NBL1 North Recap | Sunday Round 14

Carlie Smith produced a triple-double in an NBL1 North win for USC Rip City over the Mackay Meteorettes on Sunday as did Fabijan Krslovic for the Southern Districts Spartans while Mikaela Ruef and Majok Deng shone in big wins for the Logan Thunder.

Round 14 in the NBL1 North wrapped up on Sunday with the three women's matches that saw USC Rip City defeat the Mackay Meteorettes 92-71, the Southern Districts Spartans beat the Northside Wizards 66-56, and the Logan Thunder down the Darwin Salties 74-67.

Then in the men's match ups, Rip City defeated Mackay 87-78, Southern Districts beat Northside 90-85, and Logan downed Darwin 97-75.

NBL1 NORTH RECAP | SATURDAY ROUND 14

NBL1 NORTH RECAP | FRIDAY ROUND 14

WOMEN

Carlie Smith triple-double in big Rip City win

A stunning triple-double from Carlie Smith lifted USC Rip City to a second win of the weekend beating the Mackay Meteorettes 92-71.

Mackay did start its weekend road double beating the Sunshine Coast Phoenix the night before while Rip City were making their first appearance of the round with both teams out of playoff contention.

Rip City were fresh and it showed as they started the game on fire going on a 10-0 run to lead by as much as 14 points before Mackay did close the opening quarter with the last seven points to cut that deficit in half.

USC took back control, though the rest of the evening to lead by as much as 16 points in the second stanza, 20 in the third and 21 in the fourth before settling on that 21-point winning margin.

With the win, Rip City improves to a 5-11 record while Mackay is 3-14 having split their two road games this weekend.

Carlie Smith was one of the great stars of the afternoon for Rip City producing a triple-double consisting of 23 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals.

Megan Mullings also produced 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks on 11/13 shooting while N'dea Flye added 16 points, five boards and two steals, Steph Bairstow 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks, and Madeline Campbell 10 points, five boards and two assists.

Davida Dale did what she could to fire Mackay by putting in a performance made up of 31 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and six steals on 13/31 shooting from the floor.

Brittany Reeves also had nine points and three assists, Phoebe Holmes nine points and three assists, and Courtney Virgo eight points and three boards.

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 2, 2023

Spartans hand Wizards third loss in last four

Suddenly things at the top of the NBL1 North have become all the more fascinating after the Southern Districts Spartans beat the Northside Wizards 66-56 on Sunday.

The Wizards looked invincible winning their first 12 games of the season before a first up loss to the Rockhampton Cyclones three weeks ago.

They also suffered another loss last week on the road to the Darwin Salties ahead of Sunday's clash at home to the Spartans who arrived on their own four-match winning streak in fourth position.

That set up quite the fascinating match up and for a lot of the first half the Wizards were in control leading by as much as nine points, and being up 31-26 still at half-time.

Southern Districts turned things around emphatically in the third quarter though. The Spartans went on a 13-0 scoring run and outscored the Wizards 22 points to six in the period to lead by as much as 13 points.

Southern Distircts converted that into the 10-point win to make it five wins in succession and improve to a 12-5 record. The Wizards are now 13-3 having lost three of their past four to see their top position now in jeopardy.

Elin Gustavsson continued her outstanding form for the Spartans with another 20 points and 13 rebounds with Alice Dart contributing 11 points, Jess McDowell-White 10 points, 12 assists, six steals and six rebounds, and Emily Preston eight points, seven boards, three assists and three steals.

Lil Dart top-scored for Northside with 16 points and three rebounds with Nadeen Payne adding 13 points and seven boards, and Courtney Woods 12 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and six steals.

 

Ruef dominates again as Logan closes on top spot

Another dominant performance from Mikaela Ruef has helped Logan Thunder further close in on the NBL1 North regular season championship while handing the Darwin Salties a third road loss of the weekend.

Logan was making its lone appearance of Round 14 up against a Salties team on Sunday who had already played twice on the road this weekend in losses to the Red City Roar and Ipswich Force.

They were defeats to bottom four teams so taking on a Logan team on a seven-game winning streak was a significant challenge and that's how it panned out.

The lead did switch hands throughout the first half of the contest with Logan leading by six at quarter-time but then only by three at the main break.

However, Logan piled on 22 points to 12 in the third quarter to complete a 19-0 scoring run to lead by as much as 15 points, and then holding out the Salties to end up winning by seven.

The victory is an eighth in-a-row for Logan as they improve to 12-4 to be closing in on top spot while Darwin loses all three this weekend to slip to 11-7.

Mikaela Ruef was outstanding once more for Logan finishing with 31 points, 21 rebounds, five assists and three steals including 17/21 from the foul line.

Chevannah Paalvast added 17 points, 10 boards and three steals, and Ula Motuga 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Catherine MacGregor ended up with 20 points, nine rebounds and two assists for Darwin on 4/9 three-point shooting with Tsubasa Nisbet adding 19 points, four steals, three boards and two assists, and Claire-Maree Hunt 13 points, six rebounds and three steals.

MEN

Rip City stay alive with win over Mackay

USC Rip City kept themselves in the playoff mix in the NBL1 North with a hard earned 87-78 victory at home to the Mackay Meteors.

Mackay came into the clash fresh off beating the Sunshine Coast Phoenix where Isaac White produced a 37-point triple-double but the Meteors did need to keep winning to further consolidate a playoff position.

Rip City were one of the teams trying to break into the top eight setting the stage for an important Sunday match up at USC Sports Stadium.

Mackay was leading by three at quarter-time for Rip City got going in the second period with 27 points to 16 to go into the half-time interval leading 43-35.

Rip City were able to increase that lead to 12 points in the third stanza and 13 in the fourth before holding on for the important nine-point win.

As a result, Rip City improves to an 8-8 record with two rounds remaining while Mackay slips to 9-8.

Kouat Noi produced 22 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals for USC on the back of shooting 8/17 from the floor, 2/5 from downtown and 4/7 at the foul line.

Verle Williams also had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for Rip City, Corey Shervill 11 points, 10 boards, two assists and two steals, and Brandon Wood 20 points and five assists on knocking down 6/9 of his three-point attempts.

Isaac White had another strong showing for Mackay with 30 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals with 13/16 free-throw shooting.

Christian Maran also had 16 points and eight rebounds, Tyler Williams 12 points, five rebounds and two steals, and Brad Rasmussen 11 points and six boards.

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 2, 2023

Spartans soar into top eight with win at Wizards

The Southern Districts Spartans moved into the NBL1 North's top eight thanks to a huge finish to see them overrun the Northside Wizards and win 90-85 on Sunday.

The Wizards had slipped further from playoff contention with the last two losses so Sunday's clash at home to the Spartans was a must-win for them while Southern Districts arrived on a four-game winning run.

The Wizards did open up an 11-point lead on a couple of occasions throughout the second half but the Spartans managed to fight back each time and by half-time scores were all level at 44-44.

Once again Northside opened up a handy lead to be up by seven in the third quarter and then by nine early in the fourth. 

However, that's when the Spartans fired up and scored the next 13 points and would end up outscoring the Wizards 33 points to 21 in the fourth stanza to turn that nine-point deficit into the five-point win.

The victory sees Southern Districts improve to a 9-8 record and move into the top eight with four consecutive wins while the Wizards slide to 7-9 with three straight defeats.

Akoldah Gak put up 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Spartans with Tasmania JackJumpers big man Fabijan Krslovic finishing with a triple-double consisting of 10 points, 14 rebounds and assists.

Koen Sapwell put together another 18 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals, Alex Mudronja 17 points, three boards and two assists, and Kian Dennis 14 points and six rebounds.

Despite the loss, Andrew White III produced 28 points and six rebounds with 4/11 three-point shooting for the Wizards with Cameron Healy contributing 21 points and five boards, and Lual Diing 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

 

Deng stars as Logan maintain second spot

Logan Thunder kept their hot form going on Sunday to consolidate a top two position in the NBL1 North with the 97-75 victory against the Darwin Salties.

Logan came into the contest on their home floor looking to bounce back from last week's loss to the Ipswich Force playing their only game of the weekend up against a Darwin team playing their third away game of Round 14.

Already the Salties had beaten the Red City Roar and lost to the Ipswich Force this weekend as they tried to lock away a playoff position so there was plenty at stake for both teams going into Sunday's match up.

Even though the Thunder made a fast start to lead early on by nine points, the Salties responded well to have a lead themselves a couple of times in both the first and second quarters.

However, Logan took over heading towards half-time and going into the break were on top 48-35.

It was then all the Thunder throughout the second half against an exhausted Salties team. Logan's lead ballooned out to 25 points in the third stanza and then 30 in the fourth before they scored the 22-point win.

The result improves Logan to a 14-2 record to consolidate second position while Darwin going one of three from the weekend to be 9-9 with two rounds remaining.

Majok Deng has the weight off his shoulders having now signed to continue his NBL career at the Tasmania JackJumpers and delivered 28 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals for Logan.

Boston Mazlin added 23 points and four boards, Shaun Bruce 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals, Rasmus Bach 11 points and four boards, and Mitch Young 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Jerron Jamerson finished with 21 points and three rebounds for Darwin with Makuach Maluach adding 18 points, six boards and four assists, Villami Foketi 11 points and five rebounds, and Deng Riak five points and 14 boards.