NBL1 North Recap | Friday Women's Round 11

Fresh off her stint in the WNBA and ahead of heading to Poland, Australian Opals star Alanna Smith produced a remarkable 44-point performance on Friday night as part of First Nations Round in the NBL1 North.

The Women's results on Friday night in the NBL1 North saw wins for the Southern Districts Spartans, Red City Roar, USC Rip City and Townsville Flames.

The Southern Districts Spartans thrived on the road to open Round 11 on the road on Friday night with an 88-58 victory against the Mackay Meteorettes.

Madelyn Allen continued her hot form with another 24 points and seven assists for Southern Districts while Ellie Collins had 21 points for Mackay, and Shaneice Swain 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Red City Roar prevailed in a tight affair at home on Friday night to beat the South West Metro Pirates 58-53.

Mia Lloyd finished with 18 points and eight rebounds for the Roar in the win while Cat MacGregor and Paige Price both scored 11 points for the Pirates.

USC Rip City produced a dominant second half to end up beating the Brisbane Capitals 81-65 on their home court.

Maddy Rocci produced 25 points for Rip City with Ashley Arlen adding 21 points and 10 rebounds with Abby Cubillo top-scoring for Brisbane with 19 points.

The Townsville Flames produced a dominant performance at home also on Friday night to beat the North Gold Coast Seahawks 97-63.

Alanna Smith was phenomenal for Townsville with 44 points and 13 rebounds with Courtney Woods adding 16 points and five assists. Doniyah Cliney top-scored for the Seahawks with 17 points.

First Nations Round in the NBL1 North continues on Saturday evening with the Brisbane Capitals playing the Sunshine Coast Phoenix with the Gold Coast Rollers hosting the Northside Wizards and USC Rip taking on Red City Roar.

The Rockhampton Cyclones are also at home to the Southern Districts Spartans with the Cairns Dolphins hosting the North Gold Coast Seahawks and the Darwin Salties playing host to the Ipswich Force.

The Round 11 NBL1 North action then wraps up on Sunday with the Logan Thunder hosting the Gold Coast Rollers.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 11 – FRIDAY NIGHT

MACKAY METEORETTES 58 lost to SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 88

The Southern Districts Spartans proved too strong on the road for the Mackay Meteorettes on Friday night going on to score the 30-point victory.

First Nations Round in the NBL1 North began on Friday night at Mackay Basketball Stadium with the visiting Spartans getting off to a flying start with 29 points to 12 in the opening quarter.

The Spartans maintained that edge the rest of the way with the lead building to 21 points by half-time.

Southern Districts ended up leading by as much as 27 points in the third quarter and then 34 in the fourth to end up beating the Meteorettes in Mackay 88-58.

The victory improves the Spartans to an 11-2 record on the season while the Meteorettes slip to 9-5 as a result of the big loss on their home court in the absence of Miela Goodchild, Grace George, Alisia Jenkins and Monique Bobongie.

Southern Districts took full toll of the shorthanded Mackay with the commanding win with Madelyn Allen continuing her standout form with another 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists on the back of knocking down 4/6 from three-point territory.

Nadeen Payne also put up 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots for the Spartans, Kalani Purcell 14 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, and Leah Scott 12 points and eight boards.

Ellie Collins battled hard for the Meteorettes to top-score with 21 points and four rebounds while Shaneice Swain contributed 18 points, 11 boards, four assists and three steals, and Alexa Hart 10 points and six rebounds.

 

RED CITY ROAR 58 defeated SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 53

The South West Metro Pirates threw everything at attempting to win their first game of the 2022 season but it wasn’t quite to be with the Red City Roar holding on for the five-point victory.

Red City played host to South West at Paul Bancroft Centre to open First Nations Round in the NBL1 North on Friday night and it was the winless visitors who started impressively.

The Spartans opened up a seven-point lead during the opening quarter to still be on top 17-11 by quarter-time before the Roar responded in the second term with 18 points to 10 to hold a narrow 29-27 advantage at the major break.

The Roar did open up a nine-point lead during the third quarter but the Pirates wouldn’t go away and a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter saw them grab the lead and that elusive first win for 2022 was a distinct possibility.

Two Cat MacGregor free-throws had South West 53-52 on top with under two minutes to play, but they wouldn’t score again with Red City scoring the game's last six points all of which came at the foul line from Ariana Moorer and Myka Arthur to see them win 58-53.

Mia Lloyd ended up with 18 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots in the eventual win for Red City with Jaylen Cooper contributing 17 points and four boards while hitting 4/11 from three-point territory.

Ariana Moorer finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals, and Myka Arthur five points, eight rebounds and five steals.

Cat MacGregor ended up with 11 points and three rebounds for the Pirates, Paige Price 11 points and eight boards, Bride Kennedy-Hopoate 10 points and eight rebounds, and Steph Bairstow nine points, four boards, two assists and two blocks.

 

USC RIP CITY 81 defeated BRISBANE CAPITALS 65

USC Rip City delivered a huge third quarter to set up their eventual 16-point victory at home to the Brisbane Capitals in the NBL1 North on Friday night.

Rip City played host to the Capitals at USC Sports Stadium but it was Brisbane who managed to go on a 7-0 run during the first period to end up leading by four points at quarter-time.

USC did manage to work their way on top briefly in the second quarter but still by half-time it was Brisbane clinging to the 33-32 lead.

The turnaround came in the third quarter, though, with Rip City turning on some scintillating basketball by putting up 31 points to end up turning that one-point deficit into a 15-point advantage at one point.

From there, Rip City maintained their advantage to record the 81-65 victory to improve to a 5-6 record on the season while following the loss the Capitals are now 8-6.

Maddy Rocci produced a standout performance in the win for Rip City finishing up with 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocked shots.

Ashley Arlen also had 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks for USC with Liisa Ups contributing seven points, eight boards and five assists, Katherine Ups six points and three assists, Madeline Campbell six points and four rebounds, and Brooklyn Graves six points and five boards.

Abby Cubillo finished the night with 19 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four steals for the Capitals with Courtney Middap adding 14 points and six boards, Tyla Stolberg 11 points and six rebounds, and Steph Collins nine points, three boards and three assists.

 

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 97 defeated NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 63

Alanna Smith produced a dominant display highlighting her quality in a big home win for the Townsville Flames on Friday night against the North Gold Coast Seahawks.

The Flames hosted the Seahawks at Townsville StarFM Stadium on Friday night and it didn't take long for Smith to assert her dominance on the contest.

North Gold Coast still stuck with Townsville for the first half with the Flames only leading by four points at quarter-time and then eight at half-time, but it was a different story throughout the second half.

Townsville piled on 31 points to 11 in the third quarter including scoring 10 straight points and to lead by as much as 28 points at one stage.

The lead grew to as much as 43 points at one point in the last term before the Seahawks did stem the tide and score 11 straight points of their own despite Townsville still winning 97-63.

On the back of her time in the WNBA at the Indiana Fever following the WNBL season with the Adelaide Lightning, and before joining Polish club Gorzów Wielkopolski, Alanna Smith was the major difference between the two teams.

Smith finished the night on her new home floor with 44 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots on the back of shooting 17/22 from the floor, 5/6 from three-point range and 5/5 from the foul line.

Courtney Woods added 16 points and five assists for Townsville, Steph Reid 11 points and 15 assists, Grace Rodgers 10 points and four rebounds, and Jaimee Seebohm five points, five rebounds and two assists.

Doniyah Cliney ended up with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists for North Gold Coast with Katelyn Donovan contributing 14 points, Isalys Quinones 11 points and three rebounds, and Lauren Jansen seven points and six rebounds.