Recap NBL1 North | Round 1 Friday

The Northside Wizards opened their NBL1 North championship defence in style on Friday night while Alex Fowler put up 38 points for the Townsville Flames and Darryl McDonald's Wizards won from behind against Greg Vanderjagt's Brisbane Capitals.

The two Friday night women's matches in the NBL1 North saw the Northside Wizards defeat the Brisbane Capitals 93-55 and the Townsville Flames win 84-66 against the Mackay Meteorettes.

Then the two men's matches saw the Wizards beat the Capitals 95-87 and the Mackay Meteors defeat the Townsville Heat 98-89.

RECAP NBL1 NORTH | ROUND 1 THURSDAY

WOMEN

Northside Wizards (93) defeated Brisbane Capitals (55)

The Northside Wizards opened their NBL1 North championship defence in emphatic fashion with the 93-55 home win against the Brisbane Capitals.

It was an emotional night for the Wizards at Northside Indoor Sports Centre raising their championship banner from last season ahead of playing host to the Caps to get proceedings underway in 2024.

The Wizards did open up a 10-point lead during the first quarter and were still up 19-14 by the end of one before then asserting their dominance further in the second frame.

Northside pushed the lead out to as much as 22 points in the second quarter and went into half-time leading 50-28.

From there the Wizards outscored the Capitals 43 points to 27 in the second half to score the 38-point win to continue their winning ways from last season.

Erin Bollmann finished the evening with 22 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks in the win for Wizards.

She had plenty of help too with Jess McDowell-White putting up 18 points and nine assists, Kelsey McDermott 13 points, four assists and three boards, AJ Johnson 14 points and 11 rebounds, Nadeen Payne 10 points, nine boards and four assists, and Saskia Gunness 10 points and seven rebounds.

Lil Dart ended up top-scoring for Brisbane with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists while Georgia Dale scored nine points.

Megan Mullings contributed seven points, five rebounds and four steals, and Hannah Hank pulled down 11 boards after spending last season at the Mandurah Magic in the NBL1 West.

The Wizards now hit the road to face the Southern Districts Spartans on Saturday at 6pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Capitals are next in action next Friday away to the Mackay Meteorettes.

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 93 (Bollmann 22, McDowell-White 18, Johnson 14)

BRISBANE CAPITALS 55 (Dart 16, Dale 9, King-Paul 7, Mullings 7)

Mackay Meteorettes (66) lost to Townsville Flames (84)

The Townsville Flames opened the NBL1 North season making a statement with Alex Fowler unstoppable with 38 points in the eventual 84-66 win against the Mackay Meteorettes.

It was the opening game of the season for both teams on Friday night at Mackay Basketball Stadium with Townsville wasting no time making a statement attempting to get back being a title contender after winning the 2022 championship but being bundled out in the first round last year.

The Flames scored 20 consecutive points in the opening quarter as well to open up a 25-point lead with the 32-7 advantage by the end of one.

Mackay did end up outscoring Townsville the rest of the way but that 25-point lead proved too much to overcome and set the stage for the Flames to open the season with the 18-point victory away from home in impressive fashion.

Alex Fowler continues to play with her hometown team in the NBL1 North and put in a stunning opening night performance finishing with 38 points, 10 rebounds and two assists on 16/20 shooting from the field, 3/5 from deep and 3/3 at the foul line.

Saffron Shiels is also fresh off her WNBL season and delivered 23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with Indiah Bowyer contributing 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Lauren Andrews also pulled down 10 rebounds to go with four assists and two blocked shots for Townsville.

Taylor Mole top-scored for Mackay with 23 points and six rebounds with Samantha Halby contributing 19 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists, and Nikita Van Wyk 16 points, five boards and two steals.

The Flames back up on the road on Saturday to the Rockhampton Cyclones at 5:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Meteorettes don’t play again until next Friday at home to the Brisbane Capitals.

MACKEY METEORETTES 66 (Mole 23, Halby 19, Van Wyk 16)

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 84 (Fowler 38, Shiels 23, Bowyer)

MEN

Northside Wizards (95) defeated Brisbane Capitals (87)

Darryl McDonald's time coaching the Northside Wizards got off to a winning start but his team had to come from behind to defeat the Brisbane Capitals 95-87.

It was the opening game of the season for both teams in the NBL1 North at Northside Indoor Sports Centre on Friday night and with Brisbane Bullets assistant coaches up against one another, it was a fascinating affair.

After being part of the Bullets coaching staff in NBL24, McDonald and Greg Vanderjagt started their time in charge of the Wizards and Capitals respectively.

It didn’t take long for the Caps to take charge of the contest scoring 10 straight points in the first quarter to open up a 14-point lead.

The Capitals saw that lead grow to 16 in the second quarter and with 33 points to 22 they took a 55-39 advantage into the half-time break away from home.

The Wizards responded in the third quarter, though, with 26 points to 12 and kept that momentum going in the final period with 30 points to 20 to end up winning by eight having earlier trailed by as much as 16.

Fresh off his season at the Sydney Kings, Jackson Makoi was impressive first up for Northside with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Lual Diing added 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals with DeShawn Ross-Paiwan starting another season strongly with 19 points and four assists.

Jamie Ahale also had 14 points on hitting 4/6 from three-point range.

It was Brisbane Bullets teammates Sam McDaniel (27 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) and Gabe Hadley (24 points, six assists, four boards) who led the charge for Capitals under coach Greg Vanderjagt.

The Wizards back up against the Southern Districts Spartans on Saturday at 8pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Capitals are next in action next Friday away to Mackay on Friday and Rockhampton on Saturday.

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 95 (Makoi 22, Diing 19, Ross-Paiwan 19)

BRISBANE CAPITALS 87 (McDaniel 27, Hadley 24, Magier 13)

Mackay Meteors (98) defeated Townsville Heat (89)

The combination of Isaac White and Todd Blanchfield proved a winning one for the Mackay Meteors with a season-opening 98-89 victory on Friday night.

Mackay has welcomed back Blanchfield after he played at the Gold Coast Rollers last season and following his NBL season back with the Illawarra to team up with reigning leading scorer, White, and it worked a treat on Friday.

The Meteors were at home at Mackay Basketball Stadium hosting Townsville who was looking to respond to a disappointing five-win 2023 season, but the home team would prove too strong.

It was a high-scoring opening with Mackay leading 31-27 by quarter-time but the Meteors then blew the game wide open in the second period outscoring Townsville 21 points to 11.

That saw the lead get out to as much as 18 points and by half-time the Meteors were on top 52-38.

The lead for Mackay got out to as much as 19 points in the fourth quarter as well and even though Townsville did mount a fightback, the Meteors held firm to score the season-opening win by nine points.

On the back of his first NBL season at the Brisbane Bullets, Isaac White delivered 30 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals for Mackay on going 13/15 at the free-throw line.

Todd Blanchfield added 22 points and 12 rebound with Christian Maran contributing 11 points and four rebounds, Amarco Doyle 11 points and four boards, and Jerron Jamerson nine points and 10 rebounds.

Kyrin Galloway put up 26 points and eight rebounds for Townsville following his NBL24 season at the Adelaide 36ers with Ethan Betts contributing 23 points, nine boards and five assists, Harry Morris 11 points and eight rebounds, and Matthew Rees 10 points, eight boards and six assists.

Townsville remains on the road on Saturday to play the Rockhampton Rockets at 7:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Meteors are at home again next Friday to the Brisbane Capitals.

MACKEY METEORS 98 (White 30, Blanchfield 22, Maran 11, Doyle 11)

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 89 (Galloway 26, Betts 23, Morris 11)