NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Women's Round 1

The Northside Wizards, Cairns Dolphins, Mackay Meteorettes, Southern Districts Spartans, North Gold Coast Seahawks and Darwin Salties all scored opening round Saturday night NBL1 North Women's victories.

The NBL1 North Women's season for 2022 got underway on Friday night with two match ups which saw the Rockhampton Cyclones defeat the Sunshine Coast Phoenix 98-73 and the Townsville Flames defeat the Ipswich Force 101-64.

The opening round action then continued on Saturday night with the Northside Wizards defeating the Brisbane Capitals 72-68 at South Pine Sports Complex.

The Cairns Dolphins defeated the Ipswich Force 83-71 at Early Settler Stadium Penina Davidson delivering 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Cayla George 19 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists for the Dolphins.

The Mackay Meteorettes defeated the Sunshine Coast Phoenix 102-89 at Mackay Basketball Stadium with Alisia Jenkins delivering 22 points and 17 rebounds for the winners. Nicola Handreck put up 30 points for the Phoenix.

The Southern Districts Spartans defeated USC Rip City 98-92 at Rowland Cowan Stadium on the back of 28 points from Lil Dart while Maddi Rocci had 34 points for Rip City.

The North Gold Coast Seahawks defeated South West Metro Pirates 94-72 at Runaway Bay Stadium with 31 points to Katelyn Johnson.

The Darwin Salties then marked their entry into the NBL1 North competition by beating the Red City Roar 72-57 at Darwin Basketball Stadium. Erin Bollmann top-scored for the Salties with 19 points and 17 rebounds while Mia Lloyd had 19 points and 16 boards for Red City.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 1 – SATURDAY NIGHT

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 72 defeated BRISBANE CAPITALS 68

Both the Northside Wizards and Brisbane Capitals opened up the new NBL1 North season on Saturday night by delivering a thrilling contest at South Pine Sports Complex.

The Wizards started impressively on their home floor to lead 21-12 by quarter-time with Tiana Cynthia Mangakahia starting out in outstanding form. They still led 42-31 by half-time.

However, the Capitals with Abby Cubillo fresh off her WNBL season at the University of Capitals was able to lead the fightback from the Capitals in the second half.

That set up a thrilling finish with the Wizards ending up prevailing 72-68.

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 83 defeated IPSWICH FORCE 71

The Cairns Dolphins opened their 2022 campaign with a win at home over the Ipswich Force on Saturday night who fell to a second loss in 24 hours to open the new season.

The difference in the game ultimately came in the second quarter where the Dolphins outscored the Force 24 points to 15 on the way to the eventual 83-71 victory.

It was the perfect start to the season for Cairns on their home floor at Early Settler Stadium while the Force weren’t quite able to back up from losing to the Townsville Flames on Friday evening.

It was a star-studded Dolphins line-up and their WNBL talent stepped up big time in the win with Penina Davidson delivering 23 points and 14 rebounds while fresh off the championship with the Melbourne Boomers, Cayla George produced 19 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.

Amy Lewis also had 16 points, four assists and three rebounds for the Dolphins, and Alessandra Burke 12 points and three steals.

Tia Hay put up 22 points, for rebounds and three assists for the Force, and Courtenay Wragg 21 points and seven boards.

MACKAY METEORETTES 102 defeated SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 89

The Mackay Meteorettes handing the Sunshine Coast Phoenix a second defeat inside 24 hours to open the 2022 season with the 102-89 victory at home on Saturday night.

The Meteorettes were making their first appearance of the new season with the Phoenix fresh off losing to the Rockhampton Cyclones on Friday night.

They did battle on Saturday at Mackay Basketball Stadium and it was the Phoenix who shot out of the blocks in remarkable fashion, putting up 35 points in the first quarter.

However, they managed just 54 points the rest of the way with the Meteorettes putting up 84 points in the at time to score the impressive 102-89 first up victory.

Alisia Jenkins was huge for Mackay finishing with 22 points and 17 rebounds with Shaniece Swain adding 19 points, Monique Bobongie 17, Ellie Collins 13, Grace George 11 and Alexa Hart 10.

Nicola Handreck did all she could for Sunshine Coast finishing with 30 points on 10/17 shooting including 7/12 from downtown while Caitlin Clancy had 26 points and Tanaya Beacham 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. 

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 98 defeated USC RIP CITY 92

It was a first game of the season for both the Southern Districts Spartans and USC Rip City on Saturday night, and they delivered a thriller at Rowland Cowan Stadium.

The Spartans started on fire putting up 32 points in the first quarter to lead by seven after one, but Rip City delivered 30 points to 17 in the third period to head into three quarter-time leading 73-67.

Southern Districts then fired up with 31 points to 19 in the fourth quarter to produce the 98-92 win on their home floor.

It was a dominant rebounding performance from Rip City despite the loss as they pulled in 53 rebounds to 32 including 19 at the offensive end to seven, but the Spartans shot 11/29 from three to 4/20, while also attempting 31 free throws to 22.

Lil Dart finished with 28 points and three steals for Southern Districts while hitting 6/12 from downtown while Nadeen Payne contributed 24 points, Maddie Allen 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and six steals, and Lulu Twidale 15 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Maddi Rocci was outstanding in the narrow loss for Rip City with 34 points, 10 rebounds and four steals while shooting 11/22 from the floor and 11/14 at the foul line. Carlie Smith added 25 points and 13 rebounds.

NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 94 defeated SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 72

The North Gold Coast Seahawks opened their NBL1 North season with an impressive home win against the South West Metro Pirates on Saturday night.

The Seahawks hosted the Pirates at Runaway Bay Stadium and started strongly with 21 points to 13 in the first quarter before outscoring their opponents 59 points to 41 in the second half on the way to the 94-72 victory.

It was a remarkable dominance for the Seahawks on the glass as they collected 56 rebounds to 28 from the Pirates including 21 offensive rebounds to seven.

Katelyn Donovan led the charge for North Gold Coast with 31 points and 12 rebounds with Erin Riley contributing 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Lauren Jansen 20 points, 11 boards and three assists, and Courtney Willemse 12 points.

Bride Kennedy-Hopoate top-scored for South West Metro with 21 points and six rebounds while Stephanie Bairstow added 17 points and five boards, and Catherine MacGregor 11 points.

DARWIN SALTIES 72 defeated RED CITY ROAR 57

The Darwin Salties made a winning start to their life in the NBL1 North competition defeating the Red City Roar in their debut appearance in the league.

The Salties were at home at Darwin Basketball Stadium on Saturday night to mark their first game in the competition and they lived up to the occasion.

Darwin outscored the Roar 35 points to 17 in the first half on the way to the eventual 72-57 victory.

Erin Bollmann top-scored in the first up win for the Salties with 19 points and 17 rebounds with Ruby Porter contributing 17 points and four assists, and Chelsea Brook 16 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Mia Lloyd finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds for Red City with Ariana Moorer contributing 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.