NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Women's Round 14

Lauren Jackson's star shone once again on Saturday in the NBL1 East with her teammate Unique Thompson along with Sara Matthews, Kim Hodge, Riley Evans and Rhiannon Yetsenga among the other standout Round 14 performers.

There were Saturday NBL1 East victories for the Central Coast Crusaders, Albury-Wodonga Bandits, Norths Bears, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Hills Hornets.

Saturday's NBL1 East action got underway with the Central Coast Crusaders defeating the Illawarra Hawks 92-80.

Sara Matthews led the charge for Central Coast with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Tyler Scaife finished with 20 points and three steals for Illawarra.

Lauren Jackson then further put forward her case to go to the FIBA World Cup by leading the Albury-Wodonga Bandits to the 115-88 win against the Newcastle Falcons.

Jackson finished with 34 points and 11 rebounds for the Bandits with Unique Thompson adding 28 points and 17 rebounds. Chyra Evans delivered 27 points for Newcastle and Nicole Munger 23 points and 11 rebounds.

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles scored a strong road win against the Inner West Bulls, ending up winning 88-53.

Kim Hodge top-scored for the Sea Eagles with 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks while Lashayla Wright Ponder put up 18 points and 14 rebounds for Inner West.

The Norths Bears put together a standout third quarter on the way to an 84-72 home victory against the Sutherland Sharks.

Riley Evans delivered 28 points and nine rebounds with seven three-pointers for the Bears while Vanessa Panousis finished with 29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Sharks.

The Hills Hornets held out the Maitland Mustangs late for the eventual 79-72 with Rhiannon Yetsenga putting up 26 points, 15 rebounds and four assists. Mikaela Dombkins delivered 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Maitland.

Round 14 in the NBL1 East will wrap up on Sunday afternoon with the Canberra Nationals playing the Newcastle Falcons and the Maitland Mustangs taking on the Norths Bears.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 14 – SATURDAY 

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 92 defeated ILLAWARRA HAWKS 80

The Central Coast Crusaders opened up a handy first half lead and then held out the Illawarra Hawks to win by 12 points on Saturday.

The Crusaders played host to the Hawks at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium in Round 14 NBL1 East action with Central Coast starting well to end up leading 30-24 at the end of the opening quarter.

Central Coast then scored 12 straight points during the second term to lead by as much as 17 and to be on top of Illawarra 54-40 by the half-time break.

Illawarra worked back into the contest with 25 points to 17 in the third quarter but then Central Coast did enough to hold off the charge from the Hawks with 21 points to 15 in the fourth period.

That saw the Crusaders to end up winning 92-80 to improve to a 4-11 record on the season while the Hawks drop back to 9-5 with the defeat.

The Crusaders might have coughed up 24 turnovers but they shot the ball impressively from long range going 16/35 at 45.7 per cent. In contrast, the Hawks went 5/19 from downtown at 26.3 per cent.

Sara Matthews ended up top-scoring for Central Coast with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while connecting on 4/6 from three-point land.

Abbey Cracknell added 20 points, five rebounds and three assists while also drilling 4/6 from deep while Darneka Rowe added 16 points, four rebounds and three steals, Bronte More 11 points, Nicole Hutchins nine points and 13 boards, and Elizajane Loader nine points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Tyler Scaife finished up with 20 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists for Illawarra while Ella Dent contributed 19 points, five rebounds and three steals, Georgia Ohrdorf 12 points, six boards and three steals, and Rebecca Abel nine points.

 

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 115 defeated NEWCASTLE FALCONS 88

It was another dominant performance from Lauren Jackson in the building named after her as the Albury-Wodonga Bandits beat the Newcastle Falcons by 27 points.

The Bandits were at home at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre on Saturday night against the Falcons and it was Jackson who produced another dominant display as her chances of a remarkable returning for the Opals at the FIBA World Cup grows week after week.

Albury-Wodonga started strongly with a 12-0 run in the first quarter and that helped them open up a 27-19 lead by the end of one.

It was then a scorching performance from the home team in the second period as they blew the Falcons away by piling on 38 points to 18 as the lead grew to 30 and that saw the Bandits still on top 65-37 by half-time after a simply stunning offensive outburst.

The Bandits produced another 27 points to 16 in the third quarter with the lead getting out to 39 points, and it was 45 in the last term until Newcastle put up 15 straight points.

Albury-Wodonga still beat 115-88 in the finish to see them improve to a 13-2 record on top of the standings in the NBL1 East while the Falcons are 9-5 ahead of taking on the Canberra Nationals on Sunday.

It was a scintillating offensive performance from the Bandits as they shot 53.1 per cent from the field while hitting 13/25 from downtown. The Falcons shot 40.6 per cent and also nailed 12/24 from three-point land.

Lauren Jackson once again led the charge for Albury-Wodonga finishing with 34 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 12/22 from the field, 4/8 from the land of plenty and 6/8 from the charity stripe.

Unique Thompson added 28 points and 17 rebounds, Brodie-Page Theodore 18 points, four boards and four assists, and Ai Yamada 21 points and eight assists.

Chyra Evans produced 27 points and six rebounds for Newcastle with Nicole Munger adding 23 points and 11 boards, Kate Kingham 12 points and six rebounds, and Jessica Reif 11 points.

 

INNER WEST BULLS 53 lost to MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 88

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles produced a dominant first half to set up an eventual 35-point win on the road to the Inner West Bulls on Saturday night.

The teams locked horns on Saturday as part of Round 14 in NBL1 East at ELS Hall Park with Manly-Warringah wasting little time working their way on top by going on a 14-0 scoring streak.

The Sea Eagles soon led by 20 points and they were still up 28-13 by quarter-time before they scored nine more points in succession in the second term to end up leading by 32 and to hold a 55-23 half-time advantage.

The Sea Eagles stretched their lead to 38 points in the third quarter and 40 in the fourth before ending up winning 88-53.

As a result of the 35-point win, Manly-Warringah improves to a 10-6 record on the season by the end of Round 14 while the Bulls remain winless in 2022 at 0-16.

The Sea Eagles ended up collecting 59 rebounds to 43 from Inner West while shooting 48.6 per cent from the field opposed to 28.7.

Kim Hodge delivered 18 points and six rebounds on 8/10 shooting for Manly-Warringah with Zoey Miller adding 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, Maja Jurlina 11 points and four boards, and Bree Delaney 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Lashayla Wright-Ponder ended up with 18 points and 14 rebounds for Inner West with Georgia Stirton contributing 10 points and three assists, and Abby O'Flynn seven points, four boards, three steals and two assists.

 

NORTHS BEARS 84 defeated SUTHERLAND SHARKS 72

The Norths Bears scored a hard earned 12-point home victory against the Sutherland Sharks on Saturday evening.

As part of NBL1 East Round 14 action on Saturday, the Bears were at home to the Sharks at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre with the home team starting well.

Norths did score 10 points in-a-row during the first quarter but the Sharks stayed in touch and by quarter-time the Bears were only narrowly leading 24-22.

The Bears did see their lead grow to eight points during the second quarter and that was their advantage by half-time with them holding a 41-33 advantage.

The home team then blew the game opening during the third period and a 7-0 run helped them open up an 18-point lead which they were able to maintain most of the rest of the way.

The Bears ended up beating the Sharks 84-72 to see them improve to 10-3 on the season while Sutherland falls to 10-4 following the defeat.

Sutherland did outrebound Norths 51 boards to 42 but the Bears ended up shooting 12/26 at 46.2 per cent from three-point land opposed to 7/32 at 21.9 per cent from long range.

Riley Evans delivered 28 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals for Norths Bears on the back of knocking down 7/13 from three-point territory.

Carla Pitman added 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, Lauryn Walker 10 points, Sarah Schicher eight points, nine boards, five assists and five steals, and Kate Seebohm eight points and four assists. 

Vanessa Panousis is fresh off signing with the Sydney Uni Flames for the upcoming WNBL season and she starred for the Sharks on Saturday with 29 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and two steals while hitting five three-pointers.

Courtney West added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Lauren Calver eight points and four assists, Madeleine Norris six points and 13 rebounds, and Jordyn Dewhurst six points.

 

HILLS HORNETS 79 defeated MAITLAND MUSTANGS 72

The Hills Hornets held off the fast finishing Maitland Mustangs for the eventual seven-point home win on Saturday night.

The Hornets played host to the Mustangs at Hills Basketball Stadium in Round 14 of the NBL1 East with Hills opening up an early six-point lead and being on top 16-13 by quarter-time.

The Hornets managed to stretch their lead to as much as 10 during the second period and they were still on top 37-32 by the half-time interval.

Hills continued to push further ahead in the third quarter putting together an 11-0 run to see the lead grow out to 19 points which saw them still on top 62-50 by three quarter-time.

Maitland did manage to win the last quarter but couldn’t quite close the gap and the Hornets ended up winning 79-72.

The victory improved the Hornets to a 7-10 record on the season while the Mustangs slipped to 3-11 following the loss.

Rhiannon Yetsenga produced 26 points, 15 rebounds and four assists for the Hornets with Taryn Mahoney contributing 13 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists, Cassandra Pentney 12 points and 10 boards, and Erica Pitman nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Mikaela Dombkins ended up top-scoring for Maitland with 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Mila Wawszkowicz added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Rachel Williams contributed 10 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks with Hannah Griffin contributing eight points.