NBL1 East Semi Finals 2023 Preview

This Saturday, the top two men’s and women’s teams in the NBL1 East will be decided, as the NBL1 East Semi-Finals take place across Northern Sydney, the Northern Beaches and in Canberra.

At the pointy end of this thrilling season, it’s all on the line. With 16 teams narrowed down to 4 in both the men and women’s division, every team is guaranteed to bring their best to the court as they battle it out to take out the win.

Women’s

Norths Bears v Sydney Comets

Sydney Comets line-up of the Flames Shyla Heal, Vanessa Panousis, Jada Crawshaw and coach Shelley Gorman will be taking on Opals Asia Cup Assistant Coach and Norths Bears Renae Garlepp’s team, and her team featuring Kate Seebohm and Emily Simons. Norths Bears will be looking to go to Finals, being knocked out in the 2022 season by Lauren Jackson’s Albury-Wodonga Bandits, and similarly, the Sydney Comets will be looking to take it all the way for their inaugural season.

"We are expecting an absolute battle. All season we have prided ourselves on defense and this will certainly put that to the test, coming up against the league's two premier guards. We will work hard over the week to prepare as well as we can to ensure we put ourselves in the best position possible." – Renae Garlepp, Norths Bears Women’s Head Coach.

“We’ve had some very tough games leading into Saturday’s semi, this has helped toughen us mentally and physically in preparation for finals basketball. Norths have a lot of depth and experience but we look forward to the challenge. I’m proud of how our girl’s have stepped up and are playing with so much grit, determination and team work.” – Shelley Gorman, Sydney Comets Women’s Head Coach.

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles v Centre of Excellence

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have been sitting comfortably at the top of the ladder for most of the 2023 season, but will that be disturbed by BA’s Centre of Excellence when it comes down to the wire? The Sea Eagles have been led well by Kimberley Hodge and with stand-out performances from Antonia Henderson, Felicity Henderson and Alex Delaney, but it could be the CoE and their roster of Isla Juffermans and Saffron Shiels, fresh from the FIBA Under 19’s Basketball World Cup, that challenges their standing – and what a match-up it’ll be!

“We’re really excited to be hosting a home semi final this weekend down at NBISC. We know that we will be up against a really tough opposition in the COE, who have the best young talent in the country. They are very well coached and organised, have very few weaknesses and play extremely hard the whole game. 

We’ll do our best to be as prepared as we can be and look forward to hopefully be able to play our style of Basketball at a high level and put ourselves in a position to qualify for a Grand Final. We had a great crowd last week and look forward to having an even bigger one this weekend!” – Nathan Kirwan, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Women’s Head Coach.

“Manly have been the inform team throughout the NBL1 East 2023 woman's season! They are well coached and play fantastic team basketball with often 5 to 6 players in double figures on their scoresheet.  It will be a wonderful challenge for our young CoE group to travel to Manly, play in front of Manly's terrific home crowd and face the league leaders for the right to play in the NBL1 East Grand Final.” David Herber, CoE Women’s Head Coach.

Men’s

Centre of Excellence v Sutherland Sharks

BA’s Centre of Excellence will be hosting the Sutherland Sharks, for an undoubtedly exciting game. The Centre of Excellence boasts a young, up-and-coming line-up, featuring Ben Henshall who has signed to the NBL’s Perth Wildcats, and Alex Toohey, who has signed to the Sydney Kings Next Star program. The CoE’s statistics brag a 90.80 win percentage, and the Sharks will be looking to make a major upset, with their roster of Lochlan Hutchison, and dunking superstar, Marquel Beasley.

“We are looking forward to hosting a very strong and experienced Sutherland Sharks team. Sutherland are a deep team that has weapons all over the floor. We are excited to see how our young players will perform seeing our older players have departed and cannot be replaced.” Robbie McKinlay, CoE Men’s Head Coach.

“We are really looking forward to this game, playing the COE in Canberra is one of the hardest road trips you can do. We only had one regular season match with the COE which we took a lot away from and I believe we have improved a lot as a team since then.

Our focus going into this game is our defence, guarding the basketball and winning the rebounding battle, with the size & athleticism the COE Men’s team has at their disposal, winning the rebound count is a major factor to winning this basketball game we also want to make sure that we pay some extra attention to transition defence, with the youthfulness & athleticism the COE have we need to make sure that we keep the COE in the half court.

I think this game is going to be a battle and I believe our guys are up for that battle and I think it will come down to which team can control the big moments in the game.” Patrick Williamson, Sutherland Sharks Men’s Head Coach.

Canberra Gunners v Maitland Mustangs

The NBL1 East 2022 Grand Final rematch – and this game is guaranteed to leave you on the edge of your seat! 2022 champions Canberra Gunners will be looking to make it two-in-a-row, whilst the Maitland Mustangs will be looking to come out on top. Gunners’ stand-out Glenn Morison has had an excellent season, as has Mustangs’ Will Cranston-Lown, who have both taken out the weekly Player of the Week awards Both will be searching to one-up their opposition at any opportunity.

"It should be a great game and we know we need to be on point to give ourselves the best chance to come away with a win." Peter Herak, Canberra Gunners Men’s Head Coach.

“I am really proud of our boys and what they have achieved so far. We know what we are capable of and are just focusing on one game at a time. Looking forward to the matchup in Canberra this Saturday.” Luke Boyle, Maitland Mustangs Men’s Head Coach.

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