NBL1 East Recap | Women's Semi Finals

They were the two standout teams during the NBL1 East Women's season and now it will be the Albury-Wodonga Bandits and Sutherland Sharks to play in the 2022 Grand Final after their semi-final wins on Saturday.

The Bandits and Sharks finished the regular season in the NBL1 East in the top two positions meaning they got to sit out the first week of the finals to find out who they would get to host on Saturday in the semi finals.

In the end, the two top two teams showed their quality with Albury-Wodonga and Sutherland setting up a tantalising Grand Final now on Sunday afternoon.

With MVP Lauren Jackson once again showing the way, the Albury-Wodonga Bandits proved too strong for the Norths Bears, winning 85-78 to be the first team into the Grand Final for 2022.

Jackson was the difference once again for the Bandits with 32 points and 13 rebounds while Unique Thompson added 28 points and 12 boards. Riley Evans finished with 23 points for the Bears.

The other semi-final saw the Sutherland Sharks defeat the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 88-81 to also book their place in the Grand Final.

The stars delivered for the Sharks in the semi-final win with Madeleine Norris finishing with 29 points, Lauren Nicholson 26 and Vanessa Panousis 16. Kim Hodge led the charge for the Sea Eagles by scoring 31 points in the finish.

The NBL1 East Grand Final will now take place on Sunday at Hills Basketball Stadium between the Albury-Wodonga Bandits and the Sutherland Sharks with tip-off set for 1.30pm.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
SEMI FINALS – SATURDAY NIGHT

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 85 defeated NORTHS BEARS 78

The one-two punch of Lauren Jackson and Unique Thompson has led the Albury-Wodonga Bandits into the NBL1 East Grand Final after overcoming the Norths Bears in a hard fought semi-final on Saturday.

On the back of the MVP season of Jackson which sparked her remarkable comeback story in 2022 that will now see her play at the FIBA World Cup and in the WNBL with the Southside Flyers, the Bandits claimed top spot in the NBL1 East for 2022.

That saw them earn the week off to start the finals series with the Bears going on to beat the Illawarra Hawks by 47 points in last Saturday's elimination final to set up Saturday's semi-final at Hills Basketball Stadium.

With the finals played on neutral hardwood at the Hills Basketball Stadium, it was still Albury-Wodonga who made the strong start to open up a 30-20 advantage by quarter-time.

However, the Bears made a real game of it in the second quarter outscoring the Bandits 19 points to 12 to grab the lead at one stage, and then only trail by three points at half-time.

Things remained tight throughout the third quarter with Albury-Wodonga leading by just two points at three quarter-time, but the regular season champions then took over in the fourth quarter with a Grand Final spot at stake.

The Bandits put together a run of nine straight points and that saw their lead grow to a game-high 14 points before they went on to score the 85-78 victory and book in their place in the Grand Final on Sunday also at Hills Basketball Stadium.

Ultimately Albury-Wodonga collecting 15 offensive rebounds to five for the game helped them take 13 extra field goals for the game than the Bears while they also took 19 free-throws to just seven.

Lauren Jackson put together yet another standout and dominant performance for the Bandits finishing with 32 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. 

Unique Thompson was tremendous for the winners too with 28 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

Brodie-Paige Theodore added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assist for the Bandits, and Ai Yamada six points, four boards, four steals and three assists.

The Bears fought valiantly to make a real game of it with Riley Evans top-scoring with 23 points, four rebounds and two assists while knocking down 6/10 from three-point territory.

Jasmine Forcadilla added 11 points and five assists, Emily Simons 11 points and eight rebounds, Kate Seebohm eight points, six boards and three assists, and Sarah Schicher eight points and two boards. 

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 88 defeated MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 81

The Sutherland Sharks battled hard to defeat the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday night in the semi finals of the NBL1 East to book in a spot in Sunday's Grand Final.

The Sharks finished the regular season in second position on the table to earn the week off to start the finals while the Sea Eagles had to overcome the Newcastle Falcons in a thriller in the elimination final last Saturday.

That set up Saturday's semi-final at Hills Basketball Stadium with a spot in Sunday's Grand Final on the line and it would prove to be another terrific contest.

It was Sutherland who got the better of the opening quarter delivering a run of nine straight points to head into the quarter-time break with a 12-point lead at 26-14.

The Sharks then continued that momentum in the second quarter turning it into a 13-0 run to lead by as much as 19 points, and to still be in control 48-32 at half-time.

However, the Sea Eagles had plenty of fight left and came out of the half a different looking outfit scoring eight consecutive points and then outscoring the Sharks 29 points to 16 for the third quarter.

A Zoey Miller three-pointer to start the fourth quarter then saw Manly-Warringah draw scores level before midway through the period free-throws to Kim Hodge and Antonia Henderson saw them grab a three-point lead with five minutes to play.

The Sharks responded to that challenge starting with a triple to Madeleine Norris and a couple of buckets to Vanessa Panousis, and eventually Sutherland was able to close out the win at the foul line thanks to Panousis and Rhiaan Te Hira.

That saw the Sharks claim the 88-81 victory and set up a tantalising Grand Final match up on Sunday back at Hills Basketball Stadium against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

It was a dominant rebounding performance from the Sharks as they pulled down 42 boards for the game to 24 from the Sea Eagles including 10 to five at the offensive end.

Sutherland were also impressive especially with their long-range shooting knocking down 11/21 from three-point land at 52.4 per cent opposed to the 7/20 at 35.0 per cent from Manly-Warringah.

Madeleine Norris came up huge for Sutherland with 29 points, five rebounds and two assists while knocking down a remarkable 8/12 from three-point territory.

Lauren Nicholson added 26 points, eight assists and five rebounds with Vanessa Panousis contributing 16 points, six assists and four rebounds, and Olivia White 10 points and seven boards.

Kim Hodge had a standout night despite the loss for the Sea Eagles finishing with 31 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals while shooting 11/19 from the foul line.

Zoey Miller added 20 points, Alex Delaney 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Antonia Henderson six points, six boards, three steals and two assists.