NBL1 North Recap | Friday Round 12

If the Northside Wizards were going to lose this NBL1 North women's season it was going to be dramatic and the Rockhampton Cyclones knocked them off with their undefeated record ended thanks to 0.1 of a second.

Round 12 in the NBL1 North began with the two women's matches which saw the Rockhampton Cyclones stun the Northside Wizards 83-82 and the Cairns Dolphins defeated the Red City Roar 81-69.

The men's matches then saw the Wizards beat the Rockhampton Rockets 103-97 and the Cairns Marlins downed the Roar 93-79.

WOMEN

Cyclones hand Wizards first loss in nail-biter

There's no longer an undefeated team in the NBL1 North with the Rockhampton Cyclones pulling off a stunning performance to beat the Northside Wizards 83-82 on Friday night.

It was only just though. With the Cyclones leading 83-82, Lauren Heard missed two free-throws for Rockhampton to leave the door slightly ajar for the undefeated Wizards.

Samantha Bowman comes up with the dagger ??

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AJ Johnson grabbed the defensive rebound, but she knew time was against her with only four seconds on the clock. She got the ball off to Courtney Woods who found a wide open Lil Dart in the corner.

There was no Rockhampton defender anywhere near her and Dart gathered herself, drained the three-pointer and it would have been the game winner to keep Northside undefeated.

The only problem was that time just expired before the ball left her hands and the win went the way of the Cyclones to improve them to 8-4 on the season while the Wizards are 12-1 with that first defeat of 2023.

The Cyclones delivered the stunning result with Lauren Heard producing 32 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals on 13/19 shooting from the floor despite going just 5/12 from the free-throw line.

Lara McSpadden also contributed 17 points and nine rebounds, Sam Bowman 14 points, 12 boards, three assists and three steals, Jessica Lorraway 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, and Elizajane Loader eight points and five assists.

Despite the loss, Courtney Woods had another outstanding performance for Northside with 34 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 12/18 shooting from the floor, 3/6 from downtown and 7/8 from the foul line.

Nadeen Payne also contributed 17 points, four rebounds and two steals, AJ Johnson 11 points, 13 boards and five steals, and Georgia Dale 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Elizajane Loader put this dime on the ? for Lauren Heard ?

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Dolphins overpower Roar to make it five straight 

The Red City Roar made a hot start at home chasing that elusive first win of the season but it wasn’t quite to be with the Cairns Dolphins overpowering them to win 81-69.

The Roar were back home at Paul Bancroft Centre and made the perfect start to try and put a win on the board this NBL1 North season hosting the Dolphins who arrived on a four-game winning streak.

Red City raced out to an 11-4 lead and were still on top 21-14 by the end of the first quarter.

However, Cairns worked its way on top in the second period with 24 points to 17 and by half-time, scores were all level 38-38.

The Dolphins took over in the second half, though, with 26 points to 15 in the third quarter to lead by as much as 13 points. That lead grew to as much as 17 and from there Cairns went on to win by 12.

It's a fifth consecutive win for the Dolphins who now improve to an 8-5 record while Red City remains winless at 0-14.

Having just signed in the WNBL at the Sydney Flames, Shaneice Swain had a tremendous night for Cairns once more finishing with 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Jennifer Coleman added 16 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and two steals with Taylor Mole contributing 16 points and five boards, and Penina Davidson 10 points and six rebounds.

Angela Beadle continues to make a significant difference to Red City since her arrival in recent weeks and put up another 18 points and three rebounds.

Fellow new arrival Donica Cosby also finished with five points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks with Lilly Rotunno contributing 11 points, nine boards and eight assists, and Kassandra Donnelly 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks.

Donica Cosby said NO ?

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MEN

Zunic inspires Wizards to win over Rockets 

Kyle Zunic produced his best performance with the Northside Wizards to lead them to the 103-97 home win against the fast finishing Rockhampton Rockets on Friday night.

The Wizards were looking to get their season back on track following three consecutive losses and they made a flying start at home to the Rockets on Friday to open Round 12 in the NBL1 North.

Lual Diing = Highlight Machine ?

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Northside put up 38 points to 23 in the opening period to already be leading by 15 at quarter-time with that advantage growing to 19 in the second term.

The Wizards were still leading 65-53 by half-time after what was quite the offensively minded opening half from both teams.

Northside's lead did get out to 20 in the third quarter and got to 19 again in the fourth before the visiting Rockets delivered a big finish.

Rockhampton did manage to get back as close as three points with three minutes remaining, but the Wizards did enough to hold firm and never surrender the advantage to end up winning by six points.

The victory snaps the three-game losing run of the Wizards to improve them to 7-6 on the season while the Rockets are 1-11 despite another competitive showing.

Perth Wildcats NBL guard Kyle Zunic, who is playing his first season at the Wizards having previously played his NBL1 basketball out west with the Warwick Senators, had his best performance of the season.

Zunic finished with 32 points, six assists and four rebounds while shooting 13/23 from the field and 4/10 from three-point range.

Andrew White III also had 26 points and seven rebounds with 4/6 three-point shooting for the Wizards while Cameron Healy contributed 16 points and five rebounds, and Lual Diing nine points, eight boards, four blocks and three assists.

Damian Prgomet did his best to lift Rockhampton finishing with another 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists with Malcolm Bernard adding 20 points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Jarvis Summers 19 points, eight assists, four boards and two steals.

Sean Biernacki added 14 points and five assists for the Rockets with Angus McWilliam scoring 12 points on 5/6 shooting from the field.

Lual Diing rattles the rim ?

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Anderson lifts Cairns to perfect triple-header start

The Red City Roar started well at home but couldn’t keep the momentum going to snap its losing run with the Cairns Marlins overpowering them to win 93-79.

The Roar went on a 10-0 run during the first quarter on Friday night at Paul Bancroft Centre which saw them still leading 24-18 at quarter-time in an attempt to snap a nine-game losing streak.

However, Cairns responded with 28 points to 17 in the second quarter, and then another 30 to 15 in the third period to lead by as much as 23 points.

From there, the Marlins went on to score the 14-point road victory to begin their triple-header away from home this weekend as their record improves to 7-6 with a third consecutive victory.

The Roar are now 2-12 having lost 10 in-a-row.

Lachlan Anderson continues to be a difference maker since he has joined Cairns and he put in another match-winning performance made up of 32 points, three steals and two assists with 13/20 shooting from the floor and 6/13 from three-point range.

Tad Dufelmeier was outstanding also for the Marlins with 29 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and four steals with Jonah Antonio contributing 19 points, four steals and two boards, and Aron Farmer collecting 11 rebounds.

Jaylen Key ended up top-scoring for Red City with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Nelson Larkins contributed 16 points, five boards and five assists, and Mitchell Poulain 16 points and 10 boards.

OH MY, Jaylen Key ?

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