North Recap | Round 7 Friday

Southern Districts Spartans women stayed undefeated in the NBL1 North holding the Townsville Flames to 43 points before Kuany Kuany had 36 points as the Heat overcame the Spartans and 30 from Kyle Adnam.

NORTH RECAP | ROUND 6 SUNDAY

WOMEN

Townsville Flames (43) lost to Southern Districts Spartans (60)

The undefeated Southern Districts Spartans produced another defensive master class to hold the Townsville Flames to less than 11 points a quarter on their own home floor on the way to the 60-43 victory.

It was the first game of a road double in Far North Queensland for the undefeated Spartans and the Flames were on their home floor at Carmichael Ford Stadium looking for a win to try and break back into the top six.

Townsville were coming off a loss to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix last Saturday before returning home with the Spartans arriving having won all six matches so far in 2025.

That included only conceding 45 points in a 51-point hammering of the defending champion Rockhampton Cyclones who were wrapping up their triple-header on the road last weekend.

Townsville actually had the better of the start too going on a 10-0 scoring run in the first quarter on the way to leading 14-7 by quarter-time having held the Spartans to those seven points on 3/22 shooting from the field.

Things started to turn in the second term with Southern Districts outscoring Townsville 12 points to seven, but still at half-time it was the Flames leading 21-19 with the Spartans struggling mightily at the offensive end shooting 7/41 at a paltry 17 per cent.

Southern Districts did find some offensive flow in the third quarter including making 4/7 from behind the three-point arc on the way to putting up 26 points having only scored 19 in the entire first 20 minutes.

They also held Townsville to just the eight points and then from there the Spartans went on with the job to complete the 17-point victory to improve to a perfect 7-0 record on the season.

It wasn’t much of an offensive spectacle with Southern Districts ending up shooting 30 per cent to Townsville's 22, but the Spartans defence was superb once more including forcing the flames into 17 turnovers.

Taylah Simmons ended up top-scoring in the win for the Spartans with 12 points and nine rebounds despite shooting 5/16 from the field and 1/8 from deep.

Tiana Mangakahia backed up representing Poitukohu Maori o Aotearoa against the Indigenous Basketball Australia All Stars in Melbourne on Wednesday night, and provided another 11 points, three steals, two assists and two rebounds on 3/4 three-point shooting.

Nicole Fransson added 10 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Emily Preston 11 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Townsville are now 3-5 following the home defeat with Challee Ward finishing with 11 points on 3/8 three-point shooting while Tayla Dalton contributed eight points and nine rebounds, and Sam Bowman another six points, 13 boards, five assists and three blocked shots.

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 43 (Ward 11, Dalton 8, Grootenboer 6, Bowman 6)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 60 (Simmons 12, Mangakahia 11, Fransson 10)

MEN

Townsville Heat (103) defeated Southern Districts Spartans (95)

Kuany Kuany continues to show how much he's grown from being part of the Illawarra Hawks' NBL championship by delivering a match-winning 36-point performance as the Townsville Heat beat the Southern Districts Spartans 103-95.

The Heat remained home at Carmichael Ford Stadium on the back of losing last week on their own floor to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix by 21 points looking to respond against the visiting Spartans who have lost their past two games to the Brisbane Capitals and Rockhampton Rockets.

The Heat then came out in blistering form putting up 37 points to 26 in the first quarter on the back of shooting 14/18 from the field while the Spartans went at 9/21.

That lead got out to 15 points in the second quarter for the home team and Townsville were still leading 60-50 by half-time, and that lead for the Heat was still nine when Chris Kann knocked down a three-pointer three minutes into the fourth quarter.

Kyle Adnam wasn’t going to accept the result was sewn up, though, and started to pull Southern Districts back into the contest with a three-point play.

Blake Jones then hit a three ball and suddenly it was a three-point ball game but it was another huge triple from Kuany Kuany in the final minute that ended up sealing the eventual eight-point victory for Townsville.

The Heat improve to a 4-4 record on the season as a result of the home victory which saw them shooting 59 per cent from the field and 52 from three while going 23/37 at the foul line.

Kuany Kuany was a development player on the Illawarra Hawks team that won the NBL25 championship and continues to go from strength to strength with Townsville in the NBL1 North.

He finished the night with 36 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on shooting 11/16 from the field and 13/16 from the foul line, and then his lone three clinched the game.

Richard Peachey added 18 points and two steals for the Heat, Harrison Pennisi 11 points and two rebounds, Chris Kann 11 points on 3/3 three-point shooting, and Grant Teichmann 11 points and eight assists.

In comparison, Southern Districts started their road double by slipping to 2-5 having shot 47 per cent overall and 37 from downtown while only getting to the foul line for 10/15.

Kyle Adnam did all he could to keep Southern Districts in the contest with 30 points, nine assists and three steals while Jean-Luc Morel added 14 points and four boards, Tamuri Wigness 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Blake Jones nine points and nine boards.

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 103 (Kuany 36, Peachey 18, Teichmann 11, Kann 11, Pennisi 11)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 95 (Adnam 30, Morel 14, Wigness 14)