NBL1 North Recap | Friday Women's Round 14

Mikaela Ruef continued to lead the undefeated Logan Thunder to the regular season championship in the NBL1 North with another triple-double on Friday night while the Mackay Meteorettes pulled off a massive comeback on the road against the Townsville Flames.

The Logan Thunder asserted their dominance once again to open Round 14 in the NBL1 North beating the Northside Wizards 105-77 at home to remain undefeated in 2022.

It was another stunning all-round display from MVP fancy Mikaela Ruef who produced yet another triple-double for the Thunder made up of 31 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. 

Chevannah Paalvast also had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Logan while one of Ruef's main MVP challengers, Tiana Mangakahia put up another 22 points, six rebounds and four assists on a night where Shyla Heal was ejected early in the fourth quarter for Northside.

The Mackay Meteorettes came from 19 points behind to overrun the Cairns Dolphins and score the 80-73 overtime victory also on Friday night.

The Dolphins opened up a 19-point advantage in the third quarter and were still up 18 in the fourth, but the Meteorettes stormed home to force the game to overtime and then take charge from there.

Monique Bobongie was one of the stars for Mackay with the teenager delivering 16 points, six rebounds and five assists with Alisia Jenkins leading the charge with 19 points, 17 rebounds, five steals, four assists and three blocks.

Amy Lewis finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Cairns with Penina Davidson contributing 13 points and 13 boards.

Round 14 in the NBL1 North Women's competition continues on Saturday evening with the Gold Coast Rollers hosting the Logan Thunder while the Northside Wizards are at home to the Southern Districts Spartans, and USC Rip City takes on Ipswich Force.

Also on Saturday, the South West Metro Pirates play the Red City Roar, the Sunshine Coast Phoenix take on the Townsville Flames, the Darwin Salties battle the Mackay Meteorettes, and the North Gold Coast Seahawks face the Brisbane Capitals.

The round then wraps up on Sunday afternoon with Ipswich Force at home to the South West Metro Pirates, and USC Rip City facing the Townsville Flames.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 14 – FRIDAY NIGHT

LOGAN THUNDER 105 defeated NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 77

The Logan Thunder kept their undefeated season rolling on the back of a dominant Mikaela Ruef performance at home to the Northside Wizards on Friday night.

Round 14 in the NBL1 North got underway on Friday night with the Thunder hosting the Wizards at Bendigo Bank Cornubia Park Sports Centre with plenty of stars on either side.

It was an exciting opening to the contest too with Shyla Heal and Tiana Mangakahia combining to keep the Wizards in touch of the Thunder, but they couldn’t quite keep pace during the second quarter.

Logan put together a 10-0 run to end up outscoring the Wizards 36 points to 19 in the quarter to go into the half-time break leading 63-44.

The tension then became obvious between the two teams during the third quarter with the Wizards attempting to fight back into the contest. It threatened to boil over a couple of times and Heal also ended up having her night ended early with a second technical foul.

However, things soon calmed down following that but the Wizards couldn’t work back into the contest and the Thunder ended up cruising to the 105-77 victory.

The win improves Logan to a perfect 16-0 record on the season with just one round remaining before finals while the Wizards are now 11-5 but still in fourth position.

Logan pulled down 53 rebounds to 35 for the night including 15 to eight at the offensive end while they went 13/37 from downtown opposed to 8/28 for the Wizards.

It was another stunningly dominant all-round performance from Mikaela Ruef for Logan as she finished with 31 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists and four steals while shooting 11/20 from the floor, 3/8 from deep and 6/6 at the free-throw line.

Chevannah Paalvast added 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Thunder, Ashley Taia 19 points, six boards and five assists, and Sigi Koizar 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Tiana Mangakahia had another strong performance for Northside even if she couldn't quite put up another triple-double. She finished with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists with Shyla Heal adding 15 points, five boards and three steals before being ejected early in the fourth quarter.

Isabelle Parker added 11 points and 10 rebounds, Caitlin Cunningham six points, Kelsey McDermott six points and two assists, and Saskia Guinness six points.

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 73 lost to MACKAY METEORETTES 80

It turned out to be quite the dramatic Friday night of basketball at Early Settler Stadium with the Mackay Meteorettes overcoming a 19-point deficit to beat the Cairns Dolphins in overtime.

Cairns was back on their home floor following a three-game road trip down south last weekend and were still without superstar Cayla George who is on Australian Opals duties in preparation for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.

Then it was the Meteorettes who had the better of the opening quarter putting together a late 7-0 run to head into the quarter-time break leading 21-16.

Their lead did get out to seven points in the second term but Cairns worked their way on top and clamped down defensively to outscore Mackay 16 points to 10 for the quarter to head into the half-time break narrowly leading 32-31.

Cairns then dominated the third quarter to end up scoring 19 straight points to lead by as much as 19 at one point to appear heading for a comfortable victory.

The Dolphins still led by as much as 18 points during the fourth term, but the Meteorettes just refused to go away.

With the energy provided from Monique Bobongie and then the all-round talents of Alisia Jenkins, they sparked the fightback and Mackay strung 12 straight points together to get right back into the contest.

Ellie Collins dropped a couple of huge threes to keep bringing the Meteorettes closer, and in the end Amy Lewis and Jenkins hit free-throws for their respective teams to force the game into overtime.

However, Mackay had the momentum and Cairns were out on their feet with the visitors dominating the extra period with 16 points to nine to end up winning 80-73.

Both teams are locked in a fascinating playoff battle too and as a result Mackay is now 10-7 in seventh spot while Cairns is 10-8 in eighth.

Considering it was such a tight game, it was a remarkable rebounding dominance from Mackay with 60 boards to 39 including 22 at the offensive end to seven which helped them take 18 extra field goals for the night.

Alisia Jenkins continues to get better the longer the season goes for Mackay with the import forward finishing with 19 points, 17 rebounds, five steals, four assists and three blocked shots.

Monique Bobongie was outstanding as well for the Meteorettes with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals with Alexa Hart contributing 14 points, five boards and four assists.

Grace George added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Ellie Collins 12 points, four boards and four assists.

Only five players ended up playing double-figure minutes for Cairns and only seven players hit the floor at all including Leichan Williams and Felicity Crotty only combining for 12 minutes.

And one of the players was coach Myra Donkin who never left the court and played all 45 minutes as did Penina Davidson and Amy Lewis.

Lewis finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists while hitting 4/9 from three-point range.

Teyahna Bond added 19 points, four assists and three rebounds, Donkin 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds with shooting 4/6 from three-point land, and Davidson 13 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and three steals.