Recap NBL1 East | Round 2 Sunday

Nicole Munger ensured the Newcastle Falcons stayed unbeaten after two rounds in the NBL1 East with Leilani Mitchell and Mikaela Dombkins helping do the same for the Central Coast Crusaders after Sunday's action.

Round 3 in the NBL1 East wrapped up on Sunday and the women's results saw the Inner West Bulls defeat the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 60-50 while the Newcastle Falcons defeated the Canberra Nationals 84-52, and the Central Coast Crusaders beat the Penrith Panthers 86-57.

The Sunday men's matches finished with the Crusaders beating the Panthers 112-95 while the Bulls defeated the Spiders 104-87 and the Canberra Gunners won 67-60 against Newcastle.

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 2 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (50) defeated Inner West Bulls (60)

Two winless teams went to battle on Sunday afternoon and it was the Inner West Bulls getting on the board beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 60-50.

Coming into the Sunday match up at The Brickpit and both teams had lost their opening three matches of the 2024 season, but one of them was going to break that duck to close Round 2.

Hornsby were attempting to take advantage of playing at home and they did start well to lead 19-13 by the end of the opening quarter.

However, the Spiders only managed seven points in the second quarter but still they were clinging to a 26-25 half-time advantage.

It wasn’t until the final quarter when Inner West pulled away with 20 points to eight to claim the 10-point win to improve to 1-3 on the season with Hornsby now 0-4.

Piath Gabriel produced an impressive performance for Inner West finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks.

Bridie White added 11 points and three rebounds, Shiho Yamazaki 10 points, six boards and two assists, and Tylah Mundine eight points and 11 rebounds.

Ay'Anna Bey did all she could try and lift the Spiders to their first win with 24 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

Keira Hudson also had nine points and three rebounds, and Sarah Cherry nine points and four boards.

The Spiders are on the road to the Newcastle Falcons on Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Bulls will play before that on Friday away to the Sydney Comets at 6pm.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 50 (Bey 24, Hudson 9, Cherry 9)

INNER WEST BULLS 60 (Gabriel 16, White 11, Yamazaki 10)

Newcastle Falcons (84) defeated Canberra Nationals (52)

Nicole Munger continued her MVP level form to start the NBL1 East with another dominant display to lead the unbeaten Newcastle Falcons to the Sunday 84-52 win against the Canberra Nationals.

Munger has been in ominous form across the first two wins for the Falcons against Maitland and Inner West heading into Sunday's match up with Canberra at Newcastle Basketball Stadium.

Newcastle was playing its first home game of the season and started well with an 11-point lead in the opening quarter and they were able to go on with the job from there against a Nationals team with a win and loss so far coming into the contest.

The lead for the Falcons got out to as much as 15 points in the second quarter, 27 in the third and 36 in the fourth before they secured the 32-point victory to improve to 3-0 after the opening two rounds.

Nicole Munger's form has been stunning to open 2024 and it continued on Sunday with another 35 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists on 14/22 shooting from the floor and 5/9 from behind the three-point line.

Hannah Chicken added 16 points and eight rebounds, Kate Kingham 15 points, five assists, three boards and three steals, and Aarion Nichols nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Canberra is now 1-2 following the loss with Jasmyn Boutzos top-scoring off the bench in 21 minutes with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Lizzy Tonks contributed nine points and two assists, and Sophie McWatt six points and eight rebounds.

The Falcons remain at home to host the Hornsby Spiders on Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Canberra also host the Sea Eagles at 5.30pm.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 84 (Munger 35, Chicken 16, Kingham 15)

CANBERRA NATIONALS 52 (Boutzos 12, Tonks 9, McWatt 6)

Central Coast Crusaders (86) defeated Penrith Panthers (57)

The Central Coast Crusaders continued their undefeated start to the NBL1 East season with the 86-57 Sunday home victory against the Penrith Panthers.

The Crusaders had won their opening two matches ahead of hosting the winless Panthers on Sunday at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium and with Leilani Mitchell and Mikaela Dombkins leading the charge, they started strongly.

Central Coast opened up a 24-15 lead already by the end of the opening quarter before that lead blew out to 25 points in the second term and was 47-26 at the half-time interval.

The Crusaders advantage grew to as much as 29 points in the final frame as well before they scored the eventual win by that margin to improve to 3-0 with Penrith slipping to 0-2 with the defeat.

Mikaela Dombkins produced another 24 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for Central Coast with Leilani Mitchell adding 16 points, nine assists, eight boards and three steals on the heels of winning a fourth WNBL championship.

Jasmine Forcadilla also had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Nicole Hutchins 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Mikaela Miller nine points and four boards.

Tahlia Tupaea led the charge for Penrith with 23 points, three rebounds and three assists with Chloe Williams contributing 17 points, four boards, three assists and three steals.

The Crusaders next host the Hills Hornets on Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Panthers face the Bankstown Bruins on the road on Friday.

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 86 (Dombkins 24, Mitchell 16, Forcadilla 15)

PENRITH PANTHERS 57 (Tupaea 23, Williams 17, Byrne 6, Creanor 6)

MEN

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (87) lost to Inner West Bulls (104)

With three players scoring 20 points or more, the Inner West Bulls strung consecutive wins together beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 104-87.

The Spiders had lost their first three games of the season ahead of returning home on Sunday to host the Bulls at The Brickpit with Inner West fresh off beating Newcastle by 20 points the previous evening.

Despite Inner West opening up an early 10-point lead, Hornsby worked into the contest nicely and even took a one-point lead into quarter-time.

It wouldn't last with the Bulls taking over with a 12-0 scoring run in the second term to open up an 11-point lead, but again it was only a 49-46 advantage at half-time.

Inner West were able to stay on top through the second half, though, outscoring Hornsby 55 points to 41 to score the eventual 17-point win to improve to 3-1 on the season with the Spiders sliding to 0-4.

Ramon Cao ended up top-scoring for the Bulls off the bench in less than 22 minutes with 23 points, three rebounds and three assists on shooting 8/12 from the floor and 3/5 from downtown.

Zachery Hudson added 21 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks with Alex Higgins-Titsha continuing his hot form with 20 points and 10 boards.

Nicko Timonera also had 13 points while Tony Tolovae contributed 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Aaron Redhead top-scored for Hornsby with 26 points and seven rebounds with Brian Ansuh-Yeboah contributing 18 points and three steals, Kingsley Gyesi-Bisah 13 points and two steals, and Raymond Takchi eight points, 10 boards, five assists and two steals.

The Spiders are on the road to the Newcastle Falcons on Saturday at 7:15pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Bulls will play before that on Friday away to the Sydney Comets at 8pm.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 87 (Redhead 26, Ansuh-Yeboah 18, Gyesi-Bisah 13)

INNER WEST BULLS 104 (Cao 23, Hudson 21, Higgins-Titsha 20)

Newcastle Falcons (60) lost to Canberra Gunners (67)

The Canberra Gunners came out on a mission after a rough loss the night before to beat the Newcastle Falcons 67-60 on Sunday on the road.

Canberra went down on Saturday to the Maitland Mustangs by 21 points ahead of taking on the Falcons at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Falcons were still searching for a first win of 2024 but it was the Gunners who started on a mission with 23 points to eight to already lead by 15 at quarter-time.

While Newcastle battled hard in a low-scoring affair, Canberra held firm enough the rest of the way to secure the eventual seven-point win and improve to 2-1 on the season with the Falcons now 0-3 with the defeat.

Lachlan Smith stepped up to deliver 22 points and four rebounds with five three-pointers in the win for Canberra with Will Mayfield contributing 17 points, seven boards and three assists with 3/6 shooting from three-point land.

Derek Emelifeonwu also had 10 points and three rebounds, and Glenn Morison eight points, 22 boards, three assists and three blocked shots.

Ryan Beisty battled hard to keep Newcastle competitive with 25 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists on 5/10 long-range shooting, but he just didn’t receive enough help.

Francis Wineera-Mulvihill had nine points and three assists, Kobe Shannon nine points and six rebounds, and Myles Cherry seven points, four boards and two assists.

The Falcons remain at home to host the Hornsby Spiders on Saturday at 7:15pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. Canberra also host the Sea Eagles at 7.30pm.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 60 (Beisty 25, Shannon 9, Wineera-Mulvihill 9)

CANBERRA GUNNERS 67 (Smith 22, Mayfield 17, Emelifeonwu 10)

Central Coast Crusaders (112) defeated Penrith Panthers (95)

Robbie Heath starred again and got more help this time for the Central Coast Crusaders to beat the Penrith Panthers 112-95 on Sunday.

Central Coast were looking to bounce back from Saturday's loss to the Sydney Comets when hosting the Panthers at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium on Sunday with Penrith still looking for a first win of 2024.

The Crusaders did lead by as much as 10 points in the first quarter but that was cut back to four by quarter-time.

However, Central Coast maintained control of the contest ending up leading by as much 18 points in the second stanza, by 19 in the third and then securing the eventual 17-point win to improve to 2-1 on the season with the Panthers now 0-2.

Robbie Heath had 38 points the previous night for Central Coast in the loss to Sydney, but he needed 35 field goal attempts and 13 foul shots to get there.

It was a much more efficient performance on Sunday with 36 points to go with four rebounds and four assists on 11/21 shooting from the field and 11/12 at the foul line.

He had plenty of help too with Chan Nai delivering 26 points and 13 rebounds on 5/11 three-point shooting with Theus Evan Wardlow contributing 15 points and six assists, and Thomas Akamarmoi 18 points and six rebounds.

Luke Cassidy also had eight points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals, and James Trustum nine points and seven boards.

Ben Kearins produced 24 points and 10 rebounds for Penrith with Caleb Fetui-Fa'amoe adding 20 points, four boards and two assists, Brodie Schwarzer 16 points and eight rebounds, and Jaedyn Fetui-Fa'amoe 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Crusaders next host the Hills Hornets on Saturday at 7pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Panthers face the Bankstown Bruins on the road on Friday.

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 112 (Heath 36, Nai 26, Akamarmoi 18)

PENRITH PANTHERS 95 (Kearins 24, Fetui-Fa'amoe 20, Schwarzer 16)