NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Women's Round 9

Mikaela Ruef and Alanna Smith delivered quite the dominant performances in Saturday night NBL1 North action combining for 60 points and 41 rebounds in victories for the Logan Thunder and Townsville Flames. 

There were Saturday night Round 9 wins in NBL1 North not only for Logan and Townsville but also Ipswich Force, Mackay Meteorettes, USC Rip City, Southern Districts Spartans and North Gold Coast Seahawks.

NBL1 North got underway on Friday night with a triple-double from Tiana Mangakahia leading the charge for the Northside Wizards in a 114-58 win against the Darwin Salties who began their triple-header road trip inauspiciously.

Then on Saturday night, the Ipswich Force hit the road and came away with the 86-70 victory against the Red City Roar.

Amanda Cahill finished with 29 points for Ipswich in the win while Brianna Rollerson had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Ariana Moorer finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds for the home team.

The Logan Thunder were another road team to enjoy themselves on Saturday night with a 92-71 victory against the South West Metro Pirates.

Mikaela Ruef had 29 points, 27 rebounds and five assists even though the Thunder only had a rotation of seven. Cat MacGregor had 17 points for the Pirates.

It was a thriller at Bravus Arena with the Mackay Meteorettes holding off the fast finishing Rockhampton Cyclones to win 87-85.

Grace George finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in the win for the Meteorettes while Lara McSpadden delivered 27 points and 16 rebounds for Rockhampton.

It was then a low scoring grind at Maroochydore Stadium with USC Rip City ending up beating the Sunshine Coast Phoenix 66-47.

Maddy Rocci finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals while Amy Browne put up 19 points and six boards for Sunshine Coast.

It was a thumping win at home for the Southern Districts Spartans as they defeated the Darwin Salties 102-63.

Nadeen Payne put up another 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in the win for the Spartans while Ruby Porter scored 13 points for Darwin.

It was also a considerable home win for the Townsville Flames who defeated the Cairns Dolphins 107-75.

Courtney Woods put up 39 points for Townsville on the back of seven three-pointers while Alanna Smith made her debut producing 31 points and 14 rebounds.

Cayla George finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Cairns on what was quite the star-studded affair.

The North Gold Coast Seahawks also won impressively at home beating the Gold Coast Rollers 88-73.

Erin Riley had 27 points for the Seahawks and Doniyah Cliney 21 while Angela Lou Beadle had 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Rollers.

Round 9 in the NBL1 North wraps up now on Sunday with the Brisbane Capitals playing host to the Darwin Salties.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 9 – SATURDAY NIGHT

RED CITY ROAR 70 lost to IPSWICH FORCE 86

The Ipswich Force hit the road and came away with the 16-point win on Saturday night in the NBL1 North against the Red City Roar.

The Roar hosted the Force at Paul Bancroft Centre and both teams had their share of the lead in the opening quarter before Ipswich was up narrowly 20-19 by the end of one.

It was in the second quarter when the Force began to pull away on the back of a 12-0 run to see them lead by 13 points and that's where things sat at half-time with the score 41-28.

Ipswich was able to pull away further in the third quarter with the lead growing to as much as 22 and the Force managed to convert that into the eventual 86-70 victory.

Ipswich dominated the glass with 40 points to 29 while shooting a brilliant 55.4 per cent from the floor opposed to 41.3 per cent from Red City.

The victory improves the Force to a 4-8 record on the season while the Roar slip to 2-7 following the defeat.

Amanda Cahill delivered 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the win for Ipswich while Brianna Rollerson produced 22 points and 16 rebounds.

Tia Hay added 17 points and 10 assists also for the Force with Kasey Burton contributing 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Ariana Moorer put up 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for Red City with Mia Lloyd adding 17 points and Myka Arthur nine points and five assists.

 

SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 71 lost to LOGAN THUNDER 92

The Logan Thunder started strongly and were never really headed the rest of the way on the way to a 21-point Saturday night road win against the South West Metro Pirates.

The Pirates hosted the Thunder at Hibiscus Sports Stadium and it didn’t take Logan long to take over the contest going on a run of scoring 19 straight points in the first quarter.

The Thunder were leading 30-14 by quarter-time but the Pirates did their best to stay in touch going on their own 9-0 run in the second period to outscore the visitors 28 points to 18 to cut Logan's half-time lead to 48-42.

Logan was able to assert their dominance once more in the third quarter scoring another 15 consecutive points to lead by 20 points.

From there the Thunder converted that into an eventual 92-71 victory to remain undefeated this season after nine matches while the Pirates remain winless after 10 games.

It was an incredible dominance for the Thunder on the glass with 61 rebounds to 29 from South West including 21 at the offensive end to five.

Neither teams had too far to go down the bench either with Thunder coach Brayden Heslehurst having just a rotation of seven players while Pirates coach Brad George also only played seven players for double-figure minutes.

Mikaela Ruef was a dominant force in the win for Logan with 29 points, 27 rebounds and five assists on the back of shooting 12/20 from the floor and 5/6 at the free-throw line.

Indiah Bowyer added 21 points with five three-pointers for the Thunder with Ashley Taia contributing 15 points, Carla Drennan 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Chevannah Paalvast nine points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Cat McGregor top-scored for South West with 17 points with Paige Price contributing 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Bride Kennedy-Hopoate 10 points and four boards. 

 

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 85 lost to MACKAY METEORETTES 87

The Rockhampton and Mackay rivalry had another chapter written into it on Saturday night with the Meteorettes holding out the Cyclones for the two-point road victory.

Rockhampton played host to Mackay at Bravus Arena and the Cyclones started on fire on their home floor scoring 15 consecutive points during the opening period and to lead 32-13 by quarter-time.

That threw the challenge right down to the Meteorettes to respond and they almost replicated the performance in the second quarter themselves by outscoring the Cyclones 30 points to 11.

That saw scores all tied up at 43-43 going into the half-time break and the momentum continued to swing including Rockhampton going up seven during the third period before Mackay fired back with 11 straight points to be up four by three quarter-time.

The Meteorettes had managed to turn that into a 10-point lead again during the final term and a pair of Alex Hart jump shots maintained that double-figure advantage with four minutes on the clock.

Another jumper from Hart with just over two minutes to go with two minutes left and while Rockhampton kept fighting they couldn’t get any closer than back with two points with Mackay ending up winning 87-85.

Grace George had a strong night for the Meteorettes with 21 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Shaneice Swain contributing 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Alexa Hart also had 16 points and five rebounds, Miela Goodchild 14 points and five boards, and Charli Kenny eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.

The Cyclones were shorthanded with only six players playing more than three minutes but they fought valiantly with Lara McSpadden finishing with 27 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Heidi Freeburn added 21 points, eight steals, five rebounds and three assists, Annaliese Watkinson 14 points, Madison Torresin 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Sara Storeshaw eight points and five assists.

 

SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 47 lost to USC RIP CITY 66

It took until the third quarter for USC Rip City to get rolling and set up their eventual 19-point victory against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

The Phoenix hosted USC at Maroochydore Stadium and it was a tight contest for the first half even after Rip City opened up a 10-point lead after eight straight points in the first quarter.

By quarter-time, it was just a two-point ball game but it was Sunshine Coast who got going a bit more in the second quarter scoring seven consecutive points to lead by five points, and to still be on top 27-25 at half-time.

Rip City needed to respond coming out of half-time and they were able to with 27 points to eight in the third quarter and that saw them open up a 17-point advantage after being down two at the half.

USC converted that into the eventual 66-47 victory to see them improve to a 3-6 record on the season while the Phoenix slip to 1-10 following the defeat.

Maddy Rocci ended the night with 23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals for Rip City with Carlie Smith contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Ashley Arlen 10 points, 10 boards, five steals, two assists and two blocked shots.

Amy Browne finished with 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks for Sunshine Coast with Madeleine White contributing nine points and nine rebounds.

 

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 102 defeated DARWIN SALTIES 63

The triple-header road trip didn’t get too much better on Saturday night for the Darwin Salties with the Southern Districts Spartans handing them a 102-63 defeat.

The Salties were coming off a 56-point defeat at the hands of the Northside Wizards on Friday night as they headed to Rowland Cowan Stadium on Saturday to take on the Spartans in the middle match up of their weekend away from home.

Southern Districts scored nine consecutive points during the first quarter and that saw them take a 13-point lead into quarter-time.

The Spartans stretched the lead further with 28 points to 25 in the second term to go into half-time on top 50-34.

The Salties continued to fight hard to maintain pace with the Spartans during the third quarter, but they couldn’t quite keep it up.

Southern Districts dominated the fourth quarter with 31 points to nine including scoring 15 points in-a-row to end up winning 102-63.

The result improves the Spartans to a 9-1 record on the season while the loss sees Darwin slip to 3-7 with one more road clash this weekend to come against the Brisbane Capitals on Sunday.

Nadeen Payne was tremendous for Southern Districts finishing the evening with 20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Leah Scott added 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Spartans, Maddie Allen 18 points, seven boards and seven assists, Natalie Taylor 15 points and four assists, and Lil Dart 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Ruby Porter finished the evening with 13 points and five rebounds for the Salties with Lauren Heard contributing 11 points, four rebounds, there assists and two steals, and Serena Waters nine points, seven boards and three assists.

 

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 107 defeated CAIRNS DOLPHINS 75

The Townsville Flames welcomed Alanna Smith into the fold and delivered a 32-point win at home to the Cairns Dolphins on Saturday night.

It was a court full of stars at Townsville StarFM Stadium on Saturday night with Smith making her debut for the Flames on the back of her WNBA stint at the Indiana Fever.

Mia Murray also returned on Saturday night for Townsville joining Steph Reid and Courtney Woods in a high-powered line-up, but Cairns also arrived with a line-up featuring Cayla George and Penina Davidson.

However, the Flames were on song from the outset putting together an 11-0 run during the first quarter before leading 33-14 by quarter-time.

Cairns did their best to make a game of it in the second term, though, going on their own 9-0 run and scoring 28 points to 17 to have turned a 21-point deficit into eight by half-time.

The Flames pulled away once more in the second half starting with 31 points to 18 in the third quarter. The lead grew to as much as 36 points then during the fourth quarter before Townsville ended up winning 107-75.

The result improves the Flames to a 7-3 record on the season while Cairns is now 6-4 following the loss.

Courtney Woods had a night out for Townsville putting up 39 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and four steals on the back of nailing 14/21 from the floor and 7/13 from three-point range.

Alanna Smith marked her first appearance with 31 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals with Steph Reid adding 19 points, 14 assists and seven boards, and Mia Murray 16 points and six rebounds with four three-point makes.

Cayla George finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two blocks for Cairns while Penina Davidson contributed 17 points and nine boards, and Alessandra Burke 14 points and seven assists.

 

NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 88 defeated GOLD COAST ROLLERS 73

The North Gold Coast Seahawks started strongly at home on Saturday night and were able to take advantage for an eventual 15-point win against the Gold Coast Rollers.

The Seahawks hosted the Rollers at Runaway Bay Stadium and it was the home team who started well scoring 11 consecutive points and going into quarter-time with a 21-11 advantage over the Rollers.

The North Gold Coast lead did grow to 12 points in the second term but the Rollers kept pace with them the rest of the way with the Seahawks on top 34-22 by half-time.

Gold Coast then caught fire in the third quarter putting up 28 points, but they couldn’t make too many inroads on the deficit with the Seahawks still leading by 11 at three quarter-time.

North Gold Coast then maintained their edge the rest of the way to end up winning 88-73 on their home floor.

Not only did the Seahawks shoot 52.5 per cent from the floor for the game opposed to 40.3 per cent from the Rollers, but they also got to the line for 29 free-throw attempts compared to 13.

Erin Riley top-scored for North Gold Coast with 27 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals while shooting 9/14 from the floor, 4/7 from downtown and 5/7 at the charity stripe.

Doniyah Cliney added 21 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, Isalys Quinones 18 points and seven boards, and Lauren Jansen 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Angela Lou Beadle finished with 21 points, 17 rebounds and four assists for Gold Coast with Lauren Mansfield adding 16 points, three boards and three steals, Jade Peacock 14 points and five rebounds, and Lilli Rotunno 11 points and five assists.