Central Recap | First Nations Round Sunday

By Tristan Prentice for NBL1.com.au

Feature images supplied via NBL1.com.au /  Melissa Belanic | @justbphotoau

Round 13 of the Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 Central Sunday afternoon action was one of the most entertaining we’ve seen this season in the league, with sister acts at it again, close to and a triple double and the Men’s top of the table clash at the Den delivered a blockbuster…  

Here are the results of Sunday’s games:

Simons soar again to down desperate Lions              

It took another sister act from the Forestville Eagles to down the desperate Central District Lions 53-62 at the Den.

Despite a second half fade out against the Bearcats the previous night the Lions came out ready for the contest but the Eagles gave themselves the slender lead after the first change 11-21.

The Lions started to get on top of the Eagles in the second creating defensive stops through the quick hands of Shanique Lucas and her pack to bring it back to a manageable margin 22-30 at the main break.

Game on was a reality in the third with their recent rivals of 2024 with April Rummery-Lamb (11 points, nine rebounds and five assists) and Tiahna Sears (a 14 point and 16 rebounds) beginning to take advantage of her space inside the paint to close it to 35-40 in a low scoring encounter between the two ball clubs - the Simons however were blocking everything coming their way in their path led by Jess (11 points and five blocks). 

The last term saw both teams attack on the dribble, the Lions through Hayley Saurette (Seven points) finding her mid rangers. The one dominant force was Sam Simons as she grabbed 15 points in the final term taking advantage of the opening of the lanes.

Sam Simons strung two telling performances within 24 hours to lead her flock home with 28 points, five rebounds, four assists and steals.

            

CENTRAL DISTRICTS LIONS 53 (Sears 14, Lamb 11, Wright 9)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 62 (S Simons 28, J Simons 11, M Freer 8)

 

Gardiner sisters seed South scoring spree over Mavericks              

The Gardiner Sisters led the charge after a tight opening term to bury the Eastern Mavericks 71-108 in a high scoring Sunday spree at St Francis De Sales.  

Both teams opened up the scoring in a highly pacy opening term with the Mavs getting plenty from their youth through Daisy Hocking (12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals) and Elli Constantopoulos (Nine points and 12 rebounds) her young crew but the Panthers kept swinging it around from side to side to take the early lead through the Gardiner sisters again 26-30 at quarter time.

Hannah Gardiner (19 points and seven rebounds) decided it was time to plant the seeds of doubt on the Mavs engineering a 0-9 run out of the break in play but it didn’t get much better for the homeside who found themselves on the hop. Kiera Gardiner (20 points and six rebounds) planted more problems for the Mavs as they grew their way to a 7-37 second term and a huge halftime lead of 33-67 and the game seemingly in keeps. 

The Mavs came out refreshed after halftime though keeping pace with the Panthers as both teams lowered their defensive intensity and pulled the match into a Sunday afternoon scoring spree. The Panthers points came through Bianca Stasinowsky (24 points with five triples and eight rebounds in 20 minutes) while the Mavs Bella Schaftenaar took out a career high 19 points and six rebounds.

With over 170 points between the two teams - the Panthers nevertheless secured the important win to take the one game gap and the split advantage over the Woodville Warriors.

     

EASTERN MAVERICKS 71 (Schaftenaar 19, D Hocking 12, Constantopoulos 9)

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 108 (Stasinowsky 24, K Gardiner 20, H Gardiner 19)

 

Rockets relaunch into fourth with stunning takedown of Sabres             

The North Adelaide Rockets with their 2-0 weekend have relaunched themselves into finals calculations into fourth with a stunning takedown of the Sturt Sabres 82-69 at the Lights. 

Mollie McKendrick (12 points, nine rebounds and three assists) fueled the Rockets' run early after a tense opening term. The Sabres got an unlikely source of scoring from Mia Walker-Roberts (17 points and three rebounds) but the Red and White turned the momentum in the second quarter in their favour. Jordyn Freer (15 points and four rebounds) capatalising on some unusual sloppy Sabres work to give her team the rise in margin 38-26 at the main change. 

Lauren Mansfield (17 points, four rebounds and three steals) continued her comeback through the season gaining more minutes in the third term as the Rockets kept shooting at high percentages with Tia Bails (12 points) chipping in to knock over the Sabres 21-13 for the stanza and give the homeside a handy 57-39 advantage heading to the last. 

Despite being down by a significant margin Katia Stamatelopoulos (21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) took matters into her own hands dragging the Sabres back into calculations for the afternoon. The Rockets however had all the answers to take a three game gap over fifth on the table and secure their finals position for 2025.      

  

NORTH ADELAIDE ROCKETS 82 (Mansfield 17, J Freer 15, Bails, Mckendrick 12)

STURT SABRES 69 (Stamatelopoulos 21, M Walker-Roberts 17, Brazel 13)

Jelly Sharif Sabres stay in reach with win over Rockets              

The Sturt Sabres kept their slim finals chances alive with a timely win over the North Adelaide Rockets 68-84 at the Lights. 

Sharif Black after a quiet match Friday night started on fire at the Lights with multiple triples and a 12 point opening term with four bombs from outside. Koop McCalop (32 points and 13 rebounds with three steals) carried on his rich vein of late season form with a big opening as well as the homeside led 21-19. 

In a match with both head coaches not available and Alex Wright and Stephen Adams given the keys to their respective vehicles - the Sabres took the slight edge at the back end of the second with some internal paint works from Ben Griscti (13 points and six rebounds) but McCalop made the triple on halftime to make it 38-44 at the half.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NBL1 (@nbl1)

Jordan “Jelly” Forbes kept feeding, scoring himself and grabbing glass to extend the away side's lead into the three quarter time break 52-63. 

Skipper Jack Turnbull (10 points) found his sniping range from beyond the arc as did Black (26 points, 11 rebounds and three assists) but the Rockets were running out of shots to fire as the Sabres stayed in reach with an important sixth win of the season.    

In one of the afternoon’s strongest performances Forbes notched the second triple double of the season in the league with an outstanding 17 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists.       

NORTH ADELAIDE ROCKETS 68 (McCalop 32, J Dyer 13, Dowdell 8)

STURT SABRES 84 (Black 26, Forbes 17, Griscti 13) 

 

Great Scott unravels Mavericks finals aspirations for Panthers               

A career high to guard Curtis Scott may have unravelled the Eastern Mavericks late push for the final five with a 69-94 win which secured a finals spot for the South Adelaide Panthers at St Francis De Sales

Last week’s Footlocker Player of the Week BJ Symons (Nine points and ten rebounds) bullocked his way through for some buckets early to give Eastern the lead position 20-12. Kaleb Warner (15 points and four assists with three rebounds) however had other ideas finding some big points to level it up again. Daniel Babb (Six points and rebounds) beat the buzzer to give the Panthers a huge plus 24-32 after the first term. 

The Mavs tried to answer multiple times in the second through their front court but the Panthers kept finding every touch highlighted by Codey Ellison (14 points and seven rebounds) throwing a touchdown pass for Curtis Scott with the Archie Brothers trick shot and1 layup. The away side taking a commanding lead into the halftime break 39-57 and brimming with confidence. 

Lloyd McVeigh (15 points and six rebounds) kept the scoreboard heading north for the Panthers but the skipper of the Mavs Freddy Webb (13 points and four rebounds) was doing everything to try and keep the maroon and silver in touch 56-71 with one to play - needing the win to keep their own destiny in their hands.

Broderick Robinson (19 points, four rebounds and three assists) rose to the challenge to bring the Mavericks within ten points but the great Scott of Curtis (26 points and nine rebounds) completed the unravelling to finish off the home side and secure the Panthers another finals appearance.         

 

EASTERN MAVERICKS 69 (Robinson 19, Webb 13, Bowden 11)

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 94 (Scott 26, L McVeigh, K Warner 15, Ellison 14)

 

Top Table Clash delivers at Den             

The clash of the top two delivered at the Den as while the Forestville Eagles took the thrilling win 95-98 - the Central Districts Lions stamped themselves as genuine challengers in one of the games of the season. 

The opening as expected was end to end with neither team taking the backward step. In the guard battle it was between Adam Doyle (14 points, six assists and five rebounds) and Koen Sapwell while above the rim and creating the headache of match up problems was Greg Mays and Efe Abogidi in one of the enthralling duels of the season. Both teams neck and neck with the Lions in front after the first buzzer 30-27. 

The Eagles however responded viciously through Mays (29 points, seven rebounds and three steals) and Daniel Johnson (15 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds) reeling off a 19-32 second term and dominated inside the paint taking toll of the Lions inability to secure the rebounds with ten second chance points in the first half to have the lead 49-59 at the main break. 

Greg Mays stuffs it in off the alley-oop ?

Watch the NBL1 Central First Nations Round live via https://t.co/NEk1I7kaV8 & NBL1 App ? & ?#NAIDOC2025 #NAIDOCWeek #StrengthVisionLegacy pic.twitter.com/NayNY38vEj

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 6, 2025

It took a young star on the rise the last few weeks in Mangok Manyang (19 points and seven rebounds) to produce the cream rising to the top as he rattled off seven telling points for the term as he, Abogidi (28 points,11 rebounds, four steals and three assists and Koen Sapwell drove the Lions back into the contest to leave a thrilling 73-76 three quarter time scoreboard. 

It came down to a one on one battle down the floor with Alex Starling (20 points) reminding everyone the crown he currently keeps as the league MVP of 2024 taking on Abogidi and all. Unlike last time when the Lions faded in the fourth they would not be separated from today as the last few minutes at 86-95 descended into a thrilling finish of missed triple shots, free throws and loose balls. 

The Eagles missed four chances to take the match at the charity stripe after Koen Sapwell (28 points and four assists) made the triple to drop it to a one basket game. The second miss from Starling with minimal time remaining saw Kalani Sapwell (Eight points, seven assists and rebounds) with a three point attempt to take it to over time but crashed into the backboard - that will set the stage for their likely next meeting in the second week of the finals as the Eagles now will be heavy favourites to finish top.

          

CENTRAL DISTRICTS LIONS 95 (Abogidi, Koen Sapwell 28, M Manyang 19, Kalani Sapwell 8)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 98 (Mays 29, Starling 20, D Johnson 15)

The Warriors are almost there for the Mens and the Womens have a must win versus the Norwood Flames now with results falling their way this weekend already - catch the action of Kayo Sports Freebies Game of the Week Monday Night via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App from 6:30pm ACDT. 

Watch the NBL1 Live & Free on NBL1.com.au, NBL1 App and Kayo Sports Freebies.