Recap NBL1 East | Round 1 Sunday

With Lauren Jackson and Davo Hickey on fire, it was a double win Sunday for the Albury-Wodonga Bandits in the NBL1 East while the Maitland Mustangs also scored a pair of wins against the Inner West Bulls.

There were two women's matches to end the opening round of the NBL1 East on Sunday with the Albury-Wodonga Bandits beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders 107-50 and Maitland Mustangs defeating the Inner West Bulls 81-49.

The men's matches then saw the Bandits defeat the Spiders 91-82 and the Mustangs prevail 101-79 against the Bulls.

RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 1 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (50) lost to Albury-Wodonga Bandits (107)

The Albury-Wodonga Bandits sent another message on the road on Sunday with Lauren Jackson starring with 33 points in 107-50 win against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Bandits were tremendous to open the NBL1 East season on Saturday beating the Sydney Comets by 33 points ahead of taking on the Spiders at The Brickpit on Sunday.

The job was ahead of the Comets who did lose first up to the Central Coast Crusaders by 12 points, and Albury-Wodonga showed again just how impressive they are looking to start 2024.

The Bandits didn’t take long to assert their authority on the contest racing to a 22-point lead already by the end of the first quarter.

Albury-Wodonga then kept extending that advantage with the lead out to as much as 36 points in the second quarter, 40 in the third and then the final margin was 57.

Coming off a sixth WNBL championship in her career just two weeks ago with the Southside Flyers, Lauren Jackson was unstoppable for the Bandits with 33 points, 16 rebounds and three assists.

She had plenty of help too with Mikayla Pivec delivering another 18 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks with Jessica Freeman contributing 22 points and six boards, and Elizabeth Murphy 12 points, four steals and three rebounds.

Keira Hudson top-scored for Hornsby with 15 points to go with six rebounds with Nathasa Christaline adding nine points, three boards and two assists, and Nicolas Sainsbury seven points and five rebounds.

The Spiders will tackle the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday at 3pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Bandits are at home to the Sutherland Sharks at 5:30pm.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 50 (Hudson 15, Christaline 9, Sainsbury 7)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 107 (Jackson 33, Freeman 22, Pivec 18)

Maitland Mustangs (81) defeated Inner West Bulls (49)

The Maitland Mustangs opened their account for the 2024 season beating the Inner West Bulls 81-49 at home on Sunday.

The Mustangs started the NBL1 East season with a first up loss to the Newcastle Falcons on Saturday, but they were back to Maitland Federation Centre on Sunday to host a Bulls team also losing the previous evening to the Hills Hornets.

After Inner West started well away from home to open up an early eight-point lead, Maitland worked on top and ended up leading 22-20 by quarter-time.

The Mustangs then outscored the Bulls 15 points to four in the second quarter and that meant they went into half-time leading 37-24.

It was more domination throughout the second half with Maitland's lead growing to 25 points in the third frame, and 35 in the fourth before settling on the 32-point final margin.

Natsumi Kohama top-scored in the win for Maitland with 23 points, three rebounds and three assists with Sydney Hunter contributing 14 points and 11 boards.

Shakera Reilly also had 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, Isabella Jennings 10 points and 10 boards, and Rachel Williams eight points and five assists.

Piath Gabriel top-scored for Inner West with 12 points to go with seven rebounds while Tylah Mundine added 10 points, four boards, four steals and two assists.

The Mustangs remain at home to host Canberra next Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Bulls will also be hosting the Newcastle Falcons at 6pm.

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 81 (Kohama 23, Hunter 14, Jennings 10, Reilly 10)

INNER WEST BULLS 49 (Gabriel 12, Mundine 10, White 9)

MEN

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (82) lost to Albury-Wodonga Bandits (91)

Davo Hickey is one of the hottest players in the country right now and put on quite the show with 36 points on Sunday to lead the Albury-Wodonga Bandits to the 91-82 win over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

Hickey finished the NBL season one of the most important players at the Illawarra Hawks and has since gone and won gold with the Australian 3x3 team at the Asia Cup, and now has joined the Bandits for the NBL1 East.

While they lost to the Sydney Comets on Saturday night, it wasn’t without an impressive performance from Hickey as the Bandits backed up on Sunday against the Spiders at The Brickpit.

While Hickey was spectacular, it was a tight contest throughout the afternoon with both teams having their time in front in the first half with Albury-Wodonga only narrowly leading 45-42 at the half-time interval.

The Bandits did blow it out to a 15-point game in the second half before winning by nine with Hickey spectacular finishing with 36 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three steals on 12/22 shooting from the field and 11/16 at the foul line.

Kevion Blaylock was tremendous for Albury-Wodonga too with 29 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots with Shawn Montague contributing eight points and five rebounds, and Liam Brady eight points and two steals.

Steven Hall top-scored for Hornsby with 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Raymond Takchi contributing 14 points, five boards and three assists, Isaiah Walter 12 points, eight boards and seven assists, and Nathaniel Chappell 10 points and a block.

The Spiders will tackle the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Saturday at 5pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App while the Bandits are at home to the Sutherland Sharks at 7:30pm.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 82 (Hall 19, Takchi 14, Walter 12)

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 91 (Hickey 36, Blaylock 29, Montague 8)

Maitland Mustangs (101) defeated Inner West Bulls (79)

The Maitland Mustangs continued their hot start to the NBL1 East season beating the Inner West Bulls 101-79 on Sunday once again at home.

Maitland lost last year's grand final in heartbreaking fashion to the Sutherland Sharks and started the 2024 season beating the Newcastle Falcons at home by 37 points on Saturday.

The Mustangs were back to Maitland Federation Centre on Sunday hosting a Bulls team who also scored an 11-point home win on Saturday against the Hills Hornets.

With that momentum from the previous night, the Mustangs raced out to a 10-point lead against the Bulls and that lead grew to 15 points in the second term before they went into half-time leading 45-31.

The lead continued to grow for Maitland getting out to 20 points in the third period and 23 in the fourth before the home team scored the 22-point victory to go 2-0 to start the season.

Will Cranston-Lown put up another 23 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists for Maitland on 7/10 shooting from the field and 7/8 at the foul line.

Matthew Gray also had 20 points, three boards and three steals, Jay Cole 16 points and three rebounds, Billy Parsons 12 points and eight boards, and Christian Little nine points, four rebounds and two steals.

Alex Higgins-Titsha finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals for Inner West with Nicko Timonera contributing 16 points, three boards, three assists and three steals, Tony Tolovae 13 points and eight rebounds, and Villami Foketi 10 points and five boards.

The Mustangs remain at home to host Canberra next Saturday at 7pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App. The Bulls will also be hosting the Newcastle Falcons at 8pm.

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 101 (Cranston-Lown 23, Gray 20, Cole 16)

INNER WEST BULLS 79 (Higgins-Titsha 16, Timonera 16, Tolovae 13)