NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Round 2

A dramatic Saturday night in the NBL1 North finished with a monstrous Cairns Marlins comeback over the Darwin Salties on an evening that included a walk off game winner from Natalie Taylor for the Southern Districts Spartans against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

Saturday night's NBL1 North women's results saw the Northside Wizards defeat Logan Thunder 86-59, Gold Coast Rollers beat Ipswich Force 69-58, the Southern Districts Spartans defeat the Sunshine Coast Phoenix 82-79, South West Metro Pirates overcome Red City Roar 81-68, and Rockhampton Cyclones prevail 74-58 against the Townsville Flames.

Then in the men's match ups, the Wizards beat the Thunder 90-84, Ipswich defeated Gold Coast 108-88, Red City beat the South West Metro Pirates 91-85 and the Cairns Marlins downed the Darwin Salties 90-87.

WOMEN

Wizards stay unbeaten and keep Logan winless

The Northside Wizards continued their unbeaten start to the NBL1 North season and kept the Logan Thunder winless with the 86-59 home victory.

The Wizards improve to 2-0 with the 27-point win on the back of a dominant 49-point to 19 second half against a Logan team coming off an unbeaten season before losing the Grand Final Series to the Townsville Flames.

Courtney Woods was outstanding in the win for the Wizards with 28 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 12/19 shooting from the field. 

Nadeen Payne added 18 points and four boards, and AJ Johnson 11 points and seven rebounds.

Mikaela Ruef delivered 13 points, 14 rebounds and three assists for the Thunder on the back of her WNBL championship with Townsville while Mikhaela Cann contributed 13 points and six assists, and Ashley Taia 10 points and eight rebounds.

.@WNBL Champion Courtney Woods is back in action ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 1, 2023

Moorer stars again to keep Gold Coast undefeated

Another standout performance from Ariana Moorer has helped continue the Gold Coast Rollers' undefeated start to the 2023 NBL1 North season, beating the Ipswich Force 69-58.

It was a tight affair most of the way at Carrara Stadium but Gold Coast controlled the fourth quarter with 16 points to nine to secure the 11-point win and improve to 2-0 to start the season.

Moorer once again led the charge in the win for the Rollers with 21 points, 21 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

She got plenty of support as well with Riley Evans finishing with 17 points and five boards, Carla Drennan 16 points and six rebounds, and Jasmine Hooper nine points, nine boards and three steals.

Alison Gorrell ended up with 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals in a strong all-round showing for the Force.

 

Walk off game winner from Taylor for Spartans

We have our first walk off three-point game winner of the season with Natalie Taylor responsible to give the Southern Districts Spartans the 82-79 win against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

It all came down to the last possession in a game where Southern Districts started on fire at Rowland Cowan Stadium to lead 28-14 by quarter-time.

However, Sunshine Coast worked back into the contest and then with time winding down, Madelyn Allen found Taylor who was open beyond the arc. She never looked like missing and hit the game-winner as time expired and the Spartans celebrated wildly on their home floor.

On top of setting up the game winner, Allen finished with 31 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Spartans while shooting 11/18 from the field. It was Taylor's third three of the game on her way to 11 points and seven assists.

Kendell Heremaia ended up with 25 points and eight rebounds for Sunshine Coast while Amy Browne contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Kathleen MacLeod 17 points, seven assists and five boards.

FIRST GAME-WINNER OF #NBL1 2??0??2??3?? ?

Natalie Taylor delivers the dagger 3?? ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 1, 2023

Leah Scott stars in Pirates win over Roar

The South West Metro Pirates are another NBL1 North Women's team to remain undefeated after two games with an 81-68 home win against the Red City Roar.

The Pirates shot out of the blocks at Hibiscus Sports Stadium with 27 points to 10 in the first quarter and were never headed seriously from there going on to beat the Roar by 13 points.

Leah Scott was tremendous in the win for South West with 22 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and five assists on 9/14 field goal shooting.

Paige Price added 17 points and eight rebounds, Hannah Young 17 points and eight boards, and Courtenay Wragg 12 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Lilly Rotunno ended the night with 15 points for Red City while Shorna Preston added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Myka Arthur 10 points, 10 boards and six assists.

 

Impressive Cyclones hand defending champs another early loss

The Rockhampton Cyclones also improved to 2-0 to start the NBL1 North season with a 74-58 victory against the defending champion Townsville Flames.

The Cyclones hosted the Flames at Bravus Arena but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter where they put the game to bed to win by 16 points and improve to 2-0 while the Flames are 0-3 to start their championship defence.

Lara McSpadden had a standout night for Rockhampton with 26 points and 17 rebounds on 13/21 shooting while Sam Bowman also finished with 14 points, 21 rebounds and three assists.

They weren’t the only stars in the win either for the Cyclones with Elizajane Loader putting up 18 points and eight rebounds on 5/6 long-range shooting, and Lauren Heard 14 points, 12 boards, eight assists and three steals.

Kate Gaze ended up with 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds for Townsville with Majella Carey adding 13 points, six boards and two steals.

MEN

White III shines again with Wizards beating Thunder

Andrew White III once again led the charge for Northside Wizards to defeat the Logan Thunder 90-84 on Saturday night at Northside Indoor Sports Centre.

The Wizards opened up a 15-point lead in the second quarter and while the Thunder kept on fighting, Northside held them out for the eventual six-point victory at home.

Fresh off his NBL season at the Brisbane Bullets, White has joined the Wizards to play in NBL1 North and he starred again in the win with 21 points and eight rebounds on an efficient 7/12 shooting from the floor, 3/4 from beyond the arc and 4/6 at the free-throw line.

Cameron Healy added 17 points, six assists and five steals, Lual Diing 12 points and five rebounds, DeShawn Ross-Paiwan 11 points and five assists, and Josh Leaney 11 points and five rebounds.

Thunder veteran Mitch Young was a strong presence inside with 23 points and eight rebounds while Shaun Bruce finished with 14 points and eight assists, and Boston Mazlin 12 points and two steals.

Lual Diing JAMS IT ?

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) April 1, 2023

Sobey's Ipswich prevail despite Cadee's triple-double

The Ipswich Force scored their second win already of the NBL1 North season knocking off the defending champion Gold Coast Rollers 108-88.

The Rollers were back home at Carrara Stadium and started well with 28 points to 22 in the opening quarter, but the Force soon took over. Over the next two quarters Ipswich outscored Gold Coast 63 points to 39 to end up winning by 20.

With four NBL23 players in their starting line-up, it was an impressive win from Ipswich with Kyrin Galloway ending up with 28 points, six rebounds and four blocks on 11/18 shooting.

Nathan Sobey delivered 26 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals on 6/12 three-point shooting with Deng Deng contributing 20 points and nine boards, and Jaylin Galloway 17 points and eight rebounds.

There was no shortage of star power on Gold Coast's team either with Jason Cadee producing a triple-double made up of 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

Jaze Morris added 15 points and Cameron Thew 14 to go with seven rebounds.

 

Roar score strong road win over Patterson's Pirates

The Red City Roar pulled out a narrow 91-85 road win against the South West Metro Pirates on Saturday night.

The Roar worked their way on top outscoring the Pirates 50 points to 37 across the second and third quarters which is where the visitors set up the eventual six-point victory.

Jaylen Key top-scored for Red City with 26 points and eight rebounds with Nelson Larkins adding 20 points, eight boards and four assists, and Javaan Mumtaz 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Kai Woodfall ended up with 20 points and four rebounds on 3/5 three-point shooting for the Pirates with Brendan Teys draining 4/9 from long-range for 20 points.

Former NBL All-First Team member Lamar Patterson also had 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

 

Ah Wang triple seals huge Cairns comeback in Darwin

The Cairns Marlins have pulled off the most remarkable comeback yet of this NBL1 North season with a monstrous fourth quarter topped by a Curt Ah Wang three-pointer to defeat the Darwin Salties 90-87.

The Salties were at home at the Darwin Basketball Stadium and were in control of the contest most of the way on the back of a 52-33 first half. Darwin led by as much 24 points and were still up 22 during the third quarter and 18 during the fourth.

However, the Marlins refused to lie down and eventually having closed the gap to two late in the piece, it was the dagger three-pointer from Ah Wang that put them in front for the very first time in the game.

Darwin still had a chance to go back in front but Jerron Jamerson's in-bounds pass went out of bounds and Travis Drinnan sealed the stunning win for Cairns at the foul line.

Tad Dufelmeier was playing against his team from last year for the first time and starred for the Marlins with 23 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals on 7/11 shooting from the floor and 8/10 at the foul line.

Ah Wang added 19 points with 6/8 from downtown while Drinnan contributed 17 points and Ky Stattmann 16.

Sean Macdonald top-scored again for Darwin with 25 points and five assists with Makuach Maluach contributing 23 points, seven boards, four assists and three steals.