With a home finals confirmation on the line, the SmartSkill Seahawks Women and Seahawks Men kept their unbeaten home streak alive with wins over USC RIP this past Saturday night.
The SmartSkill Seahawks Women went into the match undermanned, with the late withdrawal of point guard Krystle Mackenzie due to an ankle injury, and Charli Reece limited to just 10 minutes of game time, one could have been a touch nervous for the home side.
The first quarter diminished any nervousness about Brad Kann’s squad, putting on a defensive clinic and holding the away side to just 11 points while piling on 23 of their own. The second quarter saw the Rip side outscore the home side 14-16 with the league’s top scorer, Camryn Hughes, keeping her side in the fight.
Will 44 fouls in total called for the game, both teams really struggled to get any momentum throughout the second half, particularly in the 4th quarter where the total score was 10-9. The SmartSkill Seahawks Women finished the game winners and locking in the minor premiership for the season, 69-49.
The leagues leading rebounder, Lauren Jansen, didn’t dent her MVP candidacy with a stat line of 13 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists. The league’s leading three-point maker, Courtney Willemse, had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, keeping the score line ticking over for the SmartSkill Seahawks Women.
Head Coach for the SmartSkill Seahawks Women, Bradley Kann, was excited for his team to lock in finals at home.
“We came into the game a little banged up, but we held strong, particularly in the 1st and 3rd quarters to close out a tough game against USC” said Kann.
“I was really happy with the efforts of our starting group, but it was also pleasing to see Jasmine Hunter (4points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals) step up when Charli finished the game early”
“It’s always exciting to win a Minor Premiership, particularly with 2 weeks to go in the regular season but we need to stay focused on our overall goal of winning a championship”
The Seahawks Men were looking to take revenge against the USC RIP side that defeated them a fortnight ago, and they did just that in the first half with a commanding 53-37 lead at half time.
USC RIP only travelled with 7 players in a double header weekend, with one being player/coach, but this didn’t hold back their effort in the second half, reducing the half time deficit to just 8 points heading into the 4th quarter.
Missing point guard Rhys Martin for the majority of the second half, Seahawk’s veteran Jordi Anger (8 points) lifted his sides energy, harassing the USC ball carriers and knocking down some timely shots to keep USC at bay, rolling out winners 81-72.
Dave Gurney once again proved that he is a problem at this level, finishing the game with 28 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals whilst providing plenty of leadership for the young Seahawks team.
Rhys Martin also caught fire before succumbing to an injury, going 8 of 10 for 18 points in a little over 19 minutes on court.
Head Coach for the Seahawks Men, Jordan Mullan, was extremely happy with his side’s performance.
“We still had the loss to Rip fresh in our minds, so It was great to turn around that loss from two weeks ago into a victory tonight” said Mullan.
“We know that we control our destiny when it comes to finals, and home finals at that, so having another victory at home gives us great momentum heading into the final two weeks of the regular season”
“I was extremely pleased with the guys that stepped up in Rhys’s absence, in particular Jordi Anger and Mackenzie Hall, who both brought energy and calmness in that point guard position that Rhys does so well”
It was a clean sweep for our Seahawks sides over the weekend, with our QSL 2 team having a huge come from behind victory on Saturday night against the highly favoured South West side 83-75, with Norbert Csiki Bege finishing the game with 23 points.
This was backed up with a victory over Moreton Bay Flames on Sunday, 84-51.
Tickets are on sale now for this Saturdays game against Southern Districts. Head to: https://www.seahawksbasketball.com.au/qsl-tickets
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