NBL1 South Recap | Sunday Women's Round 9

A standout triple-double from Anneli Maley, big double-double from Maddie Garrick and terrific performance from Alice Kunek were among the highlights of Sunday's NBL1 South Women's action.

Round 9 of the NBL1 South season wrapped up on Sunday with wins for the Nunawading Spectres, Eltham Wildcats and Keilor Thunder.

Round 9 in the NBL1 South Women's competition began back on Friday night with just the one fixture which saw the Nunawading Spectres defeat the Diamond Valley Eagles 82-66.

Round 9 continued on Saturday evening with the Launceston Tornadoes beating the Geelong Supercats 77-73 while the Waverley Falcons defeated the Sandringham Sabres 89-80 and the Ballarat Miners downed the Ringwood Hawks 57-54.

The Kilsyth Cobras also defeated the Melbourne Tigers 71-59 with the Bendigo Braves beating the Eltham Wildcats 96-72, the Knox Raiders downing the Dandenong Rangers 80-42 and the Mount Gambier Pioneers prevailing 56-47 against the Hobart Chargers.

That led into the Sunday match ups beginning with the Nunawading Spectres proving too strong for the Launceston Tornadoes to win 105-91.

Alice Kunek produced 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Spectres while Keely Froling scored 30 points for Launceston.

The Eltham Wildcats powered by WNBL MVP Anneli Maley also proved too strong for the Casey Cavaliers with the 96-78 Sunday victory.

Maley finished with a stunning triple-double for the Wildcats in the win made up of 17 points, 22 rebounds and 10 assists. Rachel Bell top-scored with 29 points for Casey.

Lastly the Keilor Thunder won on their home floor against the Hobart Chargers 91-76.

Monique Andriuolo put up 29 points and 10 rebounds for Keilor with Maddie Garrick adding 22 points and 11 assists. Angela Tompkins did her best for the Chargers with 38 points and 13 rebounds.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 WOMEN'S SEASON
ROUND 9 – SUNDAY

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 105 defeated LAUNCESTON TORNADOES 91

Two top four contending teams locked horns on Sunday afternoon and it was the home team Nunawading Spectres who prevailed by 14 points against the Launceston Tornadoes.

The Spectres hosted the Tornadoes at Nunawading Basketball Centre with Nunawading coming off a Friday night win over the Diamond Valley Eagles while Launceston started their road double with a four-point win against the Geelong Supercats.

That set up a tantalising Sunday afternoon match up and it was quite the exciting first quarter with both teams combining for 60 points with it ending with the Spectres leading 31-29.

Nunawading did manage to stretch its advantage to 53-44 by half-time but Launceston were still within striking distance.

However, the Spectres pulled away further in the third quarter going on a 9-0 run to lead by as much as 14 points. But the Tornadoes fired back with their own run of 11 straight points.

Nunawading managed to slam the door shut in the fourth period, though, with the lead growing to 21 points before they settled on the 105-91 victory.

The result improves the Spectres to a 9-4 record on the season after Round 9 while the Tornadoes are 8-4 after splitting their two games on the road this weekend.

It was a high quality contest with Nunawading finishing the afternoon shooting 60.3 per cent from the floor and going 10/23 from downtown while Launceston shot at 50.7 per cent including 11/24 from three-point land.

Alice Kunek set the tone with 19 first-half points for Nunawading on her way to 27 for the game along with seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Cassidy Mihalko added 26 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Spectres, Megan Mullings 18 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two assists, Emma Pearce 15 points and seven boards, and Rachel Antoniadou 11 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.

Keely Froling put up 30 points and nine rebounds in another huge performance for Launceston with Micah Simpson draining 7/8 from three-point territory for 23 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Kelsey Griffin contributed 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals while Maria Payne added 10 points and three assists, and Charli Kay seven points and two rebounds.

CASEY CAVALIERS 78 lost to ELTHAM WILDCATS 96

With WNBL MVP Anneli Maley leading the charge, it was an impressive performance on Sunday from the Eltham Wildcats to beat the Casey Cavaliers by 18 points.

The Cavs played host to the Wildcats at Casey Stadium but were missing Shereesha Richards, Monique Conti, Abby Bishop and Kyra Webb, and the visitors were powered by Maley who set the tone from the outset.

However, it was a tight contest for much of the first half with Eltham leading by just the point at quarter-time and then nine points at the half-time break with the Cavs managing to stay in touch despite having fallen 18 points behind.

But with the energy provided by Maley crashing the boards and pushing the pace, and finding her teammates, Eltham opened up a match-winning gap in the third quarter by piling on 27 points to 13 and leading by as much as 26 points.

The lead grew to as much as 27 points in the fourth quarter as well with the Wildcats ending up winning 96-78.

The victory improved Eltham to a 5-7 record on the season to stay in playoff contention while the Cavs are now 6-6 following the defeat.

Once again Anneli Maley was the star of the afternoon putting together a remarkable triple-double consisting of 17 points, 22 rebounds and 10 assists.

Her teammates were the beneficiaries of her amazing work with Hailey Leidel hitting 4/8 from downtown on her way to 17 points and two assists.

Taylah Wynne added 14 points with 4/7 three-point shooting with Korinne Campbell contributing 13 points and 11 rebounds, Bec Pizzey 12 points and six assists, and Ally Marshall 11 points.

Rachel Bell ended up with 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Casey with Taylah Gillam adding 20 points and four assists, Sarah Boothe 18 points and eight rebounds, and Louise Brown 11 points, 13 boards, five assists and four steals.

KEILOR THUNDER 91 defeated HOBART CHARGERS 76

The Keilor Thunder put together a strong showing at home on Sunday afternoon to close Round 9 in NBL1 South with a 15-point victory against the Hobart Chargers.

The Thunder hosted the Chargers at Keilor Stadium with Keilor playing their only game of the weekend and Hobart coming off a nine-point win the previous evening against the Mount Gambier Pioneers.

The Thunder started impressively to open up a nine-point lead by the end of the first quarter before stretching that advantage to 13 points in the second term, but the Chargers made a real game of it with an 8-0 run to be only trailing by four points at the main break.

Keilor were able to push back out to a 13-point lead in the third quarter but again Hobart kept things interesting with another 6-0 streak to be within seven points still at three quarter-time.

The Chargers made things interesting and sent a score into the home side early in the fourth term, but the Thunder did manage to steady and secure the win by scoring 11 straight points in the fourth term to lead by 15 and to end up winning 91-76.

The victory improves Keilor to a 5-7 record on the season while the Chargers are still searching for their first victory after 12 games in 2022.

Monique Andriuolo produced an outstanding performance in the win for the Thunder made up of 29 points and 10 rebounds while nailing 3/5 from downtown and 12/12 at the foul line.

Maddie Garrick added 22 points, 11 assists, five steals and four rebounds for Keilor while Christa Reed contributed 12 points, Hailey Wynd 11 points, and Selena Philoxy eight points and three steals.

Angela Tompkins delivered a massive performance for Hobart finishing with 38 points and 13 rebounds on the back of shooting 15/21 from the floor.

Paige Bradley added 21 points and four assists for Hobart, and Kylie McCauley nine points and 12 rebounds.