NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Women's Round 17

Unique Thompson put up 49 points and 25 rebounds, and Madeleine Norris 30 points and that was just in one of the Saturday night match ups in Round 17 of the NBL1 East Women's competition.

There were four matches on Saturday in the second last round of the regular season with wins for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Sutherland Sharks, Hills Hornets and Illawarra Hawks.

Round 17 began in the NBL1 East on Friday night in Tuggeranong with the Canberra Nationals defeating the Maitland Mustangs 78-66.

Then on Saturday, the Sutherland Sharks consolidated second position in the standings with the 89-80 victory against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits to keep the race for top spot alive.

Madeleine Norris delivered 30 points for the Sharks with seven three balls while Lauren Nicholson scored 24 points and Vanessa Panousis 19. 

The Bandits might not have won in the absence of Lauren Jackson but not without a monster performance from Unique Thompson with 49 points and 25 rebounds.

The Hills Hornets are looking to end their season with some momentum beating the Central Coast Crusaders 71-62.

Taryn Mahoney finished with 15 points for the Hornets, Rhiannon Yetsenga 13, Cassandra Pentney 12 and Erica Pitman 10. Elizajane Loader put up 18 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists for Central Coast.

It was another battle between two playoff bound teams on Saturday at The Snakepit with the Illawarra Hawks defeating the Norths Bears 72-70.

Ella Dent put up 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the win for the Hawks while Carla Pitman produced 25 points and eight rebounds for the Bears.

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles then turned it on away from home to hammer the Canberra Nationals 107-59 in a battle between the sixth and seventh ranked teams.

Alex Delaney and Kim Hodge both scored 25 points in the win for the Sea Eagles while Jasmyn Boutzos top-scored for Canberra with 16 points.

Round 17 in the NBL1 East will now wrap up on Sunday afternoon back at The Snakepit with the Illawarra Hawks hosting the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 17 – SATURDAY

CANBERRA NATIONALS 59 lost to MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 107

The Canberra Nationals couldn’t quite win a second game inside 24 hours with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles handing them a 48-point loss on Saturday night.

Canberra opened Round 17 in the NBL1 East by beating the Maitland Mustangs on Friday night before backing up against the Sea Eagles at Belconnen Basketball Stadium on Saturday.

Manly-Warringah closed the opening quarter on a 9-0 run to end up leading Canberra 29-12 by quarter-time. The Sea Eagles then turned that into a 16-0 scoring streak into the second term.

They ended up scoring another 29 points to 12 in the second term to go into half-time with a commanding 58-24 lead. 

Another 28 points to 18 in the third term saw Manly-Warringah's lead grow to 50 points, it got to 51 in the last quarter and they went on to score the 107-59 win away from home.

The Sea Eagles consolidated sixth spot on the NBL1 East table with a round to play at 11-8 while the Nationals are 8-11 in seventh position after splitting their weekend.

It was a hot shooting display from Manly-Warringah who went at 55.6 per cent from the field while draining 15/34 from downtown at 44.1 per cent. That was opposed to 27.4 per cent from Canberra who did knock down 10/28 from long-range at 35.7 per cent.

Kim Hodge finished with 25 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Sea Eagles on 10/16 shooting with Alex Delaney contributing 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Zoey Miller added 18 points and three rebounds, Bree Delaney 16 points, seven boards and seven assists, and Antonia Henderson 12 points and six assists.

Jasmyn Boutzos top-scored for Canberra with 16 points with Lizzy Tonks producing 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Kristen Langhorn 12 points, 13 boards and three steals, and Abby Solway eight points and three assists.

 

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 89 defeated ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 80

The battle of the top teams in the NBL1 East took place on Saturday and despite the amazing performance from Unique Thompson for the Albury-Wodonga Bandits, it was the Sutherland Sharks who took out the nine-point win.

While the Bandits remain clear on top of the table with a round to play, the win could be crucial in the Sharks holding on to second spot.

It was Sutherland at home on Saturday at Sutherland Basketball Stadium for the contest with the Sharks quickly working on top with a 29 points to 17 opening term.

The Sharks stretched their lead to as much as 19 points during the second period and were still on top 55-39 by half-time.

Sutherland opened up a 21-point lead by the fourth quarter and while Albury-Wodonga did go on a 12-0 run late, the Sharks were too strong and went on to win 89-80.

The result improves the Sharks to a 14-4 record on the season in second position while the Bandits remain on top at 15-3 before taking on the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong on Sunday.

Despite the final scoreline, Albury-Wodonga pulled down 58 rebounds for the game to just 35 from the Sharks but in contrast to that, Sutherland forced the Bandits into 20 turnovers for the game and they had just five.

That was a big reason why the Sharks took 18 extra field goals for the game but in another fascinating aspect, the Bandits got to the foul line 22 free-throw attempts to only three.

Sutherland also nailed 16/36 from three-point range opposed to 4/20 from Albury-Wodonga.

 Madeleine Norris finished with 30 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots for Sutherland while drilling 7/10 from three-point land.

Lauren Nicholson added 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists while hitting 4/8 from deep with Vanessa Panousis adding 19 points and seven assists, Rhiaan Te Hira six points and six assists, and Olivia White six points and five steals.

It was a remarkable individual performance for Albury-Wodonga from Unique Thompson who ended up with 49 points and 25 rebounds on shooting 22/29 from the floor.

Ai Yamada added 13 points and nine assists, and Amelia Hassett nine points, 12 boards, three assists and two blocks.

 

HILLS HORNETS 71 defeated CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 62

The Hills Hornets are building some momentum late in the season despite being out of NBL1 East playoff hunt after beating the Central Coast Crusaders by nine points on Saturday night.

The Hornets played host the Crusaders at Hills Basketball Stadium in Round 17 of the NBL1 East and it was the home team who started well to lead 14-9 in a hard fought opening quarter.

However, Central Coast turned it around in the second term to go on a 5-0 run after falling seven points down and they only trailed the Hornets by a point going into half-time.

The Hornets turned things back in their favour during the third quarter by scoring 15 consecutive points to turn a five-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

Hills then went up 12 during the last term and ended up winning 71-62 on their home court.

With one round of the regular season to go, the Hornets are sitting clear in eighth position with an 8-11 record while the Crusaders are ninth at 4-14.

Taryn Mahoney top-scored for the Hornets with 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Rhiannon Yetsenga added 13 points, 15 rebounds and three steals, Cassandra Pentney 12 points, six steals, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks, and Erica Pitman 10 points, six boards and three assists.

Bronte Moore delivered 18 points and four rebounds for Central Coast with Elizajane Loader producing 18 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists, Jonalyn Wittwer 12 points and five boards, and Losalini Bulikalouru-Katia 10 points and five rebounds.

 

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 72 defeated NORTHS BEARS 70

It was quite the Saturday thriller between two playoff bound teams when the Illawarra Hawks and Norths Bears did battle.

The Hawks hosted the Bears at The Snakepit in Wollongong and it was a remarkably tight contest the entire way with no more than five points ever separating the two teams.

The biggest lead for Norths was four points and that’s what they led by at quarter-time but Illawarra responded with 27 points to 20 in the second quarter and that saw the home team up 43-40 at the long break.

The Hawks did go out to a five-point lead a few different times throughout the second half but it was a game destined to go right to the final buzzer.

Emily Simons scored at the rack late to bring the Bears back level at 70-70 but a massive offensive rebound from Georgia Ohrdorf on a missed shot from Rebecca Abel proved massive.

Ohrdorf hit both at the line after being fouled following that offensive rebound before Simons was fouled at the other end. However, she missed both and Illawarra went on to win 72-70.

Following the win, Illawarra improves to an 11-6 record before hosting the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Sunday while the Bears are 14-5 in third spot with one round to play.

Ella Dent top-scored for the Hawks with 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds with Georgia Ohrdorf contributing 13 points and 11 boards.

Rebecca Abel added 11 points and four assists, Tyler Scaife 11 points and eight rebounds, Georgia Chrystal six points and eight boards.

Carla Pitman produced 25 points and eight rebounds for Norths with Riley Evans adding 13 points and seven boards, Jessica Bygate 10 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Sarah Schicher five points and 13 rebounds.