East Recap | First Nations Round Sunday

Image credit: Immy Leeon (@immyleeonsports)

Lauren Nicholson produced 48 points in her second game as a mother in an NBL1 East win for Sutherland Sharks while Todd Blanchfield delivered 44 points and 14 rebounds in win for Illawarra Hawks.

EAST RECAP | FIRST NATIONS ROUND SATURDAY

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WOMEN

Sutherland Sharks (95) defeated Albury-Wodonga Bandits (86)

All eyes were on the Albury-Wodonga Bandits with their hot form coming into the contest but Lauren Nicholson was back for the Sutherland Sharks and put up 48 points in their 95-86 home victory.

The Sharks were shorthanded on Saturday night and suffered a one-point loss to the Newcastle Falcons with that loss all but ending their playoff hopes but they did regain new mother Nicholson for her second game since giving birth to her first child in April.

The Bandits arrived at Sutherland Basketball Stadium fresh off the 39-point win over the Illawarra Hawks on Saturday where Riley Lupfer was remarkable setting a new NBL1 scoring record with 55 points and hitting 16 three-pointers while Caitie Jones adding 24 points and 13 assists.

That had Albury-Wodonga coming into the Sunday contest having won four straight to consolidate a top four position so the stage was set for a fascinating contest.

Sutherland still only had seven players suiting up and Maddy Norris and Lauren Nicholson both ended up laying 40 minutes, but by quarter-time it was the Bandits with the narrow 27-25 advantage.

It was in the second term when the Sharks put it all together with 35 points to 20 on the back of hitting 6/11 from three-point territory to see them open up the 60-47 lead by the half-time break.

Even though Albury-Wodonga won the third period 23 points to 14, Sutherland still maintained the lead for the entire second half and ended up securing the nine-point victory in the finish.

The win improves the Sharks to a 7-11 record but playoffs might be out of reach with just two games to go against the Illawarra Hawks and Inner West Bulls with the eighth placed team sitting at 9-8 with two rounds remaining.

In just her second game as a mother, Lauren Nicholson was superb for the Sharks with 48 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals with 16/26 field goal shooting, 4/9 three-point shooting and going 12/14 at the free-throw line.

Emily Garland added 18 points, five rebounds and two assists, and Maddy Morris 18 points, 12 boards, six assists and four steals.

Albury-Wodonga do stay in fourth position despite the loss to now be sitting there with a 12-5 record and with games to finish against the Penrith Panthers, Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders and Sydney Comets.

After her 55-point, 16 three-pointer performance on Saturday, Riley Lupfer had another 28 points, 11 rebounds and three assists for the Bandits with 5/14 shooting from behind the three-point arc.

Brynn Masikewich added 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, Caitie Jones 18 points, seven boards and five assists, and Emma Mahady nine points and four rebounds.

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 95 (Nicholson 48, Norris 18, Garland 18)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 86 (Lupfer 28, Masikewich 19, Jones 18)

Norths Bears (82) defeated Illawarra Hawks (64)

The Norths Bears took care of business at home on Sunday beating the Illawarra Hawks to consolidate second position on the NBL1 East standings.

The Bears did open their weekend on Saturday beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders by 44 points with Sydney Flames WNBL star Carla Pitman providing a monster triple-double as they backed up on Sunday hosting the Hawks at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.

Illawarra arrived coming off a 39-point loss on Saturday to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on their home floor so it was another significant challenge for them up against the second ranked Bears.

The Bears started well on their home floor racing out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter and being on top 22-13 by quarter-time.

That lead for Norths continued to grow and got out to 16 points in the second frame, 20 in the third and 21 in the fourth before they claimed the 18-point victory.

The win keeps the Bears solid in second position on the standings with a 14-3 record and a pair of wins this weekend to bounce back from a loss last week to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

Maddie O'Hehir top-scored in the win for Norths with 27 points to go with five rebounds and two blocks with 5/7 shooting the three ball.

Caitlyn Martin added 20 points and nine assists, Emma Donnelly 14 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Peggy Schell five points, 11 boards and three steals.

The Hawks, meanwhile, remain in second last place with a 4-13 record and having lost their past four with Kiara Bell finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Ruby MacDonald added 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks, Tsubasa Nisbet 11 points, four boards and three assists, Sophia Johnston 10 points, four assists and three rebounds, and Ella Dent nine points, five steals, three boards and two assists.

NORTHS BEARS 82 (O'Hehir 27, Martin 20, Donnelly 14)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 64 (Bell 16, Nisbet 11, MacDonald 11)

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (54) lost to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (89)

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles put in a dominant Sunday showing to make it 13 consecutive wins with the 89-54 victory against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Sea Eagles arrived at The Brickpit on a 12-game winning streak and sitting atop the NBL1 East in what was their only appearance of the weekend while the Spiders were attempting to bounce back from losing to the Norths Bears on Saturday.

It was a fast start from Manly Warringah as they opened up a 16-point lead and were on top 28-14 by the quarter-time break thanks to shooting 10/18 from the floor opposed to the 5/19 from the Spiders.

The lead in favour of the Sea Eagles got out to 21 points in the second term and then by half-time they were on top 52-31.

It was more of the game in the second half including Manly Warringah going on a 12-0 scoring run to open up a 34-point lead before that got out to 36 in the fourth term before they scored the eventual 35-point victory.

It's a 13th straight win on the season for the Sea Eagles as they retain top spot with a 15-2 record with Taylor Wurtz continuing her standout form knocking down another 4/10 from three-point territory for 20 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Sari Mowbray added 18 points, four rebounds and two assists, Kim Dickinson 17 points and seven boards, Chloe Dix 16 points on 4/5 shooting from downtown.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai are now 6-11 for the season with a fifth consecutive defeat with Jessie-May Hall delivering 24 points, six rebounds, five steals and two assists.

Ay'Anna Bey added 12 points and six rebounds, Nicole Hutchins six points and seven boards, and Keira Hudson five points, two rebounds and two assists.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 54 (Hall 24, Bey 12, Hutchins 6)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 89 (Wurtz 20, Mowbray 18, Dickinson 17)

MEN

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (69) lost to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (96)

Mason Bragg was back to run the show for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and Preston Purifoy and Stefan Valkovic combined for 59 points as they stayed solid in a playoff spot with the 96-69 win over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Spiders were back on their home floor at The Brickpit looking to cause the upset and to bounce back from their Saturday loss to the Norths Bears while the Sea Eagles arrived having not played since a loss also to the Bears last week.

It was an enterprising start from both teams as they combined for 56 points in the first quarter with the Sea Eagles clinging to the 29-27 lead.

Manly Warringah produced another 24 points to 16 in the second term to go into the half-time break leading 53-43 and then that advantage continued to grow through the second half.

It was 20 points to 10 in the favour of the Sea Eagles in the third period and then another 23 to 16 in the fourth on the way to leading by as much as 27 and that would remain the final margin.

Manly Warringah finished the game shooting 52 per cent from the field opposed to the 31 per cent from Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai as they improve to a 9-8 record and remain in seventh position.

Preston Purifoy delivered 31 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the win for the Sea Eagles on 5/8 three-point shooting.

Stefan Valkovic added 28 points and three rebounds, Mason Bragg 16 points, seven boards, seven assists and two steals, and Matthew Eldridge 12 points, 11 rebounds and two assists.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai slip to a 6-11 record on the season following the pair of losses this weekend with Akil Douglas top-scoring with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Steven Hall added 16 points and three steals, Alex Sidhu 11 points and three rebounds, and Brian Ansuh-Yeboah eight points.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 69 (Douglas 17, Hall 16, Sidhu 11)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 96 (Purifoy 31, Valkovic 28, Bragg 16)

Sutherland Sharks (97) defeated Albury-Wodonga Bandits (90)

The Sutherland Sharks consolidated their place in the top eight by bouncing back from Saturday's loss with the 97-90 home win on Sunday against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

The Sharks did lose on Saturday against the Newcastle Falcons to slip to three straight losses and yet to lock in a playoff spot ahead of returning home to Sutherland Basketball Stadium on Sunday to host the Bandits.

Albury-Wodonga were on a four-game losing run coming into the match up too including having lost to the Illawarra Hawks by 32 points on Saturday.

It was a flying start from the Bandits who were chasing a fourth win of the season as they put up 30 points to 22 in the first quarter on shooting 12/17 from the floor and 4/7 from behind the three-point arc.

The Sharks then turned the tide in the second period with 32 points to 21 on the back of shooting 12/16 to turn that eight-point deficit into a three-point lead of their own.

Albury-Wodonga weren’t going away, though, and they managed to outscore Sutherland 24 points to 18 in the third quarter to be leading by three at three quarter-time.

The Sharks couldn't afford to drop another game and they dug deep for 25 points to 15 in the fourth quarter including a run of 12 straight points on the way to scoring the seven-point victory.

The win improves Sutherland to a 10-8 record to sit in fifth position in the standings with games to finish against the Illawarra Hawks and Inner West Bulls.

Lochlan Hutchison delivered 28 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals in the win for the Sharks while shooting 12/20 from the floor.

Taylor Young produced his best performance since joining Sutherland having started the season captaining the East Perth Eagles in the NBL1 West. He finished with 22 points, three assists and two rebounds on a perfect 3/3 three-point shooting.

Kouat Noi also had 13 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals, Jason Spurgin 10 points, six boards and five assists, and Luke Jamieson 10 points and nine rebounds.

Albury-Wodonga have now lost five consecutive matches to be 3-14 on the season with Ahren Freeman top-scoring with 25 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.

Matthew Gray added 24 points, four rebounds and three assists, Francis Wineera-Mulvihill 15 points, six boards and four assists, and Simon Lafaele 11 points and five rebounds.

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 97 (Hutchison 28, Young 22, Noi 13)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 90 (Freeman 25, Gray 24, Wineera-Mulvihill 15)

Norths Bears (101) lost to Illawarra Hawks (103)

He is fresh off NBL1 North and NBL championships, he's just re-signed for three more NBL seasons, and Todd Blanchfield turned it on again with 44 points and 14 rebounds as the Illawarra Hawks beat the Norths Bears on Sunday.

Coming into the Sunday match up at North Sydney Indoor Sports centre and the Bears were looking to further consolidate their playoff position while the Hawks were also out to stay in touch of a top two finish.

They were both fresh off Saturday wins too with the Hawks beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits by 32 points and the Bears defeating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders by seven points.

The two teams combined for 58 points in the first quarter with the Hawks leading 30-28 by the end of the first quarter despite the Bears knocking down six threes in that opening 10 minutes.

Illawarra then narrowly extended that lead to 54-49 by half-time but the Bears hit back with 25 points to 21 in the third term, and that set up a thrilling finish.

Just when it appeared the Hawks had all the answers, a triple for Norths to Hunter Goodrick and then a finish in transition off a steal to Austin Patterson saw the home team grab the lead with two minutes to play.

Todd Blanchfield responded for Illawarra to level scores up once more before Lachlan Dent put the Hawks back in front, and it was a dunk in transition from Blanchfield that put his team up four, and from there they were able to close out the two-point win.

It's a big result in the context of the season for both teams with Illawarra improving to a 13-4 record to sit in third place with games to finish against Sutherland, Hornsby and Inner West.

Todd Blanchfield is 441 games into his NBL career but is showing no signs of slowing down after producing 44 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and shooting 14/25 from the floor, 4/12 from deep and 12/13 at the foul line.

Christian Maran added 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Matthew Mims 13 points, three boards and three steals, Kobe McDowell-White 10 points and four assists, and Lachlan Dent 10 points, 13 assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Norths remain clinging to eighth position with a 9-8 record and their season ends against Central Coast, Sydney and Penrith.

Austin Patterson backed up his big performance in the win on Saturday by delivering another 22 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals for the Bears.

Hunter Goodrick added 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals, Iggy Mitchell 16 points and three assists, and Lachlan Bofinger 13 points, five boards and two assists.

NORTHS BEARS 101 (Patterson 22, Goodrick 21, Mitchell 16)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 103 (Blanchfield 44, Maran 19, Mims 13)