NBL1 North Recap | Grand Finals Game 1

The Northside Wizards led by AJ Johnson and Georgia Dale and the Gold Coast Rollers with Jason Cadee and Todd Blanchfield brilliant delivered dominant Game 1 NBL1 North Grand Final victories over the Rockhampton Cyclones and Ipswich Force on Friday night.

Game 1 of the Women's Grand Final Series saw the Northside Wizards beat the Rockhampton Cyclones 87-52 while the Men's Game 1 saw the Gold Coast Rollers defeat the Ipswich Force 100-86.

The respective Game 2's will be at the same venues on Saturday night with the Rockhampton women and Ipswich men needing to win force deciders on Sunday.

NBL1 NORTH RECAP | SATURDAY SEMI FINALS

NBL1 NORTH RECAP | FRIDAY SEMI FINALS

WOMEN

Wizards dominate Game 1 over Cyclones

The Northside Wizards were the standout team throughout the NBL1 North regular season and now they are one win away from the championship winning Game 1 of the Grand Final Series 87-52 over the Rockhampton Cyclones.

The Wizards won their first 12 games of the regular season on the way to ending up in top spot with a 16-3 record and then beating the Townsville Flames and South West Metro Pirates on the way to the Grand Final.

AJ Johnson is setting the tone early ?

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The Cyclones did win their last five matches of the regular season, and eight of the last nine, to end up securing third position with a 14-5 record before beating the Darwin Salties and Logan Thunder to lock in their Grand Final place.

With the Wizards having won five straight and the Cyclones seven in-a-row, the Grand Final stage was set with Rockhampton also having handed Northside one of its losses throughout the regular season.

It was a tight first quarter to open the Grand Final Series with the Wizards narrowly leading 18-16 by quarter-time but it was then all the Wizards who produced a spectacularly dominant second period.

The Wizards piled on 33 points to 13 for the stanza to open up a lead as big as 25 points and then being on top 51-29 by the half-time break.

It was more of the same in the third term from the home team with the Wizards outscoring the Cyclones another 23 points to 11 to see that lead grow to as much 34 points.

The Wizards are dominating the fast break ?

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It got out to 36 in the fourth before the final margin of 35 with the Wizards now having the chance to secure the championship on Saturday night with Rockhampton needing to find a way to hit back to force the deciding Game 3 on Sunday.

By the end of the night, Northside had nine extra rebounds than Rockhampton while the Wizards forced the Cyclones into 23 turnovers and they took 22 free-throws to 13 for the game. Northside also shot 47.7 per cent from the floor opposed to 28.8 per cent from Rockhampton.

AJ Johnson was an unstoppable presence in the win for the Wizards finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals on the back of shooting 8/12 from the field, 2/3 from three-point territory and 5/8 at the foul line.

Georgia Dale also finished with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists while hitting 4/8 from behind the three-point line with Courtney Woods contributing 13 points, six boards, five assists and four steals.

Nadeen Payne also had nine points, six rebounds and six assists, Lil Dart 11 points, three boards, two assists and two steals, and Alice O'Driscoll seven points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

It was a tough Game 1 for Rockhampton with Tia Hay top-scoring with 12 points and three rebounds.

Lara McSpadden also had 12 points and four rebounds, Lauren Heard 10 points, four assists, four steals and two rebounds, and Sam Bowman seven points, eight boards and three assists.

Georgia Dale is on point ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 4, 2023

MEN

Rollers one win from back-to-back championships

The Gold Coast Rollers are one win away from back-to-back NBL1 North championships with a commanding performance to open the Grand Final Series beating the Ipswich Force 100-86.

On the back of winning last year's NBL1 North championship, Gold Coast put together another standout regular season with fellow NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield joining Jason Cadee in the line-up.

The Rollers went on to finish on top once more with a 17-2 record entering the finals on a 16-game winning run before then booking in a Grand Final spot with the wins against USC Rip City and the South West Metro Pirates.

Jaylin Galloway with the AND-1??

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Ipswich, meanwhile, won its first six matches of the season on the way to an eventual 13-6 record in third position before winning in the finals against the Cairns Marlins and Logan Thunder to book in the Grand Final spot.

It didn’t take Gold Coast long to take control of Game 1 of the Grand Final Series, though, with 24 points to 17 in the opening quarter.

Another 32 points to 20 in the second stanza and the Rollers were well on their way to taking the one-nil lead with the 56-37 half-time advantage.

Gold Coast's lead had got back out to 17 late in the third quarter when Jason Cadee knocked down a three-pointer, but Ipswich fired back led by his former Brisbane Bullets teammate Nathan Sobey.

Sobey scored the last seven points of the quarter to bring the Force back within 10 points to make a game of it with a quarter to play.

The MVP is causing Ipswich headaches ?‍?

1??3?? points, ? assists and 7?? rebounds in the first-half ?

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But when Gold Coast scored the first five points of the final period including a triple from Preston Le Gassick, the Rollers were back in control and went on to claim the 14-point win to be one victory away now from back-to-back championships.

The major difference in the game was that Gold Coast dominated the possession game. That was on the back of them pulling down 61 rebounds to 39 including 17 to five at the offensive end to end up taking 15 extra field goals despite Ipswich attempting 15 more free-throws.

Todd Blanchfield clearly has been motivated ever since a frustrating NBL23 season where he had to ride the bench at the Perth Wildcats to show how much he still has to offer.

The 373-game NBL veteran is heading back to the Illawarra Hawks and he's going to arrive in hot form after another 27 points and 14 rebounds in the Game 1 win for Gold Coast.

Jason Cadee had another remarkable performance leading the ship with 23 points, 16 assists, nine rebounds and two steals while Preston Le Gassick contributed 20 points, six assists, three boards and three steals on 5/8 three-point shooting.

Elijah Kamu also had 12 points and four rebounds for the Rollers, Cameron Thew nine points and 10 board, and Jaryd Eustace six points, nine rebounds and two assists.

Nathan Sobey finished the night with 22 points, six rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks for Ipswich with Jaylin Galloway adding 20 points, six boards, two steals and two blocks.

Cameron Goldfinch also had 10 points and two rebounds, Kyrin Galloway eight points, and Deng Deng six points, eight boards and three assists.

Nathan Sobey is keeping Ipswich's Game One hopes alive ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 4, 2023