NBL1 North Recap | Friday Women's Round 12

There were three NBL1 North Women's matches on Friday night and it was Mikaela Ruef, Cayla George and Tiana Mangakahia who produced standout performances especially.

There were Friday night Round 12 NBL1 North victories for the Logan Thunder, Cairns Dolphins and Northside Wizards to open the weekend.

The Ipswich Force sent an early scare into the Logan Thunder but the undefeated league-leaders soon steadied to control the second half to end up winning 75-61.

Mikaela Ruef came up huge again for the Thunder with 23 points, 23 rebounds and six assists with Chevannah Paalvast adding 18 points, Sigi Koizar 17 and Ashley Taia 13.

Amanda Cahill finished with 21 points for Ipswich and Tia Hay 16.

The Cairns Dolphins rode another tremendous performance from Cayla George to an eventual 103-91 victory at home against a Red City Roar team who gave it their all away from home.

George finished with 32 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists for Cairns with Penina Davidson scoring 25 points and Amy Lewis 22. Mia Lloyd put up a massive 35 points on 13/18 shooting for Red City.

The Northside Wizards also proved too much for the Rockhampton Cyclones on the back of another standout showing from Tiana Mangakahia on the way to the 97-65 road win.

Mangakahia continued her sterling run of form for the Wizards with 39 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists with seven three-pointers. Lara McSpadden finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds for Rockhampton.

Round 12 in the NBL1 North continues on Saturday night with the South West Metro Pirates taking on the Brisbane Capitals, the Mackay Meteorettes at home to the Northside Wizards and the Sunshine Coast Phoenix hosting the Southern Districts Spartans.

The Townsville Flames are also at home to the Red City Roar while the Darwin Salties host the Gold Coast Rollers and the North Gold Coast Seahawks take on USC Rip City.

Then on Sunday, the North Gold Coast Seahawks host the Logan Thunder and the Southern Districts Spartans face the South West Metro Pirates.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 12 – FRIDAY NIGHT

LOGAN THUNDER 75 defeated IPSWICH FORCE 61

The Logan Thunder were rocked early by the Ipswich Force but they ended up dominating the second half to remain undefeated this NBL1 North season with the 14-point victory at home.

Ipswich came to Bendigo Bank Cornubia Park Sports Centre on Friday night to open Round 12 in the NBL1 North and they weren’t daunted by the challenge of taking on the league-leaders on their home court.

The Force were on fire early racing to a 7-0 lead on the back of five straight points from Amanda Cahill, and still by quarter-time the visitors clung to a 17-16 advantage.

Ipswich continued to take it right up to the unbeaten Logan in the second quarter going on another 7-0 run to lead by double-digits, and to still be on top 39-33 at the half-time break even if coach Geoff MacLeod was fuming before, during and after the half-time break.

If Logan wanted to keep their undefeated season going, they had to fire up in the second half and that's exactly what they did with 18 points to nine in the third quarter.

The Thunder produced another 24 points to 13 in the fourth quarter to end up winning 75-61 having turned that 12-point deficit into a 14-point win.

The result improves Logan to a perfect 13-0 record on the season while following the loss Ipswich is now 5-10.

Mikaela Ruef continued her dominant form for the Thunder by delivering another 23 points, 23 rebounds and six assists while shooting 9/17 from the floor, 2/5 from downtown and 3/6 from the free-throw line.

Kiwi star Chevannah Paalvast also had 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks for Logan with Sigi Koizar adding 17 points and nine assists, and Ashley Taia 13 points, three rebounds and two steals.

Amanda Cahill delivered 21 points, six rebounds and three assists for Ipswich with Tia Hay contributing 16 points and eight boards, Kasey Burton 11 points and nine rebounds, and Georgia Ralph six points and three assists.

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 103 defeated RED CITY ROAR 91

Another monster performance from Cayla George helped the Cairns Dolphins see off the valiant fight provided by Red City Roar in Friday night's NBL1 North action.

The Dolphins played host to the Roar at Early Settler Stadium to open up Round 12 in the NBL1 North and despite some hot shooting from Cayla George early, Red City had come to compete and scores were all square at 24-24 by quarter-time.

The Dolphins were able to put on some scintillating basketball in the second quarter opening up a double-digit lead on the back of outscoring Red City 30 points to 20 to end up leading 54-44 by half-time.

The Roar never stopped fighting throughout the second half but could never quite close the deficit and Cairns would end up leading by as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter before ending up winning 103-91.

The victory improved the Dolphins to a 9-5 record on the season while the Roar are now 4-10.

Cayla George continued to gear up in fine form ahead of the FIBA World Cup in Sydney by delivering another 32 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists for Cairns on the back of shooting 11/21 from the field and 7/8 from the free-throw line.

Penina Davidson added 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Dolphins, Amy Lewis 22 points, six rebounds and six assists, Alessandra Burke 14 points, four boards and three assists, and Teyahna Bond 10 points and three assists.

Mia Lloyd had a standout evening on the road for Red City with 35 points, five rebounds and four assists while shooting 13/18 from the field, 4/6 from three-point range and 5/7 from the free-throw line.

Ariana Moorer ended up with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists with Jaylen Cooper contributing 14 points, and Myka Arthur 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 65 lost to NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 97

The remarkable form of Tiana Mangakahia continued on Friday night to help lead the Northside Wizards to a 32-point win on the road to the Rockhampton Cyclones.

The Wizards headed to Bravus Arena to take on the Cyclones on Friday night to open NBL1 North Round 12 and in the end the ultimate difference between the two teams was Sydney Uni Flames WNBL signing Mangakahia.

The Wizards didn’t take long to open up a handy lead scoring eight straight points early and then leading by 15 points at quarter-time.

The trend continued in the second quarter with Northside's lead growing to 24 points with the visitors going into half-time leading 42-18.

The Wizards then piled on another 33 points in the third quarter as the lead ballooned to 36 points, and it grew to 43 in the fourth term before Rockhampton was able to pull things back with 12 consecutive points.

In the end, the Wizards cruised to the 97-65 victory to improve to a 9-4 record on the season while Rockhampton slips to 6-9 following the defeat.

Even though Rockhampton took 19 more field goals than Northside, the Wizards shot 47.9 per cent opposed to 28.9 while they also got to the foul line 16 more times.

The remarkable run of form of Tiana Mangakahia continued for the Wizards as she gears up for her WNBL season with the Sydney Uni Flames. She delivered 39 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three steals on shooting 13/21 from the field, 7/11 from downtown and 6/6 from the foul line.

Alice O'Driscoll added 12 points and nine rebounds for Northside, Caitlin Cunningham 11 points, five assists and four rebounds, Isabelle Parker 10 points, three boards and two blocks, Kelsey McDermott seven points, six rebounds and three assists, and Ashleigh Karaitiana seven points, five boards, four assists and two steals.

Lara McSpadden produced 23 points and 16 rebounds for Rockhampton with Jannon Otto adding 17 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists, Madison Torresin 10 points and seven boards, and Sara Storeshaw nine points, three boards, three assists and two steals.