at Bankstown Basketball Stadium with 25 points to nine in the opening quarter which set them up for the victory in the end.

While the lead for Newcastle did grow to as much as 27 points in the third quarter, Bankstown kept on fighting and kept the final winning margin for the Falcons to 20.

The result improves the Falcons to a 9-1 record with five straight wins while the Bruins are now 6-5.

Abigail Curtin finished the afternoon with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Newcastle with Mykea Gray adding 20 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds, and Nicole Munger 18 points, 11 boards, four assists and three steals.

Violet Morrow did all she could to keep Bankstown in the contest continuing her strong recent form with 35 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. 

Britney Wright added 22 points, seven rebounds and four steals but the rest of the team only combined for nine points on 3/17 shooting.

Bears light it up to inflict more pain on Crusaders

The Norths Bears made it six consecutive wins by hammering the Central Coast Crusaders 107-63 at home on Saturday night.

The Bears were back at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre on a five-game winning streak hosting a Crusaders team who had lost six straight heading into the Saturday night match up.

It didn’t take long for Norths to work on top leading 26-14 by the end of the first quarter. The Bears kept stretching that lead throughout the night to be up by 21 at half-time, 32 at three quarter-time and then to end up winning by 44.

The victory improves the Bears to a 9-2 record with six straight wins while the Crusaders have lost seven in-a-row at 4-9.

The Bears made 14/34 three-point shots as a team including Madeleine O'Hehir nailing 3/6 for 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Emma Donnelly also made 3/6 for 14 points with Holly Wills hitting 3/4 for 14 points and three assists with Sarah Schlicher contributing 12 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists, and Kate Seebohm 10 points, eight boards and six assists.

Jonalyn Wittwer top-scored for Central Coast with 13 points, three rebounds and two steals with Rachel Maenpaa adding 10 points and five boards, and Nicole Hutchins eight points and six rebounds.

Sharks keep winning on Nicholson's triple-double

The Sutherland Sharks continue to build some ominous form on the back of another triple-double from Lauren Nicholson in Saturday night's 83-43 victory against the Hills Hornets.

The Sharks came into the contest with the Hornets having won their past two matches and it didn’t take long to assert their control with 24 points to seven in the opening period.

Another 29 points to 13 in the third quarter and 15 to nine in the fourth saw Sutherland romp to the 40-point victory to improve to an 8-4 record on the season.

The Hornets are now 2-10 with back-to-back defeats.

Lauren Nicholson was tremendous once more for the Sharks producing a triple-double made up of 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to go with four steals and making 11/12 of her free-throw attempts.

Madeline Norris added 16 points and seven rebounds for Sutherland, Aliza Fabbro 11 points and four boards, Manuela Piljevic 10 points and four steals, and Olivia White eight points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Taylah Cottees top-scored for the Hornets with 15 points and four rebounds with Taryn Mahoney contributing 12 points, six boards and three steals.

Tonks, Solway, Boutzos combine for 14 threes in Nationals win

The Canberra Nationals returned to the NBL1 East winner's list on Saturday evening beating the Inner West Bulls 89-60 in the nation's capital.

Not much separated the two teams coming into the contest with the Nationals sitting on a 3-7 record having lost their past two matches and the Bulls at 3-8 also having lost their previous two.

Canberra came out on a mission, though, and scored 31 points to eight in the opening quarter to almost put the game to bed by quarter-time.

The Nationals would end up leading by 33 points in the second quarter and then by as much as 37 in the second half before settling on the 29-point victory to improve to 4-7 on the season with the Bulls now 3-9.

Lizzy Tonks was outstanding in the win for Canberra with 31 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals on 12/19 shooting overall and 5/9 from deep.

Abby Solway added 21 points, four assists, three steals and two boards while also nailing 5/7 from beyond the arc with Jasmyn Boutzos contributing 12 points and three assists with 4/8 three-point shooting.

Maja Peric top-scored for Inner West with 21 points and five rebounds with Leilani Mitchell contributing another 11 points, five assists and three rebounds, and Jaydan Thomson 10 points, two rebounds and two steals.

The full court dime from Abby Solway! ?

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Heal, Panousis lead Comets over Hawks

The Sydney Comets continue to build some ominous momentum in the NBL1 East with an 82-70 road win against the Illawarra Hawks.

With Shyla Heal and Vanessa Panousis combining for 47 points for the Comets, they proved too much for a Hawks team that never gave up the ghost coming off a win against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

Sydney finished the opening quarter strongly to lead by six at quarter-time before Illawarra hit back with a 10-0 run and that cut the Comets advantage to just two by the half-time break.

The Comets turned the tide again in the third quarter with 10 consecutive points to push their lead back out to double-figures, and to eventually win by the 12 points.

The result sees the Comets improve to 9-2 on the season with three straight wins while the Hawks slip to 2-9.

Shyla Heal finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Comets while knocking down 4/8 from three-point range with Vanessa Panousis contributing 20 points, six assists and two rebounds.

Jada Crawshaw had another 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Alexandra Kayrouz six points, seven boards, four assists and two steals.

Ella Dent finished with 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds for Illawarra with Emilia Garcia Leon adding 18 points and eight boards, and Rebecca Abel 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Sea Eagles hit 17 threes to maintain top spot

The league-leading Manly Warringah Sea Eagles flexed their muscles once more on Saturday evening with a 114-61 hammering of the Penrith Panthers.

The Panthers were at home at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre looking for their fourth win of the NBL1 East season but it was always going to be quite the challenge against a Sea Eagles team in top spot and having won nine straight.

That's exactly how it panned out with the Sea Eagles putting up 30 points to 13 in the opening quarter. Manly Warringah then pushed its lead out to 36 during the second quarter and with 37 points to 19, they were up 67-32 by the half-time break.

The Sea Eagles ended up outscoring the Panthers 47 points to 29 in the second half as well to end up winning by 53 points to improve to 11-1 on the season with the 10 consecutive wins. Penrith is now 3-9 with a second straight loss.

Alex Delaney delivered 20 points, four rebounds and three assists with 4/9 three-point shooting for a Manly Warringah team who went 17/36 from beyond the arc collectively.

Kim Hodge ended up with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, Bree Delaney 16 points, four boards, four assists and four steals, and Sari Mowbray 15 points on 5/7 three-point shooting.

Felicity Henderson also had 13 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals, and Josie Bulman 10 points and six boards.

Meg Jefferson put up 22 points and five rebounds for Penrith with Chloe Williams contributing 15 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Bandits hold out Mustangs for road victory

The defending champion Albury-Wodonga Bandits bounced back to beat the Maitland Mustangs 68-63 on the road on Saturday evening.

The Bandits suffered a loss to the Illawarra Hawks last week and had lost five of their previous seven matches after winning the first four games of their championship defence so they needed a confidence boosting win against Maitland.

The Bandits started well to open up a six-point lead in the opening quarter before they opened up a match-winning advantage to lead by as much as 20 in the second period.

Albury-Wodonga would still be up 46-26 at the long break and then while Maitland threw everything at a fight back in the second half, they couldn’t quite pull it off with the Bandits holding on for the five-point victory.

The win improves Albury-Wodonga to a 7-5 record in their championship defence while Maitland is now 6-5.

Emma Mahady put up 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for Albury-Wodonga with Mikayla Pivec adding 11 points, 15 boards, three assists and three steals, Ashlee Hannan 11 points and five rebounds, and Casey Ardern 10 points.

Mila Wawszkowicz top-scored for the Mustangs with 19 points, five rebounds and two assists with Shakera Reilly adding 15 points, four boards and two assists, and Sydney Hunter 14 points, 20 rebounds and two steals.

Shakera Reilly from way down town! ?

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MEN

Deep talent pool shines for Centre of Excellence

The Centre of Excellence have kept their winning win going and made the perfect start to their double-header weekend beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 104-54 on Saturday.

Hornsby was still chasing its first win in the NBL1 East and had some heartbreakingly close calls in recent weeks including against the Norths Bears last week, and going back a couple of weeks a run of three losses by a combined four points.

So there was every chance the Spiders could challenge the Centre of Excellence but it wasn’t to be with the Basketball Australia young guns getting going early with 26 points to 13 in the opening quarter.

The CoE team continued to dominate from there and by the time they had completed a 13-0 run, they were 33 points ahead of the Spiders and went into the half-time break on top 52-21.

It was more of the same in the second half and margin got out to a game-high 50 points by the final buzzer with the CoE improving to a 10-1 record as well. Hornsby is now 0-12 in its first season in the NBL1 East.

There was again plenty to like from the Centre of Excellence with all 11 players who hit the court scoring, and playing at least 14 minutes with no one playing more than 23 minutes either by coach Robbie McKinlay.

Dragos Lungu ended up top-scoring with 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals on 7/11 shooting while Jacob Furphy went 4/5 from three-point land for 12 points.

Ben Henshall put up 16 points, Alex Toohey 11 points, Rocco Zikarsky 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, Julius Halaifonua 10 points and nine board, and Kye Savage 10 points, three steals and two assists.

It was a tough afternoon for Hornsby with Patrick Fraser top-scoring with 18 points and three rebounds with Ben White adding 10 points and four boards, and Jorgos Papadopoulos eight points and two rebounds.

What a block by Alex Toohey! ?

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Cherry dominates as Falcons hold out Bruins

A dominant showing from Myles Cherry with 26 points and 16 rebounds has led the Newcastle Falcons to a hard earned road win against the Bankstown Bruins.

Newcastle raced out to an eight-point lead and were still up by three at quarter-time. While the Bruins grabbed the lead briefly early in the second quarter, Newcastle took back control and scored 13 consecutive points to take a 14-point lead.

The Falcons were still on top by that 14-point margin at half-time but Bankstown fired back with a 9-0 run in the third period to close the gap and set up a thrilling finish.

Ultimately it was a dagger three-pointer from Ryan Beisty that restored a seven-point lead for Newcastle with two and-a-half minutes to play and they went on to win from there by four.

The victory improves the Falcons to a 6-4 record on the season while Bankstown couldn’t quite make it consecutive wins and slip to 2-9.

Myles Cherry had a monster performance for Newcastle made up of 27 points and 20 rebounds on shooting 11/16 from the floor and 5/10 at the foul line.

Anthony Gaines added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Ryan Beisty 11 points, 11 boards, three blocked shots, two assists and two steals.

Hayden Blankley finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Bankstown despite shooting 5/18 from the floor with Alex Foster contributing 10 points, three boards and two assists, Dragan Elkaz nine points and four rebounds, and Kobe Shannon seven points, four boards, three assists and two steals.

Yoong's shooting helps Bears beat Crusaders

The Norths Bears have maintained pace with the league-leaders in the NBL1 East beating the Central Coast Crusaders 89-78 with Michael Yoong knocking down five three-pointers.

The Bears came into the contest in third position having won their past three matches ahead of hosting a Crusaders team trying to stop a five-game losing slide.

It was Central Coast who got off to the better start leading by two at quarter-time and it was remained a tight contest leading into half-time even though the Bears did manage to assume the 42-38 lead.

The Bears pulled away in the third quarter, though, and opened up a 12-point advantage which they would go on to maintain through the rest of the contest to prevail by nine points.

The win improves Norths to a 10-2 record with four consecutive wins while it's a sixth straight loss for Central Coast who are now 3-8.

Michael Yoong produced a standout shooting performance for the Bears with 25 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals on the back of going 8/10 from the floor, 5/6 from three-point range and 4/4 at the foul line.

Lewis Holey added 14 points, 13 rebounds and two steals, Brennan Rymer 17 points, four boards and three assists, and Michael Golding 10 points, nine boards and nine assists to go ever so close to that triple-double.

Aaron Redhead finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks for Central Coast with James Trustum contributing 16 points and five boards, Alex Bailey 12 points and three rebounds, and Luke Cassidy 10 points, seven boards and five assists.

Sharks fire late to snap Hornets winning run

The Sutherland Sharks put together a huge fourth quarter to snap the seven-game winning run of the Hills Hornets with the 95-88 victory at home.

The Sharks were back home looking to bounce back from last week's Centre of Excellence defeat while the Hornets arrived at Sutherland Basketball Stadium on a seven-game winning streak after losing the opening four matches of the season.

The Hornets were full of confidence after those seven straight wins and the visitors managed to open up a two-point lead by quarter-time before scoring nine straight points in the second term to lead by 12.

They were still leading 56-48 by half-time and Hills were again up by 12 during the third term, but the Sharks stayed just close enough to strike. Sutherland then dominated the fourth period with 26 points to 12 to claim the seven-point victory.

The win improves Sutherland to an 8-4 record on the season while the Hornets are now 7-5 having suffered their first loss April 1 against the Newcastle Falcons.

All five starters scored at least 13 points for Sutherland but they also all played at least 30 minutes with their bench only combining for three points from Callum Norris in 32 minutes combined from the non-starting united.

However, the five starters delivered led by Lochlan Hutchison shaking off a slow start to finish with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists with 11/15 free-throw shooting.

Adrian Cabrera added 20 points on 3/5 three-point shooting with Geoff Gerlach contributing 19 points, 13 boards and four assists, Jordan Mitchell 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Marquel Beasley 13 points and four boards.

Liam Moss top-scored for the Hornets with 17 points, five steals, four assists and three rebounds with Lachlan Charlton contributing 12 points, Campbell Green 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, Ben Kearins 13 points, four assists and three boards, and Shawn Montague 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Gunners dominate second half to end Bulls' winning run

The defending champion Canberra Gunners hammered the league-leading Inner West Bulls 99-73 at home on Saturday night to snap the nine-game winning streak of their opponents.

Canberra came into the contest at Belconnen Basketball Stadium fresh off a 22-point win against the Sydney Comets but the Bulls had won nine straight matches to be sitting on top of the NBL1 East.

Christopher Bryant TOUGH AND-1 on the buzzer??

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And the Bulls started well enough to lead 19-17 by quarter-time before Canberra had levelled the scores up by half-time.

It was then all Canberra in the second with the Gunners outscoring the Bulls 28 points to nine in the third period, and 30 to 23 in the fourth to claim the 26-point win and that's quite a feat after scores were tied at the half.

The win improves the Gunners to a 7-4 record on the season with back-to-back wins while Inner West is now 10-2 having suffered a first loss since March 18 against the Centre of Excellence.

Reigning Grand Final MVP Glenn Morison was again the star for Canberra with 33 points and nine rebounds on 12/21 shooting from the floor and 9/10 at the charity stripe.

Cameron Pender added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Gunners, Nikhil Peters 14 points, four boards and three assists, John Mapiou 10 points, five rebounds and three steals, and James Toohey nine points, nine boards and four assists on 3/5 three-point shooting.

Blake Morrow finished with 23 points and six rebounds in the loss for Inner West with Chris Bryant contributing 22 points and three boards, Tony Tolovae 10 points and three rebounds, and Alex Higgins-Titsha 10 points, 13 boards, three steals and three blocks.

Chris Bryant is Top 10 material EVERY WEEK ?

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Pagotto fires Hawks to win over Comets

Noah Pagotto had a night out in a big victory for the Illawarra Hawks against the Sydney Comets at home on Saturday night.

The Hawks played host to the Comets at The Snakepit with the home team dominating the first, third and fourth quarters to end up winning 77-55.

Illawarra started well with 25 points to 14 in the opening period and then after the Comets did well to get back within five at half-time, it was all the Hawks after the break.

Illawarra outscored Sydney 38 points to 21 in the second half to win by 22 and improve to 6-5 on the season snapping a four-game losing run with the Comets now 6-4 with three straight defeats.

Noah Pagotto had a massive performance in the win for the Hawks with 29 points and 16 rebounds on 11/19 shooting from the field and 7/8 at the foul line.

Philip Dopud also had 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks with Tim Coenraad producing 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Frederick Webb nine points, nine assists and three rebounds.

Archer Woodhill delivered 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Comets with Matthew Wacher adding eight points and four steals, and Nicholas Black six points, six rebounds and two assists.

Frederick Webb with the smooth spin jumper ?

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Sea Eagles snap losing run at expense of Panthers

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles snapped an eight-game losing run for their second win of the NBL1 East season beating the Penrith Panthers 81-69.

The Panthers were back home attempting to record their fourth win of the season against a Manly Warringah team on an eight-game losing run, and it was Penrith who started well with 27 points to 21 in the opening period.

However, the Sea Eagles turned the game on its head with Noah Thomas leading the charge as they put up 27 points and held the Panthers to just six.

That set the tone for the rest of the evening with Manly Warringah going on to score the 12-point victory to improve to a 2-10 record to snap the eight-match losing run. Penrith has now lost consecutive matches to be 3-9.

Noah Thomas had a terrific all-round showing for the Sea Eagles with 24 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Mitch Evans added 15 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists, Jock McHugh nine points and 14 boards, Matthew Eldridge eight points and seven rebounds, and Keeto Browne eight points, three steals and two boards.

Caleb Fetui-Fa'amoe top-scored for Penrith with 20 points, six rebounds and two steals while Pranaya Sakya added 14 points, six boards and six assists, Brodie Schwarzer 11 points and four rebounds, and Jaedyn Fetui-Fa'amoe nine points and nine boards.

Mustangs get back to winning at expense of Bandits

The Maitland Mustangs bounced back to winning in the NBL1 East by defeating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 91-80 at home on Saturday night.

The Mustangs came into the contest having lost their past three matches ahead of hosting a Bandits team on their own three-game winning run.

However, it was Maitland on top for much of evening on Saturday with the home team leading 25-20 by quarter-time.

The Mustangs then stretched the lead to seven at half-time before still leading by six at three quarter-time, and ending up winning by 11 thanks to 22 points to 17 in the final period.

The victory improves Maitland to a 5-6 record on the season with Albury-Wodonga's winning run ending with them sitting at 6-6 as a result.

Matthew Gray delivered 25 points and seven rebounds in the win for Maitland while shooting 10/18 from the field and 3/6 from three-point territory.

Will Cranston-Lown added 20 points and six assists, Billy Parsons 15 points and four rebounds, Kevin Warren 13 points, five boards, four steals and three assists, and James Hunter 13 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Michael Parks put up 24 points and six rebounds on 10/12 shooting for Albury-Wodonga with Jamir Coleman adding 16 points, seven boards, six steals and three assists, and Lochlan Cummings 12 points, four assists and three rebounds.