South Recap | Anzac Round Sunday

Image credit: Cam Brown | @cambrownvisuals

The last two NBL1 South champions locked horns with Bec Cole leading the Waverley Falcons to the win over the Bendigo Braves while Elliott Brown put up 30 points as the Sandringham Sabres won their first match of 2025.

SOUTH RECAP | ANZAC ROUND SATURDAY

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Ringwood Hawks (87) defeated Sandringham Sabres (78)

The Ringwood Hawks produced a strong all-round team performance to beat the Sandringham Sabres 87-78 at home on Sunday afternoon.

The Hawks were back at The Rings attempting to bounce back from an Anzac Day loss to the Diamond Valley Eagles while the Sabres were fresh off a Saturday win over the Kilsyth Cobras.

The Sabres had the better of the start to be leading 25-21 by the end of the first quarter and then pushing that lead out to 12 points in the second quarter.

Sandringham were still leading 49-44 by half-time but Ringwood then took control in the third frame with 28 points to 15 which saw the home team grab the lead.

The Hawks went on with the job from there to lead by as much as 14 points as well and to end up winning by nine to improve to a 3-3 record on the season.

Alex Wittinger led the charge for Ringwood with 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks on 8/12 shooting from the field while Annabel Deerbon also scored 19 points with 5/10 three-point shooting.

Camille Hobby added 16 points and five rebounds, Sarah Elsworthy 16 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and five steals, and Nyaduoth Lok 10 points, six boards and four assists.

The Sabres are now 5-2 following suffering just a second loss of 2025 with Funda Nakkasoglu backing up her huge performance the previous night with another 18 points, three rebounds and two assists with 5/10 shooting from behind the three-point arc.

Isis Lopes also had 17 points, three assists and two rebounds, Haylee Andrews 15 points, three boards, three assists and three steals, Klara Wischer 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Keeley Frawley 10 points and five boards.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 87 (Wittinger 19, Deerbon 19, Elsworthy 16, Hobby 16)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 78 (Nakkasoglu 18, Lopes 17, Andrews 15)

Waverley Falcons (89) defeated Bendigo Braves (81)

The defending champion Waverley Falcons made it a double win weekend with Bec Cole back in the line-up with the win over the Bendigo Braves 89-81 on Sunday afternoon.

The Falcons had started their championship defence winning two of four games to open the NBL1 South season but had Cole and fellow championship winning star Carley Ernst in the line-up for the first time on Anzac Day beating the Mount Gambier Pioneers.

They backed that up on Sunday by hosting the Braves at Waverley Basketball Centre in what is a contest of the last two championship winners in the NBL1 South, and a rematch of the championship game at the National Finals on the Sunshine Coast last year.

Bendigo were looking to avoid a third successive defeat and started well for an early six-point lead but Waverley were able to turn the tide with a 12-0 scoring run to be leading 27-21 by quarter-time.

The Falcons turned that into a 15-point lead in the second term as well as they turned on the afterburners putting up 35 points to go into half-time leading 62-49.

The 62 points in the first half was quite the offensive explosion from the Falcons but they only managed 27 in total in the second half, but the Braves only managed 32 themselves to be unable to get back to seriously threaten the comeback win.

Waverley went on to score the eight-point win and to improve to 4-2 on the season with Bec Cole brilliant with 25 points, nine assists, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks on 9/17 shooting from the floor and 6/7 at the foul line.

Sophia Locandro added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Falcons, Amelia Todhunter 11 points, three boards and three assists, Carley Ernst 11 points and eight rebounds, and Katelyn Shumate nine points and five boards.

Bendigo is now 2-4 having lost three straight with Taisheka Porchia delivering 21 points, 10 rebounds and two steals while Cassidy McLean contributed 12 points, five assists and four boards, and Poppy Blanch 12 points and two rebounds.

Mikayla Pivec also delivered 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.

WAVERLEY FALCONS 89 (Cole 25, Locandro 16, Todhunter 11, Ernst 11)

BENDIGO BRAVES 81 (Porchia 21, Pivec 16, McLean 12, Blanch 12)

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Ringwood Hawks (97) lost to Sandringham Sabres (104)

The Sandringham Sabres are on the board for the NBL1 South season with Elliott Brown delivering 30 points and CJ Asuncion-Byrd 26 as they overcame the Ringwood Hawks 104-97 on Sunday.

The Sabres had lost their opening six matches of the season including in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday night when a missed free-throw meant they weren’t quite able to push the Kilsyth Cobras to overtime.

That had them coming out wanting to make up for that on Sunday afternoon against the Hawks at The Rings with Ringwood attempting to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat themselves.

It was an exciting opening from both teams as they combined for 56 points with Ringwood leading 29-27 by quarter-time before Sandringham turned it on in the second period with 34 points to 20.

That saw the Sabres leading 61-49 by half-time in search of that first win of 2025, but the Hawks weren’t going to hand it to them and had regained the lead when South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL star Angus Glover hit a three-pointer with four minutes to go.

Sandringham's playing coach Dave Barlow immediately responded with a three-pointer of his own and eventually the Sabres scored the game's last seven points with all of them all courtesy of Elliott Brown for the seven-point victory.

The win improves Sandringham to a 1-6 record with the breakthrough victory and it was Brown who played the starring role with 30 points, six assists and five rebounds on shooting 9/16 from the field, 2/3 from downtown and 10/12 at the free-throw line.

CJ Asuncion-Byrd also had 26 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the win for the Sabres on 11/15 shooting with 3/4 from deep while Malith Machar added 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, and Kaylan Kitto 13 points, five boards and two assists.

Ringwood is now 2-4 following four consecutive defeats with Tanner Krebs delivering 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Tom Carroll added 20 points, five rebounds and three steals, Jonathan Lawton 15 points and three assists, Angus Glover 14 points, nine boards and three assists, and Josh Tomasi 15 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 97 (Krebs 23, Carroll 20, Tomasi 15, Lawton 15)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 104 (Brown 30, Asuncion-Byrd 26, Machar 15)

Waverley Falcons (87) lost to Bendigo Braves (90)

Justin Johnson put up 28 points including the clutch free throws as the Bendigo Braves hit back for the thrilling Sunday road win 90-87 against the Waverley Falcons.

The Falcons were attempting to bounce back from a 32-point loss on the road to the Mount Gambier Pioneers back on Anzac Day while Bendigo also went down to the Knox Raiders on their home floor on Saturday evening.

The teams did battle at Waverley Basketball Centre with the Falcons opening up an eight-point lead early on but by quarter-time the Braves had worked on top to be leading 25-22.

Bendigo managed to open up a lead as much as nine points in the second quarter as well before Waverley fired back with an 8-0 scoring run and that meant at half-time the Falcons were clinging to a 46-45 advantage.

It was the turn for the Braves to pull away once again to lead by as much as eight points in the third quarter, but the Falcons fired back once more to be leading by five when Isaac Abergut knocked down a three-pointer midway through the final period.

Bendigo responded with a triple from Josiah Pattinson and a three-point play from Billy Smythe, and eventually it was a pair of late free throws from Justin Johnson that sealed the three-point win for the Braves when Malik Meunier missed the attempting game tying three at the buzzer for Waverley.

Bendigo improves to 3-3 with the victory with Johnson starring with 28 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals on 11/20 shooting from the floor.

Lual Diing also finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals, Josiah Pattinson 14 points, four boards and two assists, and Charles Matthews 11 points, five assists, four steals and two rebounds.

Waverley is now 3-3 on the season following the loss with Meunier finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals with 4/8 three-point shooting.

Mason Forbes added 20 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots, Bennie Lewis 14 points, seven boards, three assists and three steals, Isaac Abergut 13 points, and Michael Harper nine points and 10 rebounds.

WAVERLEY FALCONS 87 (Meunier 22, Forbes 20, Lewis 14)

BENDIGO BRAVES 90 (Johnson 28, Diing 20, Pattinson 14)