NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Round 8

It was a third straight heartbreaking loss for the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders men this time at the expense of the Penrith Panthers in the NBL1 East while Meg Jefferson led the Penrith women to a big win and the Inner West Bulls men snatched a thriller from the Newcastle Falcons.

The Saturday NBL1 East women's action saw the Sutherland Sharks defeat the Bankstown Bruins 92-67 with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 86-61, Norths Bears downing the Canberra Nations 80-50, and the Centre of Excellence defeating the Maitland Mustangs 70-56.

The Hills Hornets also defeated the Illawarra Hawks 69-63, the Penrith Panthers beat Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 85-65, the Sydney Comets downed the Central Coast Crusaders 91-60, and the Newcastle Falcons prevailed 85-48 against the Inner West Bulls.

In the corresponding men's contests, the Sharks beat the Bruins 90-64, the Bulls defeated the Falcons 80-78, the Bandits downed the Sea Eagles 86-78, the Bears beat the Gunners 97-93, the Centre of Excellence won 94-83 against the Mustangs, the Hornets defeated the Hawks 88-87, and the Panthers won 71-69 over the Spiders. 

WOMEN

Sharks snap four-game winning run of Bruins

The Sutherland Sharks started strongly and went on with the job to beat the Bankstown Bruins in a contest where both teams were attempting to win their sixth match of the season.

With Bankstown coming into the game at 5-3 and Sutherland at 5-4, it was a significant contest for the two NBL1 East teams at Bankstown Basketball Stadium.

Ankle breaker and the finish ?

Jurnee-A'mour Straker is cold blooded ?

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It was the Sharks who started on fire with 22 points to nine in the first quarter. Sutherland still led 48-35 at half-time before outscoring Bankstown 44 points to 32 in the second half on the way to the eventual 25-point win.

The win for the Sharks snaps a four-game winning run of the Bruins with Lauren Nicholson outstanding with 26 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals including nailing 5/7 from three-point range.

Madeleine Norris added 20 points and nine rebounds, Olivia White 18 points, 14 boards and four assists, and Aliza Fabbro 14 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.

Violet Morrow top-scored once again for Bankstown with 24 points and eight rebounds with Jurnee-A'Mour Straker adding 14 points, three steals and two assists.

Lauren Nicholson is cooking with 22 points ?‍?

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Sea Eagles stay top and hand reigning champs another loss

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 East beating the defending champion Albury-Wodonga Bandits 86-61.

The Sea Eagles played host to the Bandits at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre and proved too strong for the reigning champions but it took them until the second half to really work on top.

Manly Warringah did start well with 21 points to 15 in the opening but their advantage was only just 44-38 at the half-time break.

The Sea Eagles began to pull further away with 24 points to 16 in the third quarter and then 18 to seven in the fourth to claim the 25-point victory.

The result improves Manly Warringah to 9-1 record and having won eight straight since a loss to the Newcastle Falcons with Albury-Wodonga now 5-4 unable to back up their win over the Penrith Panthers.

Bree Delaney starred in the win for Manly Warringah with 25 points, four rebounds and two steals while connecting on 6/11 from three-point territory.

Zoey Miller added 17 points with 3/6 three-point shooting while Kim Hodge added 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Felicity Henderson seven points, six rebounds and six steals.

The Bandits have now lost four of their last five matches despite Emma Mahady putting up 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Brodie-Paige Theodore also had 13 points and three rebounds, Ashlee Hannan 12 points, six boards, three blocks and two assists, and Liz Murphy seven points and seven rebounds.

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She hit 6?? triples in her 25 points to guide the ladder-leading Manly-Warringah to another dub ?

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Bears beat Nationals to make it four straight

The Norths Bears recorded their seventh win of the NBL1 East season with an emphatic 85-50 victory at home to the Canberra Nationals.

The Bears hosted the Nationals at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre and they began strongly with 27 points to 10 in the opening quarter.

Another 21 to 13 in the second period saw Norths well in control leading 48-23 at half-time.

The Nationals fought the game out well in the second half at least until the Bears scored the last 14 points of the contest to end up winning by 35 and improving to 7-2.

With the defeat, Canberra is 3-6 with their two-game winning streak coming to an end.

Eight players all made strong contributions in the win for the Bears with Emily Simons top-scoring with 15 points, three assists and two blocked shots with Sarah Schicher adding 12 points, 17 boards, three steals, three blocks and two assists.

Carla Pitman added 11 points and three rebounds, Kate Seebohm 11 points, seven assists and three boards, Caitlyn Martin 11 points, Jess Bygate eight points and eight rebounds, Emma Donnelly six points, and Madeleine O'Hehir six points and nine assists.

Lizzy Tonks top-scored for Canberra with 15 points and three assists with Bianca Dufelmeier contributing 11 points, three boards and two assists, and Mia Slater seven points and 11 rebounds.

CoE young guns return and keep winning run going

The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence played their first NBL1 East game for two weeks and continued their winning form beating the Maitland Mustangs 70-56.

The young guns from the Centre of Excellence last played back on April 22 beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits where they bounced back from their lone loss of the season to the Norths Bears.

They were back in action at Maitland Federation Centre on Saturday but neither team got going in the first half.

The CoE team outscored the Mustangs 13 points to 11 in the first quarter before Maitland got the better of the second term with 18 points to nine to lead 29-22 at the half-time break.

The Basketball Australia team needed to respond and put together a dominant third quarter at both ends with 24 points to six and that set up the eventual 14-point victory improving them to 7-1 on the season.

Daughter-of-a-legend Jess Petrie was terrific in the win for the Centre of Excellence with 19 points and five rebounds while dropping 3/4 from three-point range.

Jayda Clark added 14 points, six rebounds and three assists, Isla Juffermans 14 points, 10 boards, three assists and two blocks, and Summah Hanson six points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Mila Wawszkowicz put up 17 points and four rebounds for the now 5-4 Mustangs with Rachel Williams contributing 17 points, four rebounds and three steals, Sydney Hunter eight points and nine boards, and Shakera Reilly eight points, six steals, four rebounds and four assists.

Hornets overrun Hawks for second win

A huge fourth quarter performance from the Hills Hornets saw them snap an eight-game losing streak beating the Illawarra Hawks 69-63 at home on Saturday night.

The Hornets opened the NBL1 East season beating the Inner West Bulls, but it's been tough going since with eight consecutive losses coming into Saturday's clash with a Hawks team also with just the one win to date.

It was a tight contest for three quarters as well with the Hornets leading by a point at quarter-time and half-time. Illawarra turned the tide to be up by three at three quarter-time.

It was then all the Hornets in the final period as they put up 28 points to 19 to overrun the Hawks and score the six-point win to snap the eight-game losing run and improve to 2-8. The Hawks are now 1-8 with a third successive defeat.

Tarryn Mahoney ended up top-scoring for Hills with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots with Rhiannon Yetsenga adding 10 points, 21 boards, four assists and two blocks.

Britnee Sewell also had 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Kelsey Curtin 12 points and six boards.

Emilia Garcia Leon delivered 15 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks for Illawarra while Chelsea Hogg contributed 18 points, four boards and four steals, and Ella Dent 15 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Jefferson leads Panthers over winless Spiders

The Penrith Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak by keeping the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders winless this NBL1 East season with the 85-65 victory.

The Panthers were back home at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre looking to snap a four-game losing streak while the Spiders were still hunting that elusive first victory and just to be more competitive than their 44.8 averaging losing margin suggests.

The Spiders started encouragingly too to lead by one at quarter-time and even by half-time the Panthers were only leading 38-37.

Penrith took control in the third quarter with 26 points to 14 and that's where the win was set up as the Panthers went on to win by 20 to improve to a 3-7 record with Hornsby now 0-9 even though it was their smallest losing margin.

Meg Jefferson put together a massive performance in the win for Penrith with 33 points and 17 rebounds on 14/31 shooting from the field.

Chloe Williams added 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, Dominika Faber 11 points, six boards and three assists, and Kate Pozoglou nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Mizuki Wakamatsu top-scored for Hornsby with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists on 4/9 three-point shooting. Alicia Poto added 14 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Comets snap losing run with big win over Crusaders

The Sydney Comets emphatically responded to their first two losses of the season beating the Central Coast Crusaders 91-60 on Saturday night.

The Comets opened up the season winning their first six matches before losing their last two against the Sea Eagles and Falcons as they hosted the Crusaders at Comets Stadium.

Central Coast was looking to snap its own three-game losing slide but it was Sydney who came out strongly with a 21-point to six opening quarter to set the stage for the evening.

Sydney continued to extend that advantage the rest of the game to lead by 17 points at half-time, 27 at three quarter-time and then to win by 31 in the finish.

The result improves the Comets to a 7-2 record with the Crusaders now 4-6 with the four consecutive defeats.

Dru Toleafoa finished up top-scoring for Sydney with 19 points and six rebounds with Vanessa Panousis a terrific all-round performance with 17 points, nine assists, six boards and three steals.

Jada Crawshaw also had 15 points and six rebounds, Shyla Heal 14 points, 11 boards and four assists, and Alexandria Oliver 10 points and seven rebounds.

Maddison Penn finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists for Central Coast with Jonalyn Wittwer adding 12 points, four boards and two assists, and Jasmine Forcadilla 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Falcons snap winning run of Bulls

The Newcastle Falcons maintained pace with the top of the NBL1 East standings with another commanding performance at home, beating the Inner West Bulls 85-48.

The Falcons were back home at Newcastle Basketball Stadium looking to keep pace with Manly Warringah and the Centre of Excellence, and they put together a first-rate performance against a Bulls team who had won their last two.

It wasn’t until the second term when the Falcons began to pull away with 19 points to nine to go into the half-time break leading 41-29. 

Newcastle outscored Inner West 44 points to 19 in the second half including holding the Bulls to just five points in the final period with the Falcons going on to win by 37.

The win improves Newcastle to a 7-1 record while remaining a perfect 5-0 at home while Inner West is 3-7 with that two-game winning run coming to an end.

Nicole Munger was massive for the Falcons with 22 points, 17 rebounds and two steals while hitting 4/6 from beyond the three-point line.

Mykea Gray also had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals, Emily Foy 14 points, three boards and two assists, Sophie Kleeman 13 points and three assists, and Abigail Curtin 10 points and five rebounds.

Leilani Mitchell continued her strong form for the Bulls with 26 points and six assists while Mikaela Dombkins contributed 15 points and nine boards. However, the rest of the team only combined to score seven points on 2/20 shooting.

It's Nicole Munger's world, and we're all just living in it ?

? 22 points
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? 2 steals
? and the dub!

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MEN

Sutherland keep growing in 2023 with win over Bankstown

The Sutherland Sharks are building momentum again this NBL1 East season beating the Bankstown Bruins 90-64.

The season for Sutherland is now continuing to pick up after losing two of the first four matches.

The Sharks have now won three straight this season and five of the past six but it wasn’t until the second half when they worked their way on top of the Bruins on Saturday.

Sutherland was only clinging to a 41-38 advantage at half-time, but then in the second half the Sharks outscored Bankstown 49 points to 26 to end up winning by 26.

The result improves Sutherland to a 7-3 record on the season while Bankstown is now 1-8 having lost their past eight matches.

Adrian Cabrera finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for Sutherland with Marquel Beasley contributing 17 points and four boards, Jordan Mitchell 17 points, four rebounds and two steals, and Geoff Gerlach 14 points and 12 boards.

Jack Lopez put up 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists for Bankstown while Hayden Blankley had 13 points and 11 boards, and Jonah Pares eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Bandits win on the road over Sea Eagles

The Albury-Wodonga Bandits returned to the NBL1 East winner's list beating the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 86-78 on the road on Saturday night.

The Sea Eagles were back on their home floor attempting to snap a five-game losing run, but it was the Bandits who started well with 25 points to 19 in the opening quarter.

However, Manly Warringah turned the tide in the second term with 26 to 21 and that meant Albury-Wodonga's lead was just 46-45 at the half-time interval.

The Bandits pulled away further in the third quarter with 16 points to 10 and then eventually claimed the eight-point triumph to improve to 4-5 on the season with the Sea Eagles now 1-9 having lost six straight.

Michael Parks delivered 20 points and 11 rebounds on 8/11 shooting in the win for Albury-Wodonga with Lochlan Cummings adding 20 points, three assists and two boards.

Jamir Coleman also had 19 points and eight rebounds, and Jacob Cincurak 11 points, six assists, four steals and three boards.

Noah Thomas delivered 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals for Manly Warringah, Stefan Valkovic 18 points, Mitch Evans 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Keeto Browne 12 points, four assists and three boards.

Strong finish gets Bears home over Gunners

The Norths Bears produced a huge finish to come from behind and snap the 97-93 victory at home against the Canberra Gunners on Saturday night.

Both teams came into the contest in winning form and appear two of the top NBL1 East sides so the stage was set for a tremendous contest, and it delivered.

The teams were tied at 29-29 by quarter-time after an exciting opening before Canberra pulled away with 27 points to 19 in the opening term to see the visitors leading 56-48 at half-time.

The Gunners were still on top by seven at three quarter-time with that lead growing to eight early in the fourth period. But five quick points from the Bears soon changed that to set up a cracking finish.

Either side of the three-minute mark and buckets to Brennan Rymer saw Norths grab a three-point lead but Canberra wasn’t done and a triple from James Toohey soon tied scores back up.

Rymer responded immediate with a three of his own for the Bears and soon after former Sydney Kings star Anatoly Bose finished going to the rim to stretch the lead to three, and Norths would go on to win by four.

The win improves the Bears to 8-2 on the season while the four-game winning run for the Gunners ends with them slipping to 5-4 as a result.

Brennan Rymer finished with 28 points, eight assists, three steals and two rebounds while Michael Yoong contributed 20 points, four boards and three assists, Robert Moore 15 points, Lewis Holey 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Michael Golding nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. 

Glenn Morison had a huge game for the reigning champs with the Grand Final MVP delivering 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists with James Toohey adding 18 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Nikhil Peters also had 13 points and five rebounds for Canberra, Pietro Badalassi 13 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Max Cooper 10 points.

Glenn Morison elevates and ends the half with ????????? ?

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Toohey, Condon brilliant in CoE win at Maitland

The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence team put together another supremely impressive performance beating the Maitland Mustangs 94-83.

The Mustangs were on their home floor having won their previous three NBL1 East matches on the back of last year's Grand Final appearance but it was going to be a challenge up against the one-loss Centre of Excellence young guns team.

The Basketball Australia team were playing their first game in two weeks after beating Albury-Wodonga by 32 points to hit back from their lone loss of the season to the Norths Bears.

The CoE team started well with 26 points to 21 in the opening quarter and then in the third quarter they pulled away further with another 27 points to 16 to end up winning by 11.

The victory improves them to an 8-1 record while the Mustangs slip to 4-5 with their winning run coming to an end.

Alex Toohey was outstanding for the Centre of Excellence and put up 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and three blocks while shooting 8/11 from the floor, 2/4 from downtown and 10/13 from the foul line.

Alex Condon added 17 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, Akira Jacobs 12 points, Luke Fennell 10 points, five boards and four assists, and son-of-a-legend Jensen Bradtke nine points and five rebounds.

James Hunter produced 19 points and six rebounds for Maitland while Will Cranston-Lown added 19 points, six assists, five steals and three rebounds, Luka Vea 12 points, and Kevin Warren 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Hornets snatch it from Hawks with last seven points

The Hills Hornets scored the last seven points of the game to come from six points behind to beat the Illawarra Hawks 88-87 at home on Saturday night.

The Hawks would have been feeling good about bouncing back from their previous two matches to the Sharks and Bears when leading 87-81 with just over a minute and-a-half remaining.

However, the Hornets weren’t going to lie down and a three-point play from Liam Moss cut that deficit in half. Joe Patmore nailed a jumper and suddenly in the space of the minute, they had made it a one-point ball game.

Moss would hit another tough jumper to put the Hornets in front and that's where they would stay with Frederick Webb's attempted game winner not falling for the Hawks.

The Hornets went on to win by a point to improve to a 6-4 record on the season with the Hawks now 5-4 having lost their past three.

Shawn Montague produced 24 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Hornets while Liam Moss contributed 19 points and three assists, and Joe Patmore 14 points, two boards, two assists and two steals.

Recently retired 374-game NBL veteran Tim Coenraad produced 24 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two assists for the Hawks while Frederick Webb put up 13 points and 14 assists, Lucas Walker 13 points and four assists, and Phillip Dopud 10 points and six rebounds.

Panthers deliver more heartbreak for brave Spiders

The heartbreak continued for the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders with another narrow loss as they chase that elusive first NBL1 East win with the Penrith Panthers prevailing 71-69.

The Spiders might have come into Saturday night's contest on the road with a 0-8 record, but the last two games have been one-point losses to the Gunners and Bruins where they were mighty unlucky to not open their accounts.

However, Penrith did appear to have the match won leading by 10 points with two minutes to play on the back of a three-point bomb from Norman Massimino.

The Spiders weren’t going down without giving it their all, though, with Shareef Saipaia responding with a triple of his own. Patrick Fraser and Tom Gillis also nailed from downtown to cut the deficit to three.

Ultimately it came down to the last possession with Penrith clinging to a two-point advantage but Hornsby had possession. Einer Thompson was fouled and went to the line, but he missed the first and with no time left it meant making the second wouldn't be enough.

He ended up missing that and the Panthers held on for the two-point win in what might have been the most devastating of the last three losses for the Spiders by a combined four points.

Caleb Fetui-Fa'amoe top-scored for Penrith with 15 points and nine rebounds with Pranaya Sakya adding 12 points, three assists and two boards, and Ryan Peterson 10 points and five rebounds, and Tomas Ramos eight points, four assists and two steals.

Shareef Saipaia finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Hornsby, Patrick Fraser 15 points and two boards, and Kwabena Brefo seven points, eight rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals.

Bulls snatch OT thriller in Newcastle

The Inner West Bulls claimed a stunning overtime victory thanks to a foul on Alex Higgins-Titsha with 0.1 of a second remaining that iced the 80-78 road win against the Newcastle Falcons.

The Bulls arrived at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on top of the NBL1 East table but in order to stay there, it took everything they had to overcome the Falcons.

Newcastle had lost its past two matches coming into the contest but started brilliantly with 25 points to 10 in the opening quarter.

The Falcons still led 41-22 by half-time but the Bulls delivered a stunning third period of their own to end up right back into the contest and setting up a nail-biting finish.

Inner West continued to work its way on top and were four points up with 15 seconds remaining still. However, Newcastle managed the last two buckets firstly through Anthony Gaines and Myles Cherry and that sent the game into overtime.

It looked as though a second overtime period was on the cards on a scrappy final possession from the Bulls with scores tied, but when Alex Higgins-Titsha put up a three, while the shot was well short a foul was called on Anthony Gaines.

Higgins-Titsha then stepped up to make the first two. He deliberately missed the third, but his violation trying to chase down the offensive board left Newcastle with 0.1 of a second left out of a time out to try and get a tip-in.

It wasn’t to be and Inner West prevailed by two points to improve to 9-1 on the season with eight consecutive wins while Newcastle loses a third straight to be 4-4.

On top of those clinching free-throws, Higgins-Titsha delivered 28 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks for the Bulls on 9/13 shooting.

Blake Morrow added 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals with Tony Tolovae adding 19 points, three boards and two steals, and Chris Bryant eight points, 10 boards and three blocks.

Ryan Beisty produced 23 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals for Newcastle, Anthony Gaines 21 points and 12 boards, Myles Cherry 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Matur Maluach 13 points, three boards and two assists.