NBL1 South Recap | Friday ANZAC Round

The Geelong United Supercats pulled off a stunning comeback for their first win of the NBL1 South season on Friday night while Alicia won the battle of the Froling sisters with the Knox Raiders and Ben Ayre was one of the stars across the men's action.

The Friday night NBL1 South women's results saw the Knox Raiders beat the Launceston Tornadoes 75-66, the Hobart Chargers defeat the Ballarat Miners 55-42, Bendigo Braves down the Casey Cavaliers 100-70, the Geelong United Supercats overrun the Sandringham Sabres 92-89, and the Ringwood Hawks prevail 67-52 over the Eltham Wildcats.

In the men's match ups, the Raiders defeated the North West Tasmania Thunder 100-62 while the Miners beat the Chargers 94-82, the Cavs downed the Braves 92-60, the Sabres defeated the Supercats 92-87, and the Wildcats prevailed 87-77 over the Hawks.

WOMEN

Chargers open account with win against Miners

The Hobart Chargers have scored their first win of the 2023 season beating the Ballarat Miners 55-42 at home on Friday night.

With Hobart having lost their first three matches of the season and the Miners having lost three of their four, both teams were desperate for a win and it was the Chargers who held sway virtually all evening to end up winning by 13 points.

Kayla Steindl is warming back up into being back on the court nicely with the Chargers after having her second child. She finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and two assists on 11/16 shooting.

Angeliki Vintsilaiou added 13 points and six rebounds with Leah Bartlett pulling down 12 boards to go with three assists and two blocked shots.

Abbey Wehrung top-scored for Ballarat with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks with Emma Karamovic adding eight points and five boards.

Braves stay unbeaten at expense of winless Cavs

The hot start to the season from the Bendigo Braves continued on Friday night as they kept the Casey Cavaliers winless with the 100-70 road victory.

With Perth Lynx WNBL star Amy Atwell jacking up another 14 three-point attempts for Braves on her way to 29 points and five rebounds, the Braves proved too strong for the Cavs increasing their lead all evening before settling on the 30-point result.

Bendigo improves to 5-0 on the season with the win with Atwell finishing with 29 points on 5/14 three-point shooting.

Megan McKay added 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Cassidy McLean 15 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds, and Kelly Wilson 10 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

Rachel Bell delivered 29 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals for Casey with Taylah Gillam contributing 16 points, four boards and three assists, and Shereesha Richards 12 points and six rebounds.

Amy Atwell is showing off her ????? shooting for Bendigo tonight ?

Two triples in her first three minutes on court!

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

Stunning Supercats comeback sees them overrun Sabres

The Geelong United Supercats have opened their account for the NBL1 South season pulling off a stunning comeback at home to beat the Sandringham Sabres 92-89.

After losing their opening two games of the season, Geelong United were staring down the barrel of going 0-3 with Sandringham leading 67-49 by half-time, and still 74-67 by three quarter-time.

However, the Supercats delivered 25 points to 15 in the fourth quarter with Eve Braslis sealing the deal at the foul line and then Britt Smart missing her attempt at sending the game into overtime for the Sabres.

Braslis ended the night with 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Geelong United with 8/9 field goal shooting and 6/7 from the foul line.

Ella Tofaeono added 19 points and 17 rebounds, Monica Okoye 17 points and five boards, and Sarah Elsworthy 23 points, six assists and three rebounds.

Funda Nakkasoglu produced 24 points, three rebounds and three assists for Sandringham but it was Georgia Pineau who shone with 35 points, six boards, three assists and three steals. 

Ringwood keep building momentum with win over Eltham

The defending NBL1 South champion Ringwood Hawks continue to build some ominous momentum with a 67-52 home win against the Eltham Wildcats.

After losing their first game of the season, now that the Hawks have got some troops back, they have built some impressive form the last couple of weeks which they continued on Friday at Norwood Secondary College.

The Hawks started strongly with 22 points to 10 in the first quarter but Eltham hit back well with 21 points to 13 in the second. However, an 18-point to seven third quarter set up Ringwood for the 15-point win to improve them to 4-1.

Last year's Grand Final MVP Marena Whittle was tremendous again for Ringwood with 22 points, 13 rebounds and three assists with Piper Dunlop adding 13 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Anneli Maley did what she could for Eltham in a fascinating match up with Whittle. Maley finished with 19 points, 21 rebounds, four assists and three steals with Hailey Leidel contributing 15 points and seven boards.

Always rely on WNBL and Opals star Anneli Maley to drop video game numbers ?

2??1?? boards
1??9?? points
3?? steals

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

Alicia's Raiders overcome Keely's Tornadoes

The Knox Raiders had to come from behind but were able to pull off a big second half fightback to beat the Launceston Tornadoes 75-66 on the road.

The Tornadoes were on their home floor at Elphin Sports Stadium and started strongly to lead 20-12 by quarter-time and to still be on top 33-29 by the half-time break.

Olivia West nails the triple off the inbound??

We've got a big finish coming in Tasmania!

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

However, it was all the Raiders in the second half outscoring Launceston 46 points to 33 to win by nine and improve to 3-1 on the season with the Tornadoes now 1-3.

Alicia Froling was huge for the Raiders in the eventual win with 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists with Rachael Quirk contributing 15 points, nine boards and three assists, and Aneta Bandilovska 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

In the battle of the Froling sisters, Keely was also superb for Launceston with 28 points, 14 rebounds and two assists with Riley Lupfer adding 19 points and two boards, and Olivia West 15 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Rachael Quirk has got those ???? ???? moves ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

MEN

Rudolph comes up huge in Miners' win over Chargers

The Ballarat Miners started the game and the second half on fire to set up an eventual 94-83 road win against the defending champion Hobart Chargers.

Ballarat arrived at Hobart Netball and Sports Centre on a .500 record for the season but the Miners started on fire with 27 points to 16 in the first quarter. Another 27 to 14 in the third quarter and Ballarat went on to beat Hobart by 11 points.

Tyler Rudolph produced a huge performance for Ballarat with 36 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks on the back of shooting 13/20 from the floor, 2/4 from three-point range and 4/4 from the foul line.

Nic Pozoglou added 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks, Adam Thoseby 14 points, three boards and three assists, and Jack Davidson 10 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Devin Watson delivered 29 points and four assists in the loss for the now 1-3 Chargers with Sam McDaniel adding 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Jacob Richards 11 points and five boards, and Zach White 10 points and seven rebounds.

Casey score first win with big victory over Bendigo

The Casey Cavaliers opened their account for the NBL1 South season in style with a 92-60 victory at home to the Bendigo Braves.

The Cavs were home at Casey Stadium chasing their first win of the 2023 season and they started on fire against the Braves with 28 points to 13 in the first quarter.

Casey then closed it out with 24 points to 11 in the fourth quarter to end up winning by 32 after losing their opening three games of the season.

Preston Bungei finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks for Casey with Sean Biernacki adding 14 points and five assists, Sidy Djitte 13 points and 16 boards, and Malcolm Bernard 12 points, two boards and two assists.

Preston Bungei was having none of that! ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

Ayre fires Sandringham to win in Geelong

The Sandringham Sabres kept the Geelong United Supercats winless to start the NBL1 South season with a narrow 92-87 victory on the road on Friday night.

Despite the Supercats leading 52-50 going into half-time, Sandringham took over in the third quarter with 23 points to 13 and that was enough to set up the eventual five-point victory for the Sabres.

NBL Free Agent Ben Ayre had a big night for Sandringham finishing with 30 points, five rebounds and two assists with Dane Pineau contributing 17 points and 12 rebounds, CJ Asuncion-Byrd 16 points and five boards, and Campbell Blogg 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Despite the loss for the now 0-3 Geelong United, Gabe Hadley produced 29 points, five assists, four rebounds and four assists while knocking down 7/12 from three-point territory.

George Blagojevic added 25 points, 11 boards and five assists, and Nick Velasquez 13 points.

Wildcats stay unbeaten with win over Hawks

Angus Glover and his Eltham Wildcats continued their undefeated start to the NBL1 South season with Friday night's 87-77 road win against the Ringwood Hawks.

It took until the fourth quarter for Eltham be able to take control against Ringwood, though, and the Wildcats produced 25 points to 16 to close out the game to end up winning by 10 to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Joshua Sykes pulled that ??????? ??? ??? back ?

HUGE jam!

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

Callum Dixon produced a tremendous performance for Eltham with 29 points, 11 rebounds and three assists with two-time NBL champion Angus Glover putting up 19 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Josh Sykes was also exciting with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks while Owen Foxwell had 10 points and five assists.

Jonathan Lawton finished with 22 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds, Adrien Sturt 15 points and four boards, and Kyle Daggett 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Kyle Daggett ??????? it! ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 21, 2023

Knox win big on the road to North West Tasmania

The Knox Raiders weren’t deterred from the trip across Bass Strait handing the North West Tasmania Thunder a 100-62 defeat on Friday night.

The Thunder were back home at Elphin Sports Stadium on Friday night, but the Raiders weren’t in a charitable mood putting up 27 points to 15 in the first quarter before going into half-time leading 47-30.

Knox then put the foot down with 30 points to 12 in the fourth quarter on the way to the eventual 100-62 victory away from home.

Ke'Jhan Feagin finished the night with 22 points and five assists with 4/6 three-point shooting for Knox with Madut Akec adding 17 points and seven boards, Deng Acouth 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, and Bailey Nunn 13 points and three steals.

Venky Jois top-scored for North West Tasmania with 21 points and eight rebounds but he didn’t get enough help on the night.