North Recap | Round 2 Friday

Mia Loyd continued her hot start with Cairns Dolphins before the Marlins produced a huge fightback to beat Gold Coast Rollers despite 72 points from Jensen Bradtke and Boston Mazlin in Friday night's NBL1 North action.

NORTH RECAP | ROUND 1 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Gold Coast Rollers (57) lost to Cairns Dolphins (91)

Mia Loyd continued her hot start to the season with a big triple-double as the Cairns Dolphins won big on the road 91-57 against the Gold Coast Rollers.

Cairns started their season under new coach Marcus Wong, fresh off an NBL1 West championship at the Rockingham Flames in 2024, with a 34-point home win against the Townsville Flames last Saturday night.

That was after winning just two games in all of 2024 as the Dolphins hit the road for the first time in 2025 to take on a Rollers team fresh off a first up loss to the Ipswich Force.

The match up at Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium saw Gold Coast put up 12 three-point attempts in the first quarter but only make three of them with Cairns shooting 11/20 overall to be leading 26-21 by quarter-time.

The Dolphins then dominated further in the second quarter putting up another 22 points and holding Gold Coast to 10 on 2/13 shooting which saw the visitors leading 48-31 by half-time.

It was another 28 points to 13 in the third period and the Cairns lead grew to as much as 35 points before they secured the eventual 34-point victory to improve to 2-0 to start the season.

Mia Loyd continued her brilliant form to start the season with Cairns producing a triple-double made up of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on 10/18 shooting from the field and 3/5 from three-point territory.

Leichan Williams also had 16 points and four rebounds, Aimee Brett 12 points, two boards and two assists, and Teyahna Bond 11 points and five assists.

Gold Coast is now 0-2 to open 2025 under the coaching of Australian basketball legend Mark Bradtke with Jasmin Howe their only player to score in double-figures with 10 points on 4/8 shooting.

Juna Umezawa added nine points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Emma Petrie nine points and six boards.

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 57 (Howe 10, Petrie 9, Umezawa 9)

CAIRNS DOLPHINS 91 (Loyd 23, Williams 16, Brett 12)

Rockhampton Cyclones (57) lost to Townsville Flames (66)

Sam Bowman delivered 24 points, 18 rebounds and five assists as the Townsville Flames overpowered the Rockhampton Cyclones to knock off the defending champions 66-57.

It was a big night for the Cyclones with their first home game at Bravus Arena since last season's championship triumph, but at the same time the turnover has been massive for the team on and off the floor in 2025.

Rockhampton opened their championship defence with a loss on the road last week to the Mackay Meteorettes as they hosted a Townsville team on Friday night who suffered their own 34-point home loss to the Cairns Dolphins.

It was a low scoring start from both teams with just the combined 26 points in the first quarter with the Cyclones shooting 5/23 and the Flames 5/15, but it was Rockhampton with the 15-11 lead by quarter-time.

The scoring did pick up in the second term and that worked in the favour of the Flames as they put up 22 points to 18 which saw scores all level at 33-33 by half-time.

Townsville was able to take control in the third quarter with 18 points to 10 while holding Rockhampton to shooting just 3/17 and by three quarter-time the Flames were on top 51-43.

The lead for Townsville got out to as much as 14 points in the final period and they went on to secure the nine-point win to improve to 1-1 to start the season.

Sam Bowman came up huge in the win for the Flames with 24 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals while Shaylee Browning contributed 17 points and three assists, and Kali Grootenboer six points, five rebounds and three assists.

Rockhampton's championship defence has now started with the two straight losses despite Moira Joiner delivering 21 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.

Alana Paewai also had 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Cyclones, Caitlin Cunningham 10 points and 14 boards, and Chelsey Perry five points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 57 (Joiner 21, Paewai 19, Cunningham 10)

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 66 (Bowman 24, Browning 17, Carey 6, Grootenboer 6)

MEN

Gold Coast Rollers (99) lost to Cairns Marlins (101)

The Cairns Marlins pulled off a spectacular second half fight back to beat the Gold Coast Rollers 101-99 despite the home team getting 72 points and 19 rebounds combined from Jensen Bradtke and Boston Mazlin.

It was a second straight home game at Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium of the season for the Rollers who opened up beating the Ipswich Force last week.

The Marlins opened their season with a loss at home to the Townsville Heat leading into Friday night's match up where Gold Coast produced a monster first quarter.

The Rollers put up 35 points on 10/16 shooting from the floor to go with 13/14 at the foul line while holding Cairns to just 18 points on 5/19 shooting.

Gold Coast remained in control leading 57-40 by half-time having been on top by as much as 21 points, and they were still leading by 18 when Nevarda Higgins knocked down a three-pointer four minutes into the second half.

Cairns immediately responded with a triple to Moses Nuangki and that was the spark to their fightback and by three quarter-time they were back within seven points of the Rollers.

The Marlins continued on with that momentum in the fourth quarter and they were all the way in front when Kody Stattmann scored with 7:45 to play.

Gold Coast were able to turn the tide once more and when Boston Mazlin hit a three and Jensen Bradtke scored inside, the home team was back up five with 2:45 to play and they had the momentum once more.

However, the Marlins responded again with the net eight of the next nine points with Alex Higgins-Titsha scoring in transition to tie scores up, and then Nuangki putting them ahead with a minute on the clock.

Higgins-Titsha then threw down a dunk when the Marlins forced a timeout on Gold Coast out of a timeout, but on the next possession Mazlin landed a three ball for the Rollers to bring it back to a one-point game.

When Kody Stattmann missed up one end, Gold Coast had the chance to retake the lead but they couldn’t get a shot off and then TJ Diop was forced to foul Nuangki.

He made one at the line which did give the Rollers one last chance with two seconds left out of a timeout, but the ball went straight out of play on the inbounds with Cairns securing the two-point win.

It was a stunning second half performance from the Marlins who outscored the Rollers 61 points to 42 on the back of shooting 23/35 from the field while Gold Coast went 3/15 from deep after half-time.

Kody Stattmann ended up with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists with 7/11 three-point shooting for Cairns while Alex Higgins-Titsha added 24 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Moses Nuangki also had 22 points and three rebounds, James Mitchell 12 points, 10 boards and eight assists, and Ky Stattmann eight points, four assists and three rebounds.

The performance from Jensen Bradtke down low for Gold Coast was outstanding with the young man, and son of a legend, finishing with 39 points and 14 rebounds on 11/16 shooting from the field and 16/21 at the foul line.

Boston Mazlin added 33 points, six assists and five rebounds on 4/12 three-point shooting with Nevarda Higgins contributing 15 points and five rebounds, and Charles Smith IV eight points, six assists, three boards and two steals.

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 99 (Bradtke 39, Mazlin 33, Higgins 15)

CAIRNS MARLINS 101 (Kody Stattmann 28, Higgins-Titsha 24, Nuangki 22)

 

Rockhampton Rockets (67) lost to Townsville Heat (89)

The Townsville Heat backed up their win at home to open the season to win on the road on Friday night with the 89-67 victory against the Rockhampton Rockets.

Townsville opened the new season with a home win over the Cairns Marlins last Saturday night as they hit the road to take on the Rockets at Bravus Arena to open Round 2 on Friday night.

Rockhampton was attempting to bounce back from a first up 20-point road loss to the defending champion Mackay Meteors and it was the Cyclones leading 20-16 at the end of the first quarter despite going 1/7 from downtown.

Townsville began to turn the tide in the second period with 22 points to 15 even with both teams combining to shoot 1/12 from behind the three-point arc.

The Heat went into half-time leading 38-35 before then putting up a huge third period with 34 points to 14 to end up leading by as much as 23 points while knocking down six three-pointers along the way.

That lead grew to 28 points in the fourth quarter too before Townsville went on to secure the 22-point win to improve to 2-0 to start the season with both wins by a combined 49 points.

Grant Teichmann top-scored in the win for Townsville with 19 points on 5/11 shooting from downtown with Kuany Kuany contributing 16 points and eight rebounds, Matthew Rees nine points and eight boards, and Chris Kann nine points, two rebounds and two steals.

Rockhampton is now 0-2 to start the season while only going 3/25 from three-point range including Kendall Stephens finishing up shooting 1/10 for six points.

Jalen Graham top-scored with 19 points and eight rebounds on 8/12 shooting with Isaac Ayoubi contributing 18 points, seven assists and four steals, and Jared Blanchard eight points, 11 boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 67 (Graham 19, Ayoubi 18, Blanchard 8)

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 89 (Teichmann 19, Kuany 18, Rees 9, Kann 9)