NBL1 North Recap | Friday Round 14

Donica Cosby fired the Red City Roar to their first win of the NBL1 North season on Friday while the Rockhampton Cyclones beat a shorthanded Townsville Flames, the Townsville men broke its losing run and the Darwin Salties men started their triple-header on fire.

The two women's matches on Friday to open Round 14 in the NBL1 North saw the Rockhampton Cyclones beat the Townsville Flames 67-47 and the Red City Roar beat the Darwin Salties 81-68.

In the men's matches, Townsville beat Rockhampton 101-69 and Darwin defeated Red City 117-93.

WOMEN

Cyclones dominate shorthanded Flames

The Rockhampton Cyclones took full advantage of the Townsville Flames missing Steph Reid and Kate Gaze to hold them to three first quarter points and to end up winning 67-47 on Friday night.

The reigning NBL1 North champions had been building strong from to break into the top eight with four straight wins, but it was a different story on Friday night at Townsville StarFM Stadium with the Flames missing Reid and Gaze.

That took a combined 22.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 12.2 assists a game out of the Townsville line-up, and it showed with Rockhampton scoring the first six points of the game and racing to a 17-1 lead before two free-throws for the Flames from Ainslie Minogue.

That meant Townsville didn’t make a single shot from the field in the opening period with the Cyclones lead 21-3 by quarter-time. Eventually Grace Rodgers hit a shot down in the block almost three minutes into the second quarter.

It didn’t change the trajectory of the contest, though, with Rockhampton leading by as much as 26 points in the second quarter and going into half-time up 37-11.

The Cyclones maintained a similar lead throughout the second half to end up winning by 26 to snap the winning run of the Flames and improve to 11-5 themselves with back-to-back wins.

Sam Bowman continued her standout form for Rockhampton with another 21 points, 20 rebounds, two assists and two steals with Lauren Heard adding 18 points, seven boards, five assists and two steals.

New Sydney Flames WNBL signing Lara McSpadden also had 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Alex Fowler fought hard for Townsville fresh off signing at the UC Capitals for the upcoming WNBL season. She finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals with Indiah Bowyer contributing 11 points and two steals.

Cosby shines as Red City score first win

The drought is over. After losing their opening 15 games of the NBL1 North season, the Red City Roar broke through on Friday night at home to beat the third placed Darwin Salties 81-68.

The Salties arrived at Paul Bancroft Centre beginning their triple-header on the road this weekend taking on the winless Roar, but doing so without their star leading scorer Erin Bollmann taking her 17.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists a game with her.

Red City were due a bit of luck, though, having been significantly more competitive since the additions of Donica Cosby and Angela Beadle, and it all came together on Friday night.

Darwin did start well to lead early by six points, but Red City scored the next 11 points and were still leading 22-18 by the end of one.

By half-time, the Roar were able to extend that advantage to 40-32 and then they went on with the job in the second half to lead by as much as 14 in the third quarter, and 18 in the fourth before winning by 13.

It's a first win of 2023 after 15 consecutive losses for Red City while it's a tough start to the road trip for Darwin with them 11-5 and their top four spot being in jeopardy ahead of games to Ipswich and Logan.

Cosby was the star of the victory for the Roar with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists on the back of shooting 10/17 from the floor and 6/8 from three-point territory.

Lilly Rotunno added 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals, Beadle 11 points, 11 boards and five assists, and Skye Mason nine points and three rebounds.

Tsubasa Nisbet ended up top-scoring for Darwin with 17 points along with nine rebounds and two assists. Ruby Porter contributed 16 points, four boards and three steals, Catherine MacGregor 10 points, and Claire-Maree Hunt nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

MEN

Heat snap losing run at expense of Rockets

The Townsville Heat opened Round 14 in the NBL1 North by snapping a 12-game losing streak with the 101-69 win against the Rockhampton Rockets.

The Heat were back home at Townsville StarFM Stadium having lost their previous 12 matches ahead of hosting a Rockhampton team with just one win for the season, but one of those was in their last outing by a point against the Mackay Meteors.

Despite the losing run, the Heat started strongly racing to a 13-point lead and still being on top 28-18 by the end of the opening period.

Townsville continued on in the second stanza with another 21 points to 16 to lead by as much as 21 points, and to still be up 49-34 by the half-time interval.

It was more of the same from the Heat in the second half with the lead getting out to 28 points in the third term, and 37 in the fourth before they went on to score the drought breaking 32-point triumph.

Plenty of players had strong performances for Townsville with Ethan Betts finishing with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists with Luca Yates contributing 20 points, 10 boards and two steals, and Richard Peachey 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Michael Cedar also had 15 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, Matthew Rees eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Kane Runnalls seven points, nine boards and three assists.

Damian Prgomet top-scored for Rockhampton with 15 points and five rebounds with Angus McWilliam adding 12 points and six boards, Malcolm Bernard 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Sean Biernacki 10 points, four assists and two steals.

Richard Peachey throws it down ?

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Salties with hot start to road triple-header

Deba George drained six three-pointers as the Darwin Salties started their triple-header on the road in style on Friday night beating the Red City Roar 117-93.

The Salties have three matches away from home this weekend and to maintain their place in the top eight, need to win at least two of them as they prepared to take on the bottom placed Roar on Friday at Paul Bancroft Centre.

Darwin started well and led by as much as nine points in the opening period before stretching that advantage out to 18 in the second term and going into half-time with a 60-46 advantage.

That lead for the Salties ballooned out to 31 points in the third term and they would settle on the 24-point win to improve to a 9-7 record ahead of road games to come this weekend against the Ipswich Force and Logan Thunder.

Darwin knocked down 19/43 from three-point range for the game with Deba George hitting 6/13 of them on the way to 27 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Josh Spiers also hit 5/6 from beyond the arc for Darwin for 19 points and two assists with Makuach Maluach contributing 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Jerron Jamerson 20 points, 12 boards and seven assists, and Sean Macdonald 10 points and four assists.

Jaylen Key top-scored for Red City with 20 points, 13 rebounds and two assists with Nelson Larkins producing 17 points and three assists, Jarrod Molnar 15 points and two assists, Javaan Mumtaz 10 points, and Alec Godinet 10 points and seven rebounds.