NBL1 South Recap | Saturday Women's Round 8

A 40-point outburst from Megan McKay, two huge double-doubles from Keely Froling and Kelsey Griffin, 31 points from Alicia Froling, and 23 points and 14 rebounds from Lauren Scherf were among the standout NBL1 South Saturday night performances.

The NBL1 South season resumed on Saturday night with the Round 8 contests seeing wins for the Bendigo Braves, Launceston Tornadoes, Knox Raiders, Waverley Falcons, Sandringham Sabres, Ballarat Miners, Ringwood Hawks and Kilsyth Cobras.

The Bendigo Braves put together a terrific performance at home to beat the Dandenong Rangers 99-73 to open up the Saturday night proceedings.

Megan McKay was the star of the win for the Braves delivering 40 points on 16/20 shooting while Emilee Harmon had 22 points and 11 rebounds up against her.

The Launceston Tornadoes delivered an impressive road win on Saturday night beating the Frankston Blues 81-70.

Keely Froling put up 33 points and 11 rebounds in the win for Launceston with Kelsey Griffin adding 28 points and 11 boards. Tess Lavey had 22 points for the Blues.

The Knox Raiders proved too good at home to the Diamond Valley Eagles with Alicia Froling putting up 31 points for the winners. Sophie Burrows top-scored for the Eagles with 14 points.

The Waverley Falcons finished strongly to come away with the 84-70 road win against the Nunawading Spectres.

Bec Cole showed her quality once more with 25 points in the win for the Falcons while Megan Mullings had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Nunawading.

The Sandringham Sabres prevailed on the road as well on Saturday night beating the Casey Cavaliers 77-65.

Funda Nakkasoglu finished with 24 points in the win for the Sabres while Sarah Boothe delivered 21 points and 16 rebounds for the Cavs.

The Ballarat Miners turned it on for their home fans with the 87-63 win over the Hobart Chargers.

Zitina Aokuso had 26 points and eight rebounds for the Miners and Jade Melbourne 23 points while Angela Tompkins and Sharna Thompson both had 20 points for the Chargers.

The Ringwood Hawks started on fire to set up the eventual 74-61 win at home against the Keilor Thunder.

Marena Whittle produced 22 points and 10 rebounds in the win for Ringwood with Maddie Garrick finishing with 17 points for Keilor.

Kilsyth Cobras closed out the Saturday night Women's action by beating the Mount Gambier Pioneers at The Ice House 70-56.

Lauren Scherf finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds for Kilsyth while Cassandra Brown put up 21 points and 12 boards for the Pioneers.

Round 8 in the NBL1 South Women's competition will wrap up with five more matches on Sunday beginning at midday with the Bendigo Braves at home to the Frankston Blues. The Diamond Valley Eagles will also be taking on the Geelong Supercats.

Then at 12.30pm it's the Melbourne Tigers at home to the Launceston Tornadoes and the Eltham Wildcats playing the Hobart Chargers.

Then finally at 2pm on Sunday afternoon the Dandenong Rangers play the Ballarat Miners.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 8 – SATURDAY NIGHT

BENDIGO BRAVES 99 defeated DANDENONG RANGERS 73

The Bendigo Braves continued their impressive NBL1 South season to date beating the Dandenong Rangers at home by 26 points on Saturday.

The Braves were back home at Red Energy Arena to host the Rangers and Dandenong was able to stay in touch early to limit the Bendigo lead to four points at quarter-time.

Bendigo, though, began to show their quality in the second quarter with a 9-0 run helping them lead by as much as 16 points and to lead 55-42 at the major break.

The lead for the home team grew to 20 in the third period, and then 33 in the fourth as they ended up winning 99-73.

The result improves Bendigo to an 8-2 record on the season while the Rangers slip to 3-7 following the defeat.

It was a hot shooting performance from the Braves as they went 58.8 per cent from the field as a team opposed to 40.3 per cent from the Rangers.

On the back of also playing at Bendigo this past WNBL season, Megan McKay is enjoying life in the town and she put up a masterful performance on Saturday for the Braves with 40 points, nine rebounds and three assists on the back of 16/20 shooting.

Tess Madgen added 18 points, six assists and five rebounds for Bendigo, Cassidy McLean 15 points, five boards and five assists, Abbey Wehrung 11 points, nine boards and three assists, and Madeline Sexton nine points. Kelly Wilson also dished out 12 assists.

Emilee Harmon battled hard against the tide for Dandenong to finish with 22 points and 11 rebounds with Tenaya Sooalo contributing 17 points and Gemma Potter 10 to go with four assists.

 

FRANKSTON BLUES 70 lost to LAUNCESTON TORNADOES 81

The Launceston Tornadoes started their road double this weekend with a strong 11-point win against the Frankston Blues.

The Blues hosted the Tornadoes at Frankston Basketball Stadium on Saturday night but it was the visitors who started the better at one point scoring 13 consecutive points in the first quarter before leading 21-16 after one.

Launceston made another run of 10 points in the second quarter to open up a 15-point advantage before heading into the half-time break on the road leading 44-29.

Frankston did its best to try and will itself back into the contest in the second half, but it wasn’t to be with the Tornadoes holding firm for the 81-70 victory.

The result means that Launceston improves to 6-3 on the season with the loss seeing the Blues now at 4-7.

The one-two punch of Keely Froling and Kelsey Griffin proved a winning duo for Launceston with Froling delivering 33 points and 11 rebounds with Griffin adding 28 points and 11 boards.

Mariah Payne also had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Tornadoes with Micah Simpson adding seven points and seven boards on a night where they only had six players hit the floor.

Tess Lavey fought hard for the Blues to finish with 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals with Darcee Garbin adding 14 points and nine rebounds, Kate Gaze 15 points and six boards, and Chelsea D'Angelo 10 points and four rebounds.

 

KNOX RAIDERS 70 defeated DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 41

The Knox Raiders proved too strong for the Diamond Valley Eagles at home on Saturday night ending up winning by 29 points.

The State Basketball Centre hosted the occasion and neither team got rolling in the first quarter as they combined for just the 15 points with the Raiders up 9-6 at quarter-time.

Things picked up in the second period and that saw Knox score 14 straight points to build a double-digit advantage, and to be on top still 29-21 at the half.

It was more of the same in the second half with 18 points to 11 in the third quarter from the Raiders, and another 23 points to nine in the fourth quarter on their way to the 70-41 victory.

The win improves Knox to a 7-5 record on the season while Diamond Valley is now 1-9 following the defeat.

Neither team had a great shooting night but the Raiders did go a little better finishing up with 35.4 per cent from the floor opposed to 21.9 per cent from the Eagles.

Alicia Froling came up huge for Knox with 31 points, nine rebounds and three assists while shooting 12/20.

Leah Santomaggio added eight points and seven rebounds, Meg Robinson seven points and three boards, and Kiera Rowe six points, five rebounds and four assists.

Sophie Burrows led the charge for Diamond Valley with 14 points and seven rebounds while Hope Terdich finished with nine points, three boards and three steals, and Kate Oliver nine points and seven rebounds.

 

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 70 lost to WAVERLEY FALCONS 84

The Waverley Falcons had to come from behind at half-time but they produced an impressive second half to end up beating the Nunawading Spectres by 14 points on Saturday night.

The Spectres hosted the Falcons at Nunawading Basketball Stadium, and it was a tight opening quarter with Waverley narrowly leading 19-18 by the end of one.

However, Nunawading worked their way on top in the second period with 25 points to 21 to head into the half-time break with a narrow 43-40 advantage.

The Falcons fired back strongly in the second half, though, with 23 points to 12 in the third quarter, and 21 to 15 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 84-70 victory.

The win improves Waverley to a 6-4 record on the season while Nunawading slips to 7-4 with the defeat.

The major difference turned out to be the 21 extra field goals the Falcons were able to take on the back 18 offensive rebounds to nine and forcing Nunawading into 21 turnovers.

Bec Cole led from the front in the comeback win for Waverley with 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Renae Mokrzycki also had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Falcons, Carley Ernst 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Sophia Locandro 10 points and eight boards.

Megan Mullings finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists for the Spectres while Alice Kunek produced 22 points, four rebounds and four assists.

 

CASEY CAVALIERS 65 lost to SANDRINGHAM SABRES 77

The Sandringham Sabres opened up an 18-point lead in the first half to set up an eventual 12-point win against the Casey Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Cavs were at home at Casey Stadium to host the Sabres on Saturday night, but it was Sandringham who got on top early with 10 straight points in the first term to go into quarter-time leading 20-13.

Sandringham pulled away further on the back of a 12-0 run in the second quarter to lead by as much as 18 points and still to be in control up 41-32 at the half-time break.

Casey did fight hard throughout the second half to try and will themselves back into the contest, but they could never seriously threaten with the Sabres going on to win 77-65.

The result improved Sandringham to a 6-6 record on the season while the loss sees Casey end up with a 6-5 record.

Funda Nakkasoglu ended up with 24 points on the evening for the Sabres while knocking down 3/6 from three-point land.

Georgia Pineau added 16 points and five rebounds, Brittany Smart 14 points, six assists and five boards, Rachel Jarry 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and Amy O'Neill eight points, 11 boards and seven assists.

Sarah Boothe finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds and four assists for the Cavaliers while Taylah Giliam added 16 points and five boards, Rachel Bell 15 points and six rebounds, and Louise Brown nine points 14 boards and three assists.

 

BALLARAT MINERS 87 defeated HOBART CHARGERS 63

It was a thumping 24-point win at home for the Ballarat Miners against the Hobart Chargers on Saturday night.

The Miners hosted the Chargers at Selkirk Stadium with the home team not taking long to stamp their authority on the contest with 31 points to 14 in the opening quarter.

Ballarat extended that advantage with another 20 points to 17 in the second term to end up leading 51-31 at the major break.

From there, the Miners cruised to the eventual 87-63 victory to improve to a 6-5 record on the season while the Chargers are now 0-9 and still chasing that elusive first victory.

Despite the loss, Hobart did pull in 50 rebounds to 38 from Ballarat but the Chargers had 22 turnovers to eight while only shooting 34.9 per cent from the field opposed 41.9 per cent from Ballarat.

Zitina Aokuso produced an impressive performance for the Miners to finish the evening with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two steals with 3/6 shooting from downtown, 8/12 overall and 7/7 at the free-throw line.

Jade Melbourne added 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals as well for Ballarat with Stephanie Gorman contributing 12 points, six steals, five assists and three rebounds, and Kristy Rinaldi 12 points, four boards, three assists and two steals. 

Angela Tompkins delivered 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Chargers with Sharna Thompson contributing 20 points and five boards, and Kylie McCauley 10 points and 10 rebounds.

 

RINGWOOD HAWKS 74 defeated KEILOR THUNDER 61

The Ringwood Hawks started on fire and held firm for an eventual 13-point win at home to the Keilor Thunder on Saturday night.

The Hawks hosted the Thunder at The Rings with Ringwood on fire early racing to a 14-point advantage by the end of the first quarter.

The Hawks continued their charge going on an 11-0 run in the second term to lead by as much as 23 points and to be on top 46-29 by the half-time interval.

While the Thunder kept fighting and made a couple of runs in the second half, they couldn’t quite bridge the gap with Ringwood ending up winning 74-61.

The victory improves the Hawks to a 9-2 record on the season to retain top spot in the NBL1 South while the loss means the Thunder now sit at 4-7.

Marena Whittle used all her WNBL experience to deliver 22 points, 10 rebounds and three steals in the win for Ringwood while Digna Strautmane contributed 18 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots.

Marta Hermida added 12 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists for Ringwood, Toni Farnworth 11 points and eight boards, and Jacqueline Trotto nine points and six rebounds.

Maddie Garrick battled hard once more for Keilor to end the night with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists with Monique Andriuolo 13 points and seven boards, Christa Reed 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Aneta Bandilovska eight points, five boards and four assists.

 

MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 56 lost to KILSYTH COBRAS 70

The Kilsyth Cobras hit the road on Saturday night in Round 8 of the NBL1 South and came away with the 14-point victory against the Mount Gambier Pioneers.

The Pioneers were at home to the Cobras at The Ice House but by quarter-time it was Kilsyth leading 21-17 on the back of a 6-0 run.

The Cobras continued on with that momentum with nine straight points during the second period on the way to building a 14-point advantage to end up leading 39-25 at the half-time intermission.

While Mount Gambier did stage a fightback in the third quarter going on a 9-0 run, they couldn’t quite maintain it with Kilsyth steadying to end up winning 70-56 away from home.

The victory improves the Cobras to a 5-7 record on the season while after the loss the Pioneers are now 9-2.

Lauren Scherf was a dominant force in the win for Kilsyth with the Perth Lynx WNBL centre delivering 23 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots while playing all but 1:23 of the game.

Carly Turner added 12 points, four rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks with Nikita Young contributing 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Cassandra Brown ended up leading the charge for Mount Gambier with 21 points, 12 rebounds and three steals with Hannah Young adding 12 points and nine boards, and Shakera Reilly 12 points and five rebounds.