Flames pair clash in NBL1 North showdown
This week’s NBL1 action saw two Sydney Flames and best friends clash north of the border, when Townsville battled Cairns.
In the fixture, Indiah Bowyer dominated for Townsville in their 97-75 triumph, to the tune of 24 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal.
While in the defeat, Shaneice Swain put up 16 points, nine boards and six dimes for the Dolphins.
Next round, Townsville and Cairns both host Rockhampton, starting with the Flames on Friday and Dolphins on Saturday.
Elsewhere in Queensland, Lilly Rotunno had nine points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and one block in Red City’s 81-73 loss to Sunshine Coast.
The Roar host Darwin in round 14.
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To Victoria and Knox lost 66-61 to Eltham despite four points, six rebounds, four steals, three dimes and one block by Kiera Rowe.
In round 12, Knox will take on Launceston.
In NBL1 East, both Vanessa Panousis and Jada Crawshaw produced strong games but Sydney went down 103-77 to the Centre of Excellence.
The pair respectively contributed 11 points, three dimes, two rebounds and one steal and 24 points, six rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block.
The Comets will look to rebound during their triple header next round against the Centre of Excellence, Newcastle and Albury-Wodonga.
While Emma Donnelly had 12 points and three boards in Norths’ 94-80 victory against Canberra.
In round 15, the Bears battle both the Bandits and Falcons.
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Moving across to the Kings and the NBL1 North winning streak of Shaun Bruce and his Logan Thunder has come to an end at 12 matches, after losing to Ipswich on Saturday.
One of the catalysts for the Force’s solid 93-79 victory was Kings wing Jaylin Galloway, who tallied 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
In the loss, Bruce added 15 points, seven boards, nine dimes and one steal.
The defeat sees the Thunder drop back to second on the ladder with a 13-2 record – behind Gold Coast (14-2) and just in front of third-placed Ipswich (11-5), who also lost 115-110 to the Gold Coast on Sunday despite 26 points, five boards, four steals and three assists by Galloway.
In round 14, both sides play Darwin, starting with Ipswich on Saturday and Logan on Sunday.
That Salties side will head into those two clashes on the back of a 94-92 win against Northside, in which Kings’ Makuach Maluach had 20 points, five rebounds and two assists.
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Elsewhere in NBL1 North, Kouat Noi continued his amazing scoring season during USC Rip City’s double-header.
First up, he scored 42 points (along with seven rebounds and two assists) to help his team down North Gold Coast 101-81 before putting up 35 points, nine boards and two dimes in his side’s tight 100-98 loss to Brisbane.
Next up for USC is a showdown with Mackay on Saturday.
Shifting to NBLw South and Angus Glover’s Eltham Wildcats suffered two defeats over the weekend, losing 103-67 to Knox and 96-81 to Geelong.
Across the two fixtures, Glover totalled 44 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and one steal.
The Wildcats will look to rebound against Waverley on Friday and Ballarat on Sunday.
To NBL1 East and Archie Woodhill produced one of his best games of the season for the Sydney Comets in round 14 against Central Coast.
In the nail-biting 85-83 win, Woodhill had 29 points, 14 rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.
The Comets host both Newcastle and Albury-Wodonga in round 15.
Finally, out west and Zac Gattorna was on fire in Geraldton’s 118-97 win against East Perth – to the tune of 39 points (including eight triples), six rebounds, one assist and one steal, all while shooting 76.47 from the field.
The Buccaneers will host Mandurah next week.
Shifting to the Flames’ part of the weekly Hoops Capital NBL1 wrap and
Stay up to date with all the harbour city club’s news here.