Recap NBL1 East | Round 4 Anzac Day

Feature images via: Jason Dan | @visualsbyjdan

Brilliant performances from Biwali Bayles and Davida Dale weren’t quite enough for the Sydney Comets against the Norths Bears in the NBL1 East on Anzac Day while the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders women broke their drought.

The Anzac Day women's results in the NBL1 East saw the Norths Bears beat the Sydney Comets 66-53 while the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders beat the Maitland Mustangs 74-62, and the Sutherland Sharks defeated the Illawarra Hawks 67-58.

The men's matches then saw the Bears beat the Comets 89-88, the Mustangs defeat the Spiders 95-69 and the Sharks down the Hawks 107-69.

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 3 SUNDAY

WOMEN

Sydney Comets (53) lost to Norths Bears (66)

Despite a triple-double including 11 steals for the Sydney Comets from Davida Dale, it was the Norths Bears scoring the 66-53 road victory on Anzac Day.

The defending champion Bears arrived at Comets Stadium on Thursday attempting to bounce back from their first loss of the season to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits, and they started well away from home.

Norths were leading 24-17 by the end of one before extending that advantage to 43-28 by half-time on the back of outscoring Sydney 19 points to 11 in the second period.

It was a tight battle throughout the second half but the Comets couldn’t quite make any significant inroads only getting back within eight early in the fourth quarter.

But Norths stayed strong to score the 13-point win to improve to 3-1 in their championship defence with Emily Simons top-scoring with 14 points to go with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Ae'Rianna Harris added 13 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks with Maddie O'Hehir contributing 11 points, three boards and two assists, and Ruby Perkins 10 points, three rebounds and three assists while Sarah Schicher pulled down 26 rebounds.

Despite the win, the Bears had 29 assists with Davida Dale finishing with 11 steals for the Comets as part of a triple-double that included 14 points and 12 rebounds. That was despite her shooting 4/23 from the field.

Piper Anderson added 16 points and three rebounds for Sydney, Arisa Takamoto 10 points and five steals, and Alexandria Oliver six points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Comets are now away to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday at 3pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Bears host the Sutherland Sharks on Sunday at 1.45pm.

SYDNEY COMETS 53 (Anderson 16, Dale 14, Takamoto 10)

NORTHS BEARS 66 (Simons 14, Harris 13, O'Hehir 11)

Maitland Mustangs (62) lost to Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (74)

The Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders are on the board for the NBL1 East season with the 74-62 road victory over the Maitland Mustangs on Anzac Day.

The Mustangs were at home at Maitland Federation Centre to commemorate Anzac Day looking to improve on a 3-1 record to start the season, but the Comets had other ideas despite not having won since May 27 last year.

Hornsby arrived on a mission to record their second ever NBL1 East win and by quarter-time they had opened up a 19-8 advantage over the Mustangs.

The Spiders were still leading 33-24 at the half-time break as well and then the visitors pushed away further in the third frame to score 10 consecutive points to open up the 17-point advantage.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai ended their run of 13 straight losses dating back to that win over the Hills Hornets 11 months ago with Ay'Anna Bey delivering 19 points, 14 rebounds and four steals.

Jessie May Hall added 15 points, nine boards and five steals with Keira Hudson contributing nine points and five rebounds, Haruna Inamura nine points and two assists, and Serena Waters nine points and three rebounds.

Maitland slip to 3-2 on the season with the surprise defeat with Isabella Jennings top-scoring with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Sydney Hunter added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Shakera Reilly nine points, eight boards and four assists.

The Spiders back up on Saturday on the road to Canberra at 1pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Mustangs are also away to the Central Coast Crusaders at 5pm.

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 53 (Jennings 14, Hunter 13, Reilly 9)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 66 (Bey 19, Hall 15, Waters 9, Inamura 9, Hudson 9)

Illawarra Hawks (58) lost to Sutherland Sharks (67)

The Sutherland Sharks started on fire and then held firm for the eventual 67-58 road win on Anzac Day against the Illawarra Hawks.

The Hawks were back home at The Snakepit having won their past three games this NBL1 East season hosting a Sharks team trying to snap a two-game losing run.

Sutherland went on a 12-0 scoring run in the opening quarter and ended up leading by as many as 20 points early in the piece, and still being up 30-12 by the end of one.

The lead for the Sharks grew to as much as 25 points in the second quarter and the visitors were still leading 45-26 by the half-time break.

While Illawarra did outscore Sutherland 32 points to 22 in the second half, the Sharks did still cruise to the 11-point win to improve to 2-2 on the season with the Hawks now 3-2.

Olivia White won the Anzac Day Medal after finishing the game with 16 points, 17 rebounds and two steals for the Sharks.

Taya Webb added 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, Emily Garland 13 points and three boards, Kallie Hovatter eight points, and Vanessa Panousis eight points, 12 assists and six boards.

Ruby MacDonald finished with 18 points, four rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocks for Illawarra with Emilia Garcia Leon contributing 13 points, 11 boards and three assists, and Asha Phillips nine points and seven rebounds.

The Hawks are now on the road to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Saturday at 5:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Sharks are away to the Norths Bears on Sunday at 1.45pm.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 53 (MacDonald 18, Garcia Leon 13, Phillips 9)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 66 (White 16, Webb 16, Hovatter 8, Panousis 8)

MEN

Sydney Comets (88) lost to Norths Bears (89)

The Sydney Comets just came up short of an Anzac Day comeback victory at home with the Norths Bears holding on for the 89-88 victory.

The Comets were back home having started the season strongly with three wins from the first four games of the season up against a Bears team looking to improve on their 1-2 record.

It was the Comets who started strongly at home on the back of last week's win against the Newcastle Falcons and by quarter-time Sydney were leading 24-18.

However, it was in the second period when the Bears got rolling with 32 points to 16 and that saw them go into the half-time break leading 48-40.

The lead for the Bears did get out to as much as 14 points in the third quarter and was still eight during the fourth, but the Comets kept on coming to set up a frantic finish.

Obi Kyei did score down low in the dying stages to bring the Comets back to within two points and they would have to rely either on a steal or missed free-throws from the Bears to be a chance.

Cooper Wilks didn’t give them that chance hitting his two free-throws and despite Anthony Mundine III's three on the buzzer for the Comets, the Bears held on to win by a point and improve to 2-2 as a result.

Mandrell Worthy came up big for the Bears with 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Pietro Badalassi contributed 17 points and seven boards, Cooper Wilks 13 points, Robert Moore 11 points and two rebounds, and Michael Yoong 10 points, five steals and four boards.

Biwali Bayles did all he could to give the Comets a chance ending up with 39 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists on 13/22 shooting from the field, 5/9 from three-point range and 8/8 from the free-throw line.

Obi Kyei had another 15 points and 12 rebounds with Ernest Docker contributing nine points and four boards.

The Comets are now away to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Bears host the Sutherland Sharks on Sunday at 11.45am.

SYDNEY COMETS 88 (Bayles 39, Kyei 15, Docker 9)

NORTHS BEARS 89 (Worthy 28, Badalassi 17, Wilks 13)

Maitland Mustangs (95) defeated Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (69)

The Maitland Mustangs continued their unbeaten start to the 2024 NBL1 East season with the emphatic 95-69 home Anzac Day win against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Mustangs are coming into 2024 on the back of last year's heartbreaking Grand Final loss to the Sutherland Sharks, but they continued their dominant start to the new season on Thursday hosting the Spiders at Maitland Federation Centre.

Hornsby did well to stick with Maitland in the first quarter, though, with the Mustangs only just managing to lead 20-18 by the end of one.

It was in the second frame when Maitland began to pull away and would lead by as much as 13 points to go into the locker room for half-time on top 48-35.

The lead for the undefeated Mustangs blew out to 23 points in the third quarter and then 26 in the fourth before they would end up winning by 26 to improve to 5-0 on the season.

Maitland finished with six players scoring in double-figures and another two with at least seven points with Christian Little top-scoring with 15 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists.

Daniel Millburn had 13 points, four rebounds and two steals in just 16 minutes with Will Cranston-Lown adding 13 points, three boards, three assists and two steals, and Matthew Gray 13 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Will Mortimore also finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, Billy Parsons 12 points, 11 boards and five assists, James Hunter eight points and five rebounds, and Josh Clifford seven points and two assists.

Brian Ansuh-Yeboah top-scored for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai with 19 points, four rebounds and two assists with Isaiah Walter contributing 10 points, six boards and three assists, Nathan Chappell 10 points and three rebounds, and Aaron Redhead 10 points and five boards.

The Spiders back up on Saturday on the road to Canberra at 3pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Mustangs are also away to the Central Coast Crusaders at 7pm.

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 95 (Little 15, Cranston-Lown 13, Gray 13, Millburn 13)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 69 (Ansuh-Yeboah 19, Redhead 10, Chappell 10, Walter 10)

Illawarra Hawks (69) lost to Sutherland Sharks (107)

The defending champion Sutherland Sharks inflicted some more early season pain on the youthful and new-look Illawarra Hawks with the 107-69 Anzac Day victory.

It hasn’t been the start to their championship defence in the NBL1 East the Sharks were hoping for with losing their past two games, but they arrived at The Snakepit on Anzac Day ready to make a statement.

The Hawks were still chasing their first win of the season and attempting to bounce back from a 69-point loss on Sunday to the Inner West Bulls, but the Sharks were determined to make it more of the same.

Sutherland came out and scored the first 15 points of the contest with the Hawks going scoreless until William Rice hit a three-pointer from the corner with three and-a-half minutes gone.

Sutherland weren’t about to let up, though, and would end up leading 35-10 by quarter-time and would remain in control of the contest the rest of the evening.

The lead for the Sharks continued to grow and got out to 28 points in the second quarter, 31 in the third and 40 in the fourth before the reigning champs secured the 38-point victory to improve to 2-2 on the season.

Sutherland ended up with six players scoring in double-digits for the night and with 11 players scoring in total with Brian Williams leading the way with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Geoff Gerlach added 16 points, four assists and three rebounds with Callum Norris contributing 12 points, four boards and three assists, Angus Lake 12 points and eight rebounds, Klairus Amir 12 points and eight boards, and Lochlan Hutchison 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

It's a decidedly younger and new-look Hawks team in 2024 and they have now lost their first five games with Riley Abercrombie finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds with 4/10 three-point shooting.

Alexei Piljevic added 11 points with 3/5 long-range shooting while Philip Dopud, Brad Ballinger and William Rice all scored eight points.

The Hawks are now on the road to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Saturday at 7:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Sharks are away to the Norths Bears on Sunday at 11.45am.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 69 (Abercrombie 21, Piljevic 11, Dopud 8, Ballinger 8, Rice 8)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 107 (Williams 22, Gerlach 16, Amir 12, Lake 12, Norris 12)