QSL Recap vs Brisbane Capitals & Logan Thunder

For the first weekend of the Queensland State League season, our SmartSkill Seahawks Women and Seahawks Men went 5 for 5. Our Division 1 teams facing off against the Brisbane Capitals on Saturday afternoon and a quick back up against Logan Thunder on Sunday afternoon, our Division 2 Men’s team made the trip up the mountain to play against Toowoomba.

The SmartSkill Seahawks Women’s side had two convincing wins over the weekend, coming up victors on Saturday against Brisbane 64-40, and putting Logan away on Sunday afternoon with a 70-50 score line.

Lauren Jansen had a productive start to the season, with stat lines of 22 points, 19 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and a block on Saturday vs Brisbane and backing that up on Sunday with another huge double-double of 15 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Newcomer Courtney Willemse, fresh of an U20’s National titles for Victoria, settled in well on Saturday with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals - then went bonkers on Sunday vs Logan with 32 points on 12 of 18 from the field, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Saturday also saw the return to the court for long time Seahawk, Krystle McKenzie, with a productive 12 point, 3 rebound and 2 steals stat line on Saturday.

Head Coach for the SmartSkill Seahawks Women’s side, Brad Kann, was impressed with his team’s first two outings of the season.

“I thought we handled the weekend really well” said Kann.

“It’s been a long pre-season with a lot of new faces in the team, but I thought our group really handled themselves well throughout both games.

“Loz (Lauren Jansen) was exceptional in both games, aside from her stat lines it was also her leadership that contributed to both victories over the weekend”

“I also thought Courtney (Willemse) settled in really well and obviously shot the ball incredibly well on Sunday and it was nice to see Krystle (McKenzie) and Charli (Reece) both return in Seahawks colours and contribute to the group overall”

For the Men, Saturday saw a tough 1-point victory over the Brisbane Capitals but then really hit their straps against Logan on Sunday with a convincing 92-60 score line to wrap up their weekend.

Saturday saw Dave Gurney return to the floor for the first time in 10 years, and he got off to a cracking start having 16 points and 6 rebounds in 19 minutes, until he left the game with a rolled ankle.

Not to be discouraged, last season’s team MVP, Jesse Lomax, stepped up to the plate and finished Saturday with 14 points and 7 rebounds, as well as Zion Johnson who iced the game with foul shots and finished Saturday with 12 points and 3 rebounds.

Sunday saw the old timer, Rhys Martin show exactly why he played close to 300 NBL games, ending the game with 21 points (4 of 8 from the 3-point line) 6 rebounds and 2 assists and his ability to control the tempo of the game being one of the shining lights.

Jesse Lomax topped off his great start to the season with a 20 point, 3 rebound and 4 assists stat line and newcomer to the North Gold Coast Seahawks, Amarco Doyle, impressing with a 9-point, 4 rebound, 2 assist game in less than 16 minutes.

Head Coach for the North Gold Coast Seahawks Men’s side, Jordan Mullan, was happy with the weekends results but knows the team is still a long way from where they need to be.

“It was great to get a win on Saturday, being able to win ugly and make crucial plays down the stretch demonstrated the teams resilience and resolve” said Mullan.

“We shot 25% from the field on Saturday afternoon and still go away with a victory, if we can continue to will ourselves into games when things don’t happen for us then I know we will play a highly competitive brand of basketball”

Asked on who he was impressed with over the weekend, Mullan pointed his finger at a few of his men.

“It was disappointing to see Dave (Gurney) go down on Saturday as he really got going early, but hopefully we get a positive result from the physio and he is good to go very soon”

“I thought Jesse was solid all weekend, especially with his scoring output and I thought Rhys did an outstanding job of just steering the team around and giving us poise down the stretch on Saturday”

“It was also nice to see rookie Amarco Doyle come up big on Sunday against Logan. There’s a reason he is a National Performance Program athlete and he really showed that yesterday”

Sunday also saw the QSL Men’s Division 2 side hit the floor for the first time this season against the Toowoomba Mountaineers, and they didn’t disappoint with a huge 94-54 win.

The scoring was shared between all players, with 10 of the 12 players hitting the scoreboard and 5 players in double digits.

Head Coach for the North Gold Coast Seahawks QSL 2 Men’s side Marko Savic was pleased yet not satisfied with his teams win on Sunday.

“Even though the score line showed we ran the score out, I thought we had glimpses where we didn’t handle pressure too well or just went away from working well but overall, I was happy to get our first win of the season.

Daniel Gardner top scored for the day with 18 (4 from beyond the arc) and Clifton Brown chipping in with a handy 15 points.

Next game is this weekend for the QSL 1 side vs the arch enemy in Gold Coast at Carrara Indoor Sports Centre.

Tickets for our first home game on the 29th May are now able to be purchased online. Head to: https://www.seahawksbasketball.com.au/qsl-tickets to get yours now!!