North Recap | Round 1 Saturday

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Courtney Woods starred with 37 points to give the Northside Wizards the win to open NBL1 North season as did Mia Loyd with a triple-double for the Cairns Dolphins while Kuany Kuany was spectacular for the Townsville Heat.

NORTH RECAP | ROUND 1 FRIDAY

WOMEN

Northside Wizards (94) defeated Brisbane Capitals (83)

It was a night of spectacular individual performances but it was Courtney Woods with her 37 points that got the Northside Wizards across the line despite the 38 points from Ashley Arlen for Brisbane Capitals in the 94-83 win.

There's no shortage of motivation for the Wizards coming into the 2025 season after their heartbreaking loss in the last two games of the grand final series last year to the Rockhampton Cyclones.

Their season started at home at Northside Indoor Sports Centre on Friday night against a Capitals team looking to improve on their 8-9 season in 2024.

With Courtney Woods on deck after playing in Darwin last year, the Wizards got off to a flying start too with 27 points to 15 in the first quarter on the back of going on a 10-0 scoring run.

The lead for Northside grew to as much as 16 points in the second quarter too and last year's regular season champions went into the half-time break leading 49-39 on the back of hitting 4/12 from three in the half to the 1/8 from the Capitals.

Brisbane did its best to try and mount a fightback throughout the second half but Northside continued to have all the answers and maintained a double-figure lead most of the way before securing the eventual 11-point victory.

The Wizards won on the back of going 28/31 at the free-throw line opposed to 16/22 which helped them losing the rebound count by 20 including giving up 22 offensive boards to the Caps.

Courtney Woods played a starring role in the first up win for the Wizards with 37 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds on 11/18 shooting from the field and 15/15 at the foul line.

Nadeen Payne also put up 22 points and 10 rebounds, Courtney Middap 14 points on 3/4 three-point shooting, and Cierra Walker 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Ashley Arlen put in a huge performance despite the loss for Brisbane with 38 points, 18 rebounds, three assists and three blocks on 13/21 shooting from the floor, 3/7 from deep and 9/10 at the foul line.

Jessica Relf also had 11 points, three assists and two rebounds, Jovana Ilic nine points and 10 boards, and Ella White eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 94 (Woods 37, Payne 22, Middap 14)

BRISBANE CAPITALS 83 (Arlen 38, Relf 11, Ilic 9)

Mackay Meteorettes (90) defeated Rockhampton Cyclones (81)

Not even a 39-point explosion from Chelsey Perry could stop the Mackay Meteorettes from opening their season with the 90-81 home victory against the Rockhampton Cyclones.

It was the first game as defending champions for the Cyclones after their stunning performance in the grand final series to win the last two games against the Northside Wizards to secure the 2024 title.

The Meteorettes won just six games in 2024 so were looking to make an encouraging start to 2025 hosting Rockhampton at Mackay Basketball Stadium in the first game of the season of both teams.

Despite missing all eight of their three-point attempts in the first quarter, Mackay were leading 22-21 by the end of the first thanks to scoring 9/12 inside the arc even with Rockhampton making 4/8 from deep.

It was then another 28 points to 23 in the second period from the Meteorettes and that ensured they were leading the defending champions 50-44 by half-time despite going 2/17 from long-range.

Mackay remained in control throughout the second half too leading by as much as 17 points and ending up winning by nine to have an encouraging start to the season under the coaching of Ross Jensen.

The Meteorettes ended up winning despite ending up shooting 2/29 from three-point land on the back of going 22/28 at the foul line to the 12/16 from the Cyclones.

Monique Bobongie was outstanding in the win for Mackay with 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks with Nikita Van Wyk also contributing 22 points and nine boards.

Abby Bishop added 16 points, 18 rebounds and three assists with Cheyenne Bobongie also having 14 points, six assists and five rebounds.

It wasn’t the start Rockhampton was hoping for to their championship defence but Chelsey Perry showed what a weapon she is going to be with 39 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks on 14/25 shooting from the floor, 5/9 from downtown and 6/7 at the foul line.

Bella James added 10 points and four rebounds on 4/4 shooting, and Kiara Phillips eight points, three assists and two rebounds.

MACKAY METEORETTES 90 (M Bobongie 24, Van Wyk 22, Bishop 16)

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 81 (Perry 39, Janes 10, Cunningham 7)

Sunshine Coast Phoenix (69) lost to Southern Districts Spartans (91)

Tiana Mangakahia had another strong impact and the Southern Districts Spartans made it a perfect start to the NBL1 North season with the 91-69 road win over the Sunshine Coast Phoenix on Saturday.

The Spartans opened the season on Friday night with the thrilling 89-86 win also on the road to Logan Thunder ahead of backing up on Saturday for the season-opener of the Phoenix at Maroochydore Stadium.

Coming off the momentum with the win the previous night, Southern Districts made a fast start with a 10-0 run in the first quarter while hitting four triples to end up leading 26-15 by the end of the first quarter.

That lead for the Spartans grew out to 19 points in the second term and by half-time it was the visitors in control leading 51-36 on the back of going 8/16 from downtown in the opening 20 minutes.

The Phoenix fired back in the second frame with 13 straight points to keep the lead of Southern Districts at just 11 at three quarter-time, but the Spartans then pulled away further in the final frame.

Southern Districts put up 26 points to 13 in the last 10 minutes to blow that out to a 22-point win in the finish as they improved to 2-0 after their opening two games of the season.

Jess McDowell-White had a standout performance for the Spartans with 29 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals with 7/10 three-point shooting.

Tiana Mangakahia played another key role too with 17 points and four assists with Nicole Fransson delivering 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks, and Taylah Simmons 11 points, four boards and two assists.

It was a tough loss for the Phoenix to open the season with shooting just 39 per cent from the field and going 5/19 from deep with Erin Bollmann making her Sunshine Coast debut with 19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Shannon Ryan added 15 points and 11 rebounds, Caitlin Clancy 10 points, four boards, two assists and two steals, and Amy Browne eight points and seven rebounds.

SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 69 (Bollmann 19, Ryan 15, Clancy 10)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 91 (McDowell-White 29, Fransson 22, Mangakahia 17)

Townsville Flames (63) lost to Cairns Dolphins (97)

Mia Loyd delivered a triple-double and the Cairns Dolphins had five players scoring in double figures as they overcame a big performance from Sam Bowman to beat the Townsville Flames 97-63.

Both teams were playing their first games of the NBL1 North season and the two northern rivals wanted to make an early statement locking horns at Carmichael Ford Stadium in Townsville.

The Dolphins started the better shooting 11/18 from the field in the first quarter to 6/16 from Townsville to be leading 24-16 already by the end of the opening 10 minutes.

Cairns kept that momentum going in the second frame too with another 23 points to 16 to head into half-time leading 47-32 on the back of making 21/36 from behind the three-point line.

It was more of the same in the third quarter with Cairns putting up another 21 points to 11 to lead by as much as 25 before the lead got out to 36 in the final period too with another 29 points to 20 on the way to the Dolphins scoring the 34-point win.

Cairns ended up shooting 59 per cent from the field for the game opposed to 34 per cent from Townsville on top of going 14/27 at the foul line to 7/13. Had they not missed 13 free throws, it could have been an even more emphatic result.

The Dolphins win was all on the back of how strong contributions they got right across the board but it was Mia Loyd showing the way with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists with 7/13 field goal shooting.

She had plenty of help too with Leichan Williams finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, Teyahna Bond 16 points and three boards, Taryn Bond 16 points, three steals and two assists, Aimee Brett 12 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Sam Bowman did all she could to keep Townsville in the game with 29 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals on 11/21 shooting from the floor and 4/6 at the foul line.

Kali Grootenboer added 13 points and five rebounds, and WNBL great Mia Murray 10 points, eight boards and three assists.

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 63 (Bowman 29, Grootenboer 13, Murray 10)

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 97 (Loyd 19, Williams 17, Taryn Bond 16, Teyahna Bond 16)

South West Metro Pirates (72) lost to Logan Thunder (90)

Logan Thunder bounced back from a heartbreaking Friday night loss at home to score the 79-59 road win over the South West Metro Pirates 24 hours later.

Logan opened their 2025 season under new coach Aja Parham-Ammar with a thrilling loss at home to the Southern Districts Spartans while the Pirates were making their first appearance of 2025 on the back of also reaching the finals last season.

The Thunder started strongly making 4/8 from downtown in the first quarter to be leading 26-21 by the end of the first quarter before Logan totally took control in the second quarter by completing a 13-0 scoring run.

Logan ended up scoring 24 points and held South West to just 14 in the second term to be well in control by half-time leading 50-35 while making 8/16 from three-point range.

The Pirates were able to outscore Logan 22-17 in the third quarter on the back of making 4/6 from three-point range but the Thunder pulled away once more with 23 points to 15 in the final period to end up securing the 18-point victory.

Logan have now split their double-header to open the 2025 season with Amandine Toi leading the charge with 24 points and two assists with 5/12 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

Prasayus Notoa added 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, Kendell Heremaia 13 points and six boards, Leah Scott 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Mikhaela Cann 12 points, 11 assists, four steals and three rebounds.

The Pirates didn’t quite start the season how they hoped on their home floor at Hibiscus Sports Stadium with Steph Bairstow top-scoring with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Grace Champion added 14 points, two rebounds and two assists, Beyonce Bea 10 points and 10 boards, and Brooke Malone 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.

SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 72 (Bairstow 17, Champion 14, Bea 10)

LOGAN THUNDER 90 (Toi 24, Notoa 15, Heremaia 13)

MEN

Northside Wizards (83) defeated Brisbane Capitals (64)

Brisbane Bullets assistant coaches Greg Vanderjagt and Darryl McDonald went head to head and it was the Northside Wizards starting the season on a winning note beating the Brisbane Capitals with Tyler Williams delivering 29 points.

The Wizards might have won just five games last season, but they are looking to rise back up the standings in 2025 with their NBL legend as coach while Vanderjagt remains at the helm of the Caps on the back of them reaching the grand final last season.

They were without their MVP Sam McDaniel on Saturday night for the match up with the Wizards at Northside Indoor Sports Centre and it was the home team holding the slender 20-18 lead by quarter-time.

The Wizards then caught fire in the second period by putting up 30 points to just 18 from the Caps on the back of shooting 10/17 from the field as a team to go into the half-time interval 50-35.

Northside kept on building on that lead throughout the second half with it getting out to 22 points in the third frame and 26 in the fourth before they ended up securing the season-opening 19-point victory.

The Wizards finished the game shooting 44 per cent from the floor and 8/24 from three while the Capitals struggled going at 27 per cent overall and then 2/27 from long-range with both teams getting to the foul line 30 times.

Tyler Williams delivered 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in the win for the Wizards including going 5/11 from three-point territory.

Nikau McCullough added 17 points, three rebounds and three assists, Durrell McDonald 16 points, four steals and three rebounds, and Jed Richardson eight points and five boards.

Uche Dibiamaka finished with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists for Brisbane with Matthew Johns adding 10 points and eight boards, Cameron Thew nine points and five rebounds, Tim Soong nine points, 10 boards, four steals and three assists, and Dhieu Magier nine points and four steals.

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 83 (Williams 29, McCullough 17, McDonald 16)

BRISBANE CAPITALS 64 (Dibiamaka 16, Johns 10, Magier 9, Soong 9, Thew 9)

Mackay Meteors (99) defeated Rockhampton Rockets (79)

The championship defence of the Mackay Meteors got off to an ominous start with the 99-79 home victory against the Rockhampton Rockets.

The Meteors opened the new season on their home floor at Mackay Basketball Stadium raising the championship banner on Saturday night, but it was a decidedly new look team.

There was no longer Todd Blanchfield, Emmett Naar, Isaac White, Luca Yates or even coach Joel Khalu as they opened up the season against Rockhampton team who also played finals in 2024.

Under new coach Matthew Paps, Mackay started well to already open up a 10-point lead in the first quarter and to be leading 28-19 by quarter-time with Rockhampton shooting themselves in the foot going 2/10 at the foul line.

The Meteors then pulled away further with 30 points to 15 in the second quarter which saw them go into the half-time break leading 58-34 on shooting 23/44 from the field and 10/12 at the charity stripe opposed to the 14/45 at 31 per cent from the floor for Rockhampton along with their 3/13 at the foul line.

Mackay's lead blew out to as much as 26 points in the second half and the defending champions went on to score the 20-point win despite the mass changes to that team that won the title in 2024.

Jerron Jamerson ended up delivering 21 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win for Mackay with Makuach Maluach adding 20 points, eight boards and four assists, Kobey Sager 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Cameron Goldfinch 12 points and eight boards, and Kye Medhurst 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Rockhampton had a rough shooting night going 34 per cent from the field and 21 per cent from three but even more troubling 38 per cent at the foul line with Malok Majak going 0/5 and Mitchell Kuhl the 0/3 the two worst culprits.

Jalen Graham finished with 22 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks for the Rockets, Jared Blanchard 12 points, five boards and two steals, Kuhl 10 points, four rebounds and three steals, and Majak nine points and 12 boards.

MACKAY METEORS 99 (Jamerson 21, Maluach 20, Sager 15)

ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 79 (Graham 22, Blanchard 12, Kuhl 10)

Sunshine Coast Phoenix (95) defeated Southern Districts Spartans (80)

The Sunshine Coast Phoenix made a scorching start with 30 points in their first quarter of the season on the way to the eventual 95-80 win over the Southern Districts Spartans.

The Spartans opened their season on Friday night prevailing 110-109 in a high quality thriller on the road to the Logan Thunder.

Southern Districts remained on the road in the opening round to take on the Phoenix on Saturday night at Maroochydore Stadium.

The Phoenix missed out on finals last year and were looking to start well, but even they couldn’t have imagined a more perfect start as they piled on 30 points to nine in the opening quarter.

That saw Sunshine Coast get to the foul line 13 times while making 9/17 from the field and knocking down 4/8 from downtown to build a lead as big as 21 points.

The lead for the Phoenix got out to as much as 25 points in the second term and they would go into the half-time break leading 47-36 even with the Spartans outscoring them 27-17 in the second term.

Sunshine Coast were able to maintain a double-figure advantage throughout the majority of the second half too on the way to the eventual 15-point win while going 25/35 at the foul line opposed to the 13/21 form the Spartans.

Six Sunshine Coast players ended up scoring in double figures led by Earnest Ross with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists showing why he previously was an NBL player.

Jamaal Robateau added 15 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists, Erik Kafritsas 14 points, five boards, three assists and two steals, Darnell Robateau 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds, and DeShawn Ross-Paiwan 13 points, three boards and two steals.

The dynamic Southern Districts back court of Tamuri Wigness (23 points, three rebounds, three assists) and Kyle Adnam (21 points, seven rebounds, six assists) still had strong showings but couldn’t quite repeat their heroics of the night before.

Blake Jones also had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Andre Ugrinic 10 points and two boards, and Max Kerle eight points and five rebounds.

SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 95 (Ross 24, J Robateau 15, Kahler 15)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 80 (Wigness 23, Adnam 21, Jones 14)

Townsville Heat (111) defeated Cairns Marlins (84)

Fresh off being part of the Illawarra Hawks' NBL championship squad, Kuany Kuany delivered a spectacular performance to lead the Townsville Heat to the season opening 111-84 win over the Cairns Marlins with his 33 points.

It was a first game of the season for the Far North Queensland rivals at Townsville's Carmichael Ford Stadium with the Heat and Marlins looking to bounce back in 2025 after neither took part in the playoffs of 2024.

It was a tight opening with Cairns clinging to the narrow 21-20 lead by the end of the first quarter before Townsville took charge in the second term with a monstrous 40 points.

That 40-point outburst came on the back of shooting 7/10 from three-point land and going 13/16 overall as a team from the field to open up a 15-point lead and to be on top 60-45 at the half-time interval.

The Heat completed an 18-0 scoring run in the third quarter to open up a 24-point lead and from there that continued to grow getting out to as much as 30 in the last term with Townsville ending up scoring the 27-point win on their home floor.

Kuany Kuany was on the Illawarra Hawks that won a championship in NBL25 just a couple of months ago ahead of joining Townsville for the NBL1 North season.

He delivered 33 points, six rebounds and two steals while making 6/8 from downtown, 13/17 at the stripe and throwing down some spectacular dunks in the open floor.

Ethan Betts added 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, Grant Teichmann 15 points, three boards and three assists, Max Norton nine points, three rebounds and two assists, Matthew Rees nine points, four boards and four assists, and Richard Peachey nine points and three rebounds.

Kody Stattmann ended up with 16 points and three rebounds for Cairns with newly signed fully contracted Cairns Taipans NBL forward Alex Higgins-Titsha adding 15 points, nine boards, three assists and two steals.

James Mitchell also had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Moses Nuangki eight points.

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 111 (Kuany 33, Betts 19, Teichmann 15)

CAIRNS MARLINS 84 (Stattmann 16, Higgins-Titsha 15, Mitchell 14)

South West Metro Pirates (77) lost to Logan Thunder (90)

The Logan Thunder shook off their thrilling Friday night loss to open their account for the 2025 season with the 90-77 win on the road on Saturday to the South West Metro Pirates.

Logan opened their NBL1 North season the previous night and played out a cracking contest with the Southern Districts Spartans before losing by a point ahead of backing up to face the Pirates on Saturday at Hibiscus Sports Stadium.

It was the first game of the season for South West and it was the Thunder getting the better of the start to be leading 24-16 by the end of the first quarter.

Logan added another 24 points to 21 in the second term and that saw them go into the half-time interval leading 48-37 with the major difference their ability to get to the line for 14 free throws to just four from the Pirates.

Logan were able to go on with the job in the second half to lead by as much as 14 points and end up scoring the 13-point victory to split their opening weekend double.

Zac Triplett was tremendous in the win for Logan with 28 points and 14 rebounds with 6/13 three-point shooting with Matt Kenyon adding 18 points and eight boards, and Callum Dalton 19 points, 13 rebound and three assists.

Despite the final 13-point margin, there were encouraging signs for South West in their first appearance of the season with Kai Woodfall finishing with 20 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Ben Volkman added 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, Dragan Stajic 10 points, eight boards and three assists, and Lachlan Anderson 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Pirates captain Brendan Teys was also celebrating his 200th game for the club and had nine points and two assists.

SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 77 (Woodfall 20, Volkman 12, Anderson 10, Stajic 10)

LOGAN THUNDER 90 (Triplett 28, Dalton 19, Kenyon 18)