NBL1 North Recap | Saturday ANZAC Round

Isaac White helped keep the Mackay Meteors unbeaten in NBL1 North while Nelson Larkins led Red City Roar to a win with Shaneice Swain sparking the Cairns Dolphins once more with the reigning champion Townsville Flames scoring a second win in 24 hours.

The four women's NBL1 North matches on Saturday saw the Northside Wizards beat the Mackay Meteorettes 99-62, the Cairns Dolphins defeat the North Gold Coast Seahawks 81-80, the Townsville Flames down the Red City Roar 80-54, and the Rockhampton Cyclones prevail 76-58 against USC Rip City.

In the men's contests, the Meteors beat the Wizards 93-78, the Seahawks defeated the Marlins 98-90, Red City beat Townsville 97-88, and Rip City downed Rockhampton 94-84.

WOMEN

Wizards hand Meteorettes second straight 37-point road loss

The Northside Wizards maintained their undefeated start to the NBL1 North season with a 99-62 home victory against the Mackay Meteorettes.

With Mackay coming off a 37-point loss on the road the night before, the job was ahead of them at Northside Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday against the undefeated Wizards.

Mackay did well staying in touch in the first half, but Northside put up 49 points to 26 in the second half to cruise to the eventual 37-point win and improve to 5-0 on the season with the Meteorettes now 1-3.

Courtney Woods delivered 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Wizards with Lil Dart contributing 20 points and six boards, AJ Johnson 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Nadeen Payne 13 points and seven boards.

Ellie Collins top-scored for Mackay with 16 points, five rebounds and three steals with Charli Bliss adding 13 points and three boards, and Davida Dale eight points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Swain stars again in second win of road trip for Cairns

A stirring comeback from the North Gold Coast Seahawks just came up short with the Cairns Dolphins holding on for the 81-80 victory.

Cairns opened the weekend's road trip beating the Gold Coast Rollers on Friday and the Dolphins looked well on track at three quarter-time against the Seahawks for a comfortable victory.

Cairns was on top 65-57 at three quarter-time but the Seahawks produced a terrific fourth quarter. But ultimately three late free-throws for the Dolphins to Taylor Mole was instrumental in the visitors securing the one-point win.

WNBA draftee Shaneice Swain was again tremendous for the Dolphins with 34 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals on shooting 13/25 from the field and 5/11 from three-point range.

Teyahna Bond contributed 16 points and five boards for Cairns, Penina Davidson 12 points, 11 boards and three assists, and Leichan Williams 11 points and six rebounds.

Emma Gandini produced her best game of the season for North Gold Coast after crossing from Willetton in the NBL1 West. The Perth Lynx WNBL guard produced 26 points, five steals and four rebounds.

Erin Riley contributed 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Seahawks, Bionca Dunham 14 points and 10 boards, and Bride Kennedy-Hopoate 13 points and seven rebounds.

The @LASparks draftee Shaneice Swain launched it from DEEP ?

She's up to 34 points early in the 4th ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 22, 2023

Townsville score second win of weekend to build momentum

Coming into this weekend and the Townsville Flames had yet to win in their championship defence, but they have two victories now on the board after beating Red City Roar 80-54.

Townsville broke through to beat Ipswich on Friday night and continued their road trip on Saturday with a dominant 26-point win against Red City to improve to 2-4 as their title defence gathers some momentum.

The Flames held the Roar to just five points in the opening quarter to set the tone for the rest of the evening before winning by 26 with Steph Reid producing another 27 points, 10 assists, five steals and four rebounds.

Indiah Bowyer also delivered 16 points and seven rebounds for Townsville, Kate Gaze nine points and 13 boards, and Majella Carey eight points and four assists.

Caitlin Cunningham produced 14 points and 18 rebounds for Red City with Lilly Rotunno contributing 13 points and three assists, Jaylen Cooper 13 points and four rebounds, and Myka Arthur 10 points and four boards.

Townsville Super? @StephR96 reading the defence like a ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 22, 2023

Bowman dominates in big road win for Rockhampton

The Rockhampton Cyclones put together strong first and fourth quarters on the way to a 76-58 road victory against USC Rip City.

Both teams came into the clash at USC Sports Stadium sitting on 2-1 records setting the stage for a terrific contest, but it was the visitors who started on fire with Rockhampton putting up 24 points to six in the opening quarter.

Rip City tried to work back into the contest from there but Rockhampton then delivered 22 points to 13 in the fourth period to end up winning by 18 and improving to 3-1 on the season.

Samantha Bowman produced a dominant performance for the Cyclones made up of 29 points, 21 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Lara McSpadden added 17 points and 12 boards, Lauren Heard 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals, and Tia Hay nine points and three assists.

Carlie Smith top-scored for Rip City with 22 points and 11 rebounds with Madeline Campbell adding 11 points and two boards, and N'dea Flye 11 points and five rebounds.

MEN

White keeps leading Meteors to undefeated start

The Mackay Meteors continued their ominous start to the NBL1 North season with a 93-78 road victory against the Northside Wizards.

The Meteors made a blistering start to continue their road trip this weekend with 33 points to 18 in the first quarter which set the stage for their eventual 15-point win over the Wizards to improve to a perfect 4-0 on the season.

Isaac White has signed with the Brisbane Bullets for NBL24 and is going to hit his time there in hot form based on what he's doing for Mackay with another 26 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Shane Temara also had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Meteors, Tyler Williams 17 points, five boards, four steals and two assists, Isaiah Lee 12 points and seven assists, and Djery Jean Baptiste 10 points and nine rebounds.

Cameron Healy finished with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Wizards with Lual Diing contributing 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Deshawn Ross-Paiwan 13 points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

Seahawks stars deliver in win over Marlins

Two star studded squads locked horns at Runaway Bay Stadium with the North Gold Coast Seahawks coming away with the 98-90 win against the Cairns Marlins.

There was no shortage of current, former or perhaps future NBL talent on either side setting the stage for a terrific contest, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

It was in the second quarter where the Seahawks outscored the Marlins 24 points to 14 to lead 46-39 at half-time before then ending up prevailing by eight to improve to 3-1 with Cairns slipping to 2-3.

Aiden Krause finished the night with 20 points and 18 rebounds for North Gold Coast with Biwali Bayles adding 21 points and nine assists, Kody Stattmann 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Majok Majok 12 points, 13 boards and two blocks.

Tad Dufelmeier continues to bang the door down for another NBL opportunity with blistering form at the Marlins with another 27 points, six assists and five rebounds. 

Ky Stattmann also had 20 points and eight rebounds, Jonah Antonio 18 points and 10 boards, and Sam Ellis nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

KODY STATTMANN, YOU CAN'T DO THAT!! ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 22, 2023

Larkins stars in Red City win at home to Townsville

The Red City Roar recorded their second victory of the NBL1 North season with the 97-88 win against the Townsville Heat.

Red City were back home at Paul Bancroft Centre and started well with 30 points to 20 in the first quarter but Townsville hit back with 25 points to 17 in the second term to set up a fascinating second half.

It was the third quarter where the Roar pulled away with 23 points to 14 on the way to the eventual nine-point win to improve to 2-2 on the season with the Heat now 3-3.

Nelson Larkins was outstanding for Red City in the win with 33 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals while nailing all five of his three-point attempts.

Jaylen Key added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Roar, Javaan Mumtaz 18 points, six boards and three assists, and Kane Bishop 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Kane Runnalls top-scored for Townsville with 19 points and six rebounds while Ethan Betts contributed 13 points, six boards and five assists, Michael Cedar 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Marcellus Garrick 10 points and three boards.

Rip City too strong for winless Rockhampton

USC Rip City kept the Rockhampton Rockets winless so far this NBL1 North season with a 94-84 victory at home on Saturday night.

Rip City were back at USC Sports Stadium and started well with 25 points to 18 in the opening quarter against the Rockets.

Another 28 points to 21 in the fourth quarter and USC secured the 10-point win to improve to 3-1 on the season with Rockhampton now 0-4.

Brandon Wood top-scored for Rip City with 26 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals while knocking down 6/9 from the land of plenty.

Corey Shervill is looking to earn another NBL contract and did his chances no harm with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists while hitting 6/11 from three-point land with new South East Melbourne Phoenix signing Matt Kenyon putting up 16 points, 10 boards and eight assists.

Wesley Harris top-scored for Rockhampton with 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals with Damian Prgomet adding 18 points, Jarvis Summers 17 points and 10 assists, and Nikau McCullough 13 points, three rebounds and three steals.