Recap NBL1 East | Anzac Round Sunday

Feature images via: Aaron Camua | @aaron.camua

Lizzy Tonks with 35 points helped the Canberra Nationals overcome Violet Morrow's 40 for the Bankstown Bruins in Sunday's NBL1 East with Will Mayfield starring for the Gunners as the Norths Bears had a pair of wins over the Sutherland Sharks.

The two women's matches on Sunday in the NBL1 East saw the Canberra Nationals defeat the Bankstown Bruins 99-80 while the Norths Bears beat the Sutherland Sharks 81-53.

Then in the men's contests the Bears beat the Sharks 78-62 and the Gunners defeated the Bruins 81-69.

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ANZAC ROUND SATURDAY

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ANZAC ROUND FRIDAY

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 4 ANZAC DAY

WOMEN

Canberra Nationals (99) defeated Bankstown Bruins (80)

Lizzy Tonks was spectacular again and her 35 points helped the Canberra Nationals overcome Violet Morrow's 40 points for the Bankstown Bruins in the 99-80 Sunday victory.

Canberra was fresh off a 22-point win on Saturday afternoon over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders while the Bruins arrived on the back of their own Friday night home win over the Inner West Bulls.

That set the stage for Sunday's match up at Tuggeranong and while Canberra did open up a 10-point lead in the second term, it remained a tight contest with the Nationals leading 48-45 by half-time.

The longer the game went, though, the more Canberra were able to pull away despite the very best efforts of Violet Morrow to keep Bankstown in the contest.

The Nationals built a 12-point lead in the third quarter and that got out to 20 in the fourth before they settled on the 19-point victory to improve to a 3-3 record on the season with the double win weekend on the back of hitting 16/37 from downtown as a team.

Lizzy Tonks came up huge once more for Canberra in the win with 35 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals with 8/12 three-point shooting.

Claudea Waihape-Andrews added 14 points and seven rebounds, Bianca Dufelmeier 12 points, three boards and two assists, Callie Bourne 12 points, nine assists and four rebounds, and Maddison Penn 12 points on 4/7 three-point shooting.

The Bruins are now 2-4 on the season following the defeat but Violet Morrow was outstanding with 40 points, 14 rebounds and four assists on 14/29 shooting from the floor, 6/18 from three-point range and 6/6 at the foul line.

Azaleeah Oloapu added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Brit Wright 10 points, six boards and three assists.

Canberra will hit the road to play the Hills Hornets next Sunday with the Bruins on the road to the Newcastle Falcons on Saturday.

CANBERRA NATIONALS 99 (Tonks 35, Waihape-Andrews 14, Bourne 12, Dufelmeier 12, Penn 12)

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 80 (Morrow 40, Oloapu 14, Wright 10)

Norths Bears (81) defeated Sutherland Sharks (53)

Maddie O'Hehir knocked down five three-pointers on her way to 24 points to lead the Norths Bears to the 81-53 victory at home to the Sutherland Sharks.

The defending champion Bears were back home at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre on the back of a win over the Sydney Comets back on Anzac Day with the Sharks arriving also after beating the Illawarra Hawks back on Thursday.

That set the table for the Sunday afternoon match up between two teams on winning runs but the reigning champion Bears were able to open up a 10-point edge in the opening term.

Norths remained in control the rest of the way with that advantage growing to 24 points in the third period and 28 in the fourth which would be the final margin as they improved to a 4-1 record in their title defence.

Maddie O'Hehir was outstanding in the win for the Bears finishing with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists on the back of hitting 5/9 from behind the three-point line.

Holly Wills added 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Emily Simons 10 points, four assists, three boards and three steals, and Ae'Rianna Harris eight points, 17 rebounds and three steals.

 Aliza Fabbro top-scored in the end for Sutherland with 20 points while Emily Garland contributed 11 points and Olivia White seven points, 12 rebounds and two steals.

The Bears will be at home to the Inner West Bulls on Saturday with the Sharks on the road to the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

NORTHS BEARS 81 (O'Hehir 24, Wills 10, Simons 10)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 53 (Fabbro 20, Garland 11, White 7)

MEN

Canberra Gunners (81) defeated Bankstown Bruins (69)

The Canberra Gunners made it a double win weekend and four wins on the trot with the 81-69 victory at home to the Bankstown Bruins on Sunday.

Canberra made it three successive wins by beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders on Saturday afternoon while Bankstown came into the match up at Tuggeranong having lost to the Inner West Bulls back on Friday night.

The Gunners shot out of the blocks on their home floor scoring 16 straight points in the first quarter on the way to leading by 20.

Canberra went on with the job from there with the 2022 champions opening up a 26-point lead in the second term and being on top still 45-33 by the half-time break.

While Bankstown did its best to try and work back into the contest, they could never quite get within striking distance with Canberra holding them out for the 12-point victory.

As a result, the Gunners improve to a 5-1 record on the season with four wins in-a-row while Bankstown is 3-3 with the two losses over Anzac Round.

Will Mayfield threw down a nice dunk in transition on his way to 23 points, nine steals, eight rebounds and three assists in the win for Canberra with 2022 Grand Final MVP Glenn Morison putting up another 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots.

Derek Emelifeonwu added 13 points, four boards and four assists, Austin Clarke 11 points, eight boards and two steals, and James Toohey 11 points and four assists.

Hayden Blankley ended up with 21 points and six rebounds on 4/10 three-point shooting for Bankstown with Charlie McBeath contributing 16 points, six boards, four assists, two steals and two blocks, and Naaman Hightower nine points and eight rebounds.

Canberra will hit the road to play the Hills Hornets next Sunday with the Bruins on the road to the Newcastle Falcons on Saturday.

CANBERRA GUNNERS 81 (Mayfield 23, Morison 15, Emelifeonwu 13)

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 69 (Blankley 21, McBeath 16, Hightower 9)

Norths Bears (78) defeated Sutherland Sharks (62)

The Norths Bears made it a double win for Anzac Round as they knocked off the defending champion Sutherland Sharks 78-62 on Sunday on the back of 25 points from Mandrell Worthy.

The Bears scored the thrilling one-point win over the Sydney Comets back on Anzac Day while the Sharks had a big win over the Illawarra Hawks also on Thursday leading into the Sunday match up at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.

The defending champion Sharks got off to a flying start opening up an early 10-point lead which grew to 12 points in the second period, but by half-time that was back to 38-33 with Norths working back into the contest.

The Bears then took charge throughout the second half with 19 points to 11 in the third quarter and 26 to 13 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 16-point victory to improve to 3-2 on the season with the consecutive wins in Anzac Round.

Mandrell Worthy came up big for the Bears in the victory with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 9/19 shooting from the floor and 7/7 from the free-throw line.

He had plenty of support too with Michael Yoong finishing with 13 points and two assists with Nathaniel Musters contributing nine points and four rebounds, Cooper Wilks seven points and five boards, and Lewis Holey seven points and 15 rebounds.

The Sharks are now 2-3 in their championship defence following the defeat despite getting 29 points, six rebounds, three rebounds and three steals from Lochlan Hutchison.

Brian Williams added 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and Geoff Gerlach nine points and 10 boards.

The Bears will be at home to the Inner West Bulls on Saturday with the Sharks on the road to the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

NORTHS BEARS 78 (Worthy 25, Yoong 13, Musters 9)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 62 (Hutchison 29, Williams 11, Gerlach 9)