NBL1 South Recap | Friday Round 8

The Eltham Wildcats men maintained top spot in the NBL1 South with the win away to the Hobart Chargers on Friday night after a women's clash where Hailey Leidel put up 34 points in a win despite Kayla Steindl's 35 and 10 for the home team.

The lone matches on Friday night to open Round 8 in the NBL1 South saw the Eltham Wildcats women defeat the Hobart Chargers 85-68 before Eltham's men also defeated Hobart 87-70.

WOMEN

Leidel's 34 helps Wildcats overcome Chargers with Steindl's 35

The Eltham Wildcats withstood 35 points and 10 rebounds from Kayla Steindl to start their weekend double in Tasmania with the 85-68 win against the Hobart Chargers.

Steindl continued her standout return to the basketball court after the birth of her second child this season with the Chargers, but it wasn’t enough for her team against the Wildcats at Hobart Netball and Sports Centre on Friday night to open Round 8 in the NBL1 South.

Hailey Leidel produced her own standout performance in the win for Eltham with the visitors dominating the second half. The lead for the Wildcats was just 39-35 at half-time, but they outscored the Chargers 46 points to 33 in the second half to claim the 17-point victory.

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The result improves Eltham to a 6-5 record on the season having now won four matches in-a-row while the Chargers slip to 5-7 with their two-game winning run coming to an end.

Hailey Leidel continued her supremely impressive form since joining Eltham and put up another 34 points and six rebounds on Friday night on the back of knocking down 6/12 from three-point range and 6/7 at the free-throw line.

She had plenty of support too with all five Eltham starters scoring in double-digits. Taylah Wynne added 15 points and three assists, Louise Forsyth 12 points, eight boards, three assists and two steals, and Bec Pizzey 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Lily Scanlon also had 11 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Wildcats with Hayley Munro raking in nine rebounds along with three assists and three steals.

Kayla Steindl produced another terrific showing for Hobart to end the night with 35 points and 10 rebounds on 14/24 shooting from the floor, 4/8 from beyond the arc and 3/3 at the free-throw line.

Zoe Banks also had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists for the home team, Sarah O'Neill 11 points, 10 boards and six assists, and Angeliki Vintsilaiou seven points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

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MEN

Wildcats beat reigning champs to maintain top spot

The Eltham Wildcats maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 South by beginning their weekend across Bass Strait with the 87-70 Friday night victory over the Hobart Chargers.

The reigning champions played host to the league-leaders in the lone NBL1 South clash on Friday night to open Round 8 and the Chargers started well to be leading 22-21 by quarter-time.

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Eltham were able to pull away throughout the second quarter, though, and would end up putting up 31 points to 14 to go into the half-time break on top 52-36.

The lead for the Wildcats got out to 22 points through the second half and eventually they would win by 17 to make it four straight victories to improve to an 9-2 record on top of the standings.

The Chargers are now 6-6 in their championship defence having lost their previous two matches.

Josh Sykes produced another spectacular performance above the rim for the Wildcats and finished the game with 20 points, five rebounds and two assists on 9/11 field goal shooting. 

Callum Dalton also put up 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for Eltham, Owen Foxwell 12 points and four assists, Angus Glover 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and Sam Short 10 points, six assists, four boards and two steals.

Reigning Grand Final MVP and new Brisbane Bullets signing Sam McDaniel battled hard for Hobart again with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists with Devin Watson contributing 12 points, three boards and three assists, Callum Boucher 11 points and four rebounds, and Jarred Bairstow nine points and six boards.

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