NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Women's Round 4

A stunning triple-double from Cayla George and match-winning performances again from Lauren Mansfield and Abby Cubillo, and a strong showing from Mikaela Ruef all made up part of the Saturday night action in Round 4 of the NBL1 North Women's competition.

There were Saturday night NBL1 North Women's wins for the Northside Wizards, Southern Districts Spartans, Brisbane Capitals, Gold Coast Rollers, Cairns Dolphins and Logan Thunder.

Round 4 of the NBL1 North Women's season got underway on Friday night with the Gold Coast Rollers beating the Ipswich Force 72-60 and the Townsville Flames overcoming the Darwin Salties 88-77.

The Brisbane Capitals were also able to hand the Mackay Meteorettes their first defeat of the 2022 season with a 103-67 road victory.

Then on Saturday night, the Northside Wizards remained unbeaten this season holding off a furious fightback from the North Gold Coast Seahawks to win 82-79 on their home floor.

Tiana Cynthia Mangakahia starred for the Wizards with 27 points and eight assists while Doniyah Cliney put up 30 points for the Seahawks.

It was a big road win as well for the Southern Districts Spartans who defeated the Red City Roar 104-76. Seven Spartans players scored in double-figures led by Leah Scott's 21 points while Mia Lloyd delivered 33 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals for the Roar.

The Brisbane Capitals won their second game inside 24 hours on the road beating the Rockhampton Cyclones 68-63. Abby Cubillo produced another 26 points and six assists for Brisbane with Jannon Otto top-scoring for Rockhampton with 14 points along with 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

The Gold Coast Rollers also won their second game of Round 4 by beating the South West Metro Pirates 86-73 on Saturday night.

Lauren Mansfield continued her strong form for the Rollers with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists while draining eight three-pointers. Catherine MacGregor top-scored for South West with 24 points.

The Cairns Dolphins proved too strong on their home floor for the Darwin Salties, winning 79-70. Penina Davidson finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Cayla George 18 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Erin Bollmann scored 23 points for the Salties.

The Logan Thunder were able to remain undefeated so far this season as well by beating USC Rip City 89-78 on Saturday night.

Mikaela Ruef put up 23 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Thunder while Maddy Rocci scored 27 points for Rip City and Ashley Harris had 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Round 4 in the NBL1 North competition will now conclude on Sunday afternoon with the Southern Districts Spartans at home to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 4 – SATURDAY NIGHT

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 82 defeated NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 79

The Northside Wizards started on fire and then held off the fast finishing North Gold Coast Seahawks for the three-point win on Saturday night.

The Wizards were back home at South Pine Sports Complex and started on fire against the Seahawks with 34 points to 21 to lead by 13 points at quarter-time.

Northside added another 18 point to 14 in the second term to go into half-time leading 52-35, but North Gold Coast weren’t going away.

They clawed their way back into the contest throughout the second half and eventually got within a point of the Wizards when Doniyah Cliney converted a three-point play with five minutes on the clock.

However, the Seahawks couldn’t quite take that next step and Northside did enough down the stretch to end up winning 82-79 and improve to a perfect 4-0 record on the season while the Seahawks are now 3-2.

Tiana Mangakahia finished the evening with 27 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals for the Wizards on the back of knocking down 4/9 from three-point territory.

Kelsey McDermott added 17 points and nine rebounds, Shyla Heal 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, Alice O'Driscoll 11 points and seven boards, Caitlin Cunningham eight points, five rebounds and two steals.

Doniyah Cliney had a huge night for North Gold Coast with 30 points and seven rebounds while Katie Deeble added 22 points, five boards and three assists, Isalys Quinones 13 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, and Lauren Jansen seven points, 15 boards and three assists.

 

RED CITY ROAR 76 lost to SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 104

The Southern Districts Spartans put on 66 points in the first half in a scintillating display on Saturday night to set up the eventual road win against the Red City Roar.

The Spartans travelled to Paul Bancroft Centre and started on fire against the Roar with 34 points in the first quarter and another 32 in the second to have already opened up a 66-34 advantage going into the half-time break.

While they couldn’t quite maintain that pace in the second half, the damage was done and Southern Districts cruised to the 104-76 win against Red City.

Not only did the Spartans end up shooting 55.7 per cent from the field, but they pulled in 53 rebounds to 34 from the Roar.

Leah Scott finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists for Southern Districts with Nadeen Payne contributing 19 points and six boards, and Lulu Twidale 13 points, four boards and two assists.

Kalani Purcell also had 12 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals, Maddie Allen 11 points and 11 rebounds, Natasha Le Bas 11 points, and Lil Dart 10 points, three boards and three steals.

Mia Lloyd put in an impressive display for Red City with 33 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals while shooting 11/20 from the floor and 10/10 at the foul line.

Jaylen Cooper added eight points and five rebounds for the Roar, Myka Arthur eight points and three assists, Kassandra Donnelly seven points, and Ayla Acdol seven points.

 

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 63 lost to BRISBANE CAPITALS 68

The Rockhampton Cyclones couldn’t quite close the deal against the Brisbane Capitals on their home floor on Saturday night, conceding the final eight points of the contest to lose by five.

It was a slow start from the Cyclones at Bravus Arena with just the eight points in the first quarter and they ended up falling 10 points down against the Capitals during the second term.

However, it was a low-scoring grind in the first half and it was a tight contest at the half with Brisbane up 28-27.

The scoring went up a notch in the third quarter with both teams combining for 45 points after only going for 55 between them in the opening half.

Eventually following a Jannon Otto offensive rebounds and putback, the Cyclones were leading 63-60 with 3:30 on the clock.

They appeared heading for their second win of the season but it wasn’t to be with the Capitals scoring the last eight points of the contest from there to end up winning 68-63.

That means that Brisbane improves to a 3-1 record on the season while Rockhampton slips to 1-3.

Abby Cubillo produced another standout performance for the Capitals with 26 points, six assists and three rebounds with Courtney Middap contributing 18 points, five boards and three assists, Maddison Woodford nine points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals, and Anna Cameron seven points and 11 boards.

Jannon Otto again top scored for Rockhampton with 14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals with Lara McSpadden adding 13 points and 15 boards, Annaliese Watkinson 10 points, and Heidi Freeburn 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

However, despite Rockhampton shooting just 3/20 from three-point range and having 17 turnovers, there was only seven minutes again for Bri Bailey who could have potentially helped in both those areas.

 

SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 73 lost to GOLD COAST ROLLERS 86

The Gold Coast Rollers continued their unbeaten start to the season on the back of a fast start against the South West Metro Pirates on Saturday night.

The Rollers got off to the flying start at Hibiscus Sports Stadium with 26 points to 10 against the Pirates in the opening quarter.

Gold Coast continued on with the momentum in the second quarter with another 28 points to 15 to open up a match winning advantage of 54-25 by half-time.

While South West outscored Gold Coast in the second half 48 points to 32, the Rollers were still able to cruise to the 86-73 victory to improve to a perfect 4-0 record on the season. The Pirates are now 0-5 as a result of the loss.

The Rollers shot 16/32 from downtown for the game along with collecting 49 rebounds to 34 even though the Pirates took remarkably good care of the ball with only the four turnovers.

Lauren Mansfield produced a standout performance for Gold Coast finishing with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists while knocking down 8/13 from the land of plenty.

Nyah Morris added 17 points, six rebounds and three assists while also nailing 5/10 from three-point range with Sarah Heard adding 14 points and five rebounds, and Sarah Ambrose nine points, six boards, five assists and two steals.

Catherine MacGregor finished with 24 points for South West while drilling 6/13 from beyond the arc while Steph Bairstow added 22 points and eight boards, and Alissa Alston 15 points, nine assists, six rebounds and two steals.

 

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 79 defeated DARWIN SALTIES 70

The Cairns Dolphins had to battle hard to overcome the Darwin Salties on their home floor on Saturday night in Round 7 of the NBL1 North season.

The Dolphins were hosting the Salties at Early Settler Stadium and they started well with 16 points to 10 in the first quarter. The home team then added another 26 points to 21 in the second term to lead 42-31 by half-time.

While the Salties kept on fighting valiantly, they could never quite close the gap and Cairns went on to win 79-70 to improve to a 4-1 record on the season while the Salties are 1-4 to start their life in the NBL1.

On the back of winning another WNBL championship at the Melbourne Boomers, Cayla George has started this NBL1 North season on fire. She had another 18 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks in Saturday night's win and her triple-double was instrumental in the eventual win.

Penina Davidson added 24 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Dolphins, Teyahna Bond 17 points and four assists, Alessandra Burke 10 points, seven boards and three assists, and Leichan Williams eight points.

Erin Bollmann delivered 23 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals with Chelsea Brook contributing 18 points and nine boards, and Teyla Evans 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

 

LOGAN THUNDER 89 defeated USC RIP CITY 78

The Logan Thunder made a fast start at home to USC Rip City on Saturday and came away with the eventual 11-point victory.

The Thunder were back at Bendigo Bank Cornubia Park Sports Centre and started impressively putting up 35 points in the opening quarter to lead by 17 points at quarter-time.

That proved to be the major difference in the game with Logan going on to lead still by 13 points at half-time, 11 points at three quarter-time and then ending up winning 89-78.

The result improves the Thunder to a perfect 3-0 record on the season so far while Rip City are 0-4.

While Rip City collected 10 more rebounds than Logan, they also turned the ball over 22 times to 10 and ended up taking 10 fewer field goals for the night even though they shot 43.6 per cent opposed to the 38.9 per cent from the Thunder.

Mikaela Ruef was a standout performer for Logan finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Danielle Bayes added 17 points for the Thunder, Carla Drennan 12 points and three assists, Sigi Koizar 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three assists, and Ashley Taia 10 points, three boards and two steals.

Maddy Rocci stepped up for Rip City putting up 27 points and five assists with Ashley Harris contributing 24 points, 14 rebounds and three assists, Carlie Smith 10 points and nine boards, and Liisa Ups nine points, nine rebounds and four assists.