NBL1 North Recap | Friday Round 11

A simply remarkable 52 points and 13 assists from Jason Cadee kept the Gold Coast Rollers winning run going in the NBL1 North while Sam Bowman lifted the Rockhampton Cyclones to a big win and Chelsea Brook starred to begin the Darwin Salties' three-game road trip.

The three Friday night women's matches in the NBL1 North to open Round 11 saw the Townsville Flames defeat the Sunshine Coast Phoenix 78-67, the Darwin Salties beat the Gold Coast Rollers 77-73, and the Rockhampton Cyclones down the Ipswich Force 76-56.

Then in the men's contests, the Phoenix beat the Townsville Heat 113-100, the Rollers downed the Salties 110-93 and the Force beat the Rockhampton Rockets 100-85.

WOMEN

Flames keep building now with troops on board

The defending champion Townsville Flames continue to build some momentum now that they are at full strength with Friday night's 78-67 win against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix to open Round 11.

With Alex Fowler into a line-up featuring Kate Gaze, Steph Reid, Majella Carey and Indiah Bowyer, the Flames showed a glimpse of their potential with last week's 27-point win against the Darwin Salties ahead of hosting the Phoenix on Friday.

The Phoenix arrived in Townsville on a seven-game losing streak and their hopes of turning that around weren’t helped with the Flames beginning with 21 points to eight in the opening quarter.

Townsville kept the momentum going with another 22 points to 12 in the second period to head into the half-time break leading 43-20.

The Phoenix showed some strong fight in the second half and even outscored the Flames 47 to 35, but Townsville still went on to win by 11 and improve to 7-7 on the season to be closing in on the top eight as reigning champions.

Sunshine Coast has now lost eight in-a-row at 1-10.

All five starters made a significant impact for the Flames with Kate Gaze leading the charge with 21 points and nine rebounds while knocking down 4/6 from three-point range.

Steph Reid added 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals while Alex Fowler put up 14 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, Indiah Bowyer 11 points and four boards, and Majella Carey 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Nicola Handreck top-scored for Sunshine Coast with 17 points and five rebounds with Alex Wittinger adding 15 points, seven boards and four assists, and Amy Browne nine points, six boards and two steals.

Kate Gaze launches the 3?? from DEEP range ?

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Brook fires Salties to win to open road trip

The Darwin Salties have opened their triple-header road trip in Round 11 with a hard fought 77-73 win against the Gold Coast Rollers.

Darwin began its three games on the road in southern Queensland this weekend on the back of losing at home to the Townsville Flames last Saturday night by 27 points at Carrara Stadium against a Gold Coast team who beat USC Rip City last Saturday.

After Gold Coast started the game the better, Darwin scored 11 straight points heading into quarter-time with a five-point advantage.

Darwin turned that into a 10-point lead in the second quarter and the Salties were still leading 45-35 by half-time.

Darwin never surrendered the lead in the second half but Gold Coast did throw everything at the comeback and it was never more than a seven-point margin the rest of the way in the second half.

However, the Salties did enough to hold out the Rollers for the four-point victory to begin their road trip on the perfect note ahead of facing the South West Metro Pirates on Saturday and the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Sunday.

Chelsea Brook was brilliant in the win for the Salties with 31 points and six rebounds while shooting 12/15 from the field, 3/3 from beyond the three-point arc, and 4/5 at the foul line.

Erin Bollmann added 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, Catherine MacGregor nine points and four boards, Ruby Porter eight points and five assists, and Skye Rees eight points, three rebounds and two assists.

Despite the loss, Ariana Moorer had a huge night for Gold Coast finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Catherine Reese added 21 points and six boards for the Rollers, Riley Evans 12 points with 4/11 shooting from deep, and Jasmine Hooper nine points, seven rebounds and two steals.

A little bit of showtime from Elizajane Loader with this dime ?

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Bowman helps Rockhampton to big home win

With Sam Bowman leading the way, the Rockhampton Cyclones dominated the Ipswich Force to open up a huge lead over the first three quarters before winning 76-56.

Despite starting the season winning six of their first eight matches, Rockhampton did come into the Friday night match up having lost the past two games against an Ipswich team on a three-game losing streak too.

It was a dominant display from the Cyclones over the opening three quarters and already by the end of the opening period they were leading 27-7.

Rockhampton stretched that lead out to 23 points during the second quarter before going into half-time on top 43-22.

Another 18 points to eight in the third quarter and the Cyclones would lead by as much as 31 points. That lead got out to 36 in the fourth before Ipswich was able to outscore Rockhampton the rest of the way to outscore the Cyclones 26 to 15 in the final period.

However, the Cyclones still cruised to the 20-point victory to improve to a 7-4 record on the season while Ipswich is 3-9 having now lost four in-a-row.

Sam Bowman delivered a standout performance for Rockhampton with 25 points, 19 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks on 11/22 shooting from the field, 2/3 from three-point land and 1/2 at the foul line.

Lauren Heard also had 19 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals on 9/14 shooting with Lara McSpadden contributing 15 points, 13 boards, three steals and two assists, and Elizajane Loader seven points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.

Maria Blazejewski top-scored for Ipswich with 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists with Georgia Ralph contributing 14 points and two steals, and Grace George 11 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

MEN

Phoenix with dominant second half in Townsville

The Sunshine Coast Phoenix put together a massive second half to hand the Townsville Heat a 10th consecutive defeat with the 113-100 victory on Friday night.

Townsville was back on its home floor looking to snap a nine-game losing streak and the Heat started well with 23 points to 21 in the opening period, and then 33 to 29 in the second to be leading 56-50 at the half-time break.

The Heat were still up by eight early in the third quarter too but then the Phoenix took control the rest of the way in emphatic fashion.

Sunshine Coast ended up outscoring Townsville 33 points to 23 in the third quarter, and 30 to 21 in the fourth period to end up winning by 13.

The victory improves the Phoenix to a 6-5 record on the season while Townsville has now lost 10 in-a-row to be 3-11 after what was their only appearance of the weekend.

Jonathan Janssen ended the night with 22 points, 12 rebounds and three assists for Sunshine Coast on 9/15 shooting from the floor.

Mason Bragg added 21 points, four rebounds and four assists, Nelson Kahler 17 points, nine boards and two blocks, Jamaal Robateau 15 points, nine assists and four rebounds, and Kiran Shastri 14 points and two boards.

Michael Cedar did what he could to inspire Townsville with 29 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals on shooting 4/9 from three-point territory.

Ethan Betts added 23 points, four assists and three rebounds, Luca Yates 16 points and boards, and Richard Peachey nine points and three assists.

Michael Cedar takes on 3?? defenders and beats the buzzer ?

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Remarkable Cadee hits 52 in big Gold Coast fightback

The Gold Coast Rollers kept their winning form going producing a huge fourth quarter with Jason Cadee remarkable with 52 points with the reigning champs beating the Darwin Salties 110-93.

The Rollers were back home at Carrara Stadium on Friday night to host the travelling Salties who were beginning a three-game road trip this weekend, and for three quarters the visitors stuck with the defending champions.

Gold Coast was only leading by two points at quarter-time and then by five at the half. The Rollers did push that lead out to 13 in the third period, but the Salties wouldn’t go away and scored 10 straight points to even be leading 78-74 by three quarter-time.

The Rollers wouldn’t be denied, though, and produced a massive fourth quarter and they scored 36 points as a team with Cadee scoring 17 of them off his own hot hand including opening up the final period with two huge three-pointers.

Cadee just made Gold Coast unstoppable with them going on to score the 17-point victory to make it 11 wins in-a-row to keep pace with Logan at the top of the table with a 12-2 record. Darwin is now 7-5 with games to go this weekend against South West Metro and North Gold Coast.

What a remarkable performance it was from Gold Coast captain and 367-game NBL veteran Cadee. He finished with a mind blowing 52 points, 13 assists and four rebounds on the back of going 15/24 from the floor, 9/14 from three-point land and 13/14 from the foul line.

Fellow NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield produced 17 points and 12 rebounds with Cameron Thew contributing 12 points and 10 boards, and Jaryd Eustace nine points, five assists and four rebounds.

Makuach Maluach put in a show stopping performance as well for Darwin with the Sydney Kings NBL recruit delivering 40 points and 12 rebounds on 14/20 shooting overall, 4/5 from deep and 8/9 at the stripe.

Deng Riak added 17 points and six rebounds for the Salties, Deba George 13 points, five assists and four boards, and Jerron Jamerson seven points, five assists and four rebounds.

Jason Cadee went OFF for the Rollers tonight tallying 5??2?? Points & 1??3?? Assists in a 110-93 W ?

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Sobey leads Ipswich to road victory

Nathan Sobey led the way for the Ipswich Force to an important 100-85 road victory on Friday night against the Rockhampton Rockets to keep them in touch with the top two teams in the NBL1 North.

The Force travelled to Bravus Arena to open Round 11 looking to back up their win last week against the Southern Districts Spartans while the Rockets were hunting a second win of the season.

Michael Fleming ?? Jaylin Galloway ?

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Rockhampton started well too to lead 26-22 by quarter-time before Ipswich worked its way on top in the second stanza to head into half-time clinging to a 45-43 advantage.

The Force then blew the game wide open in the third period outscoring Rockhampton 30 points to 13 to open up a 19-point lead.

That advantage got out to 25 in the fourth term before Ipswich secured the 15-point win to improve to a 9-3 record on the season. The Rockets remain in last place at 1-10.

NBL star and bronze medal winning Boomers guard Nathan Sobey was the star of the evening for Ipswich finishing with 27 points, seven assists and three rebounds on 11/17 shooting from the field and 4/7 from three-point territory.

Jaylin Galloway also had 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals, Kyrin Galloway 12 points, five boards and three assists, and Jason Ralph 12 points and eight assists.

There were plenty more contributors for the Force too with Cameron Goldfinch adding 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks, Deng Deng 10 points and three boards, and Matt Hodgson six points and six rebounds.

Malcolm Bernard produced 29 points, six assists and three rebounds for Rockhampton with Damian Prgomet contributing 22 points and 15 boards, Jarvis Summers 12 points and five rebounds. Sean Biernacki dished out 10 assists.

Nathan Sobey got range ??

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