ABA Women

Norths Bears 72 def Manly Sea Eagles 60

Manly started this game at a blistering pace, shooting a high percentage from the field and played with much more enthusiasm than the Bears to lead 14-2 after 6 minutes of play. The Lady Bears slowly found their feet but were no match for Manly’s aggressive play down 12-25 after the first quarter and 29-38 at half time. 

The third quarter, however, was a different story. The Bears came out in the second half with a point to prove and that they did, smothering Manly on the defensive end whilst also executing their offence. Bears Captain Lisa Braunberger stepped up when she needed to and scored 13 points in the third quarter, leading the team to a 22-6 third term (51-44). At the same time Tanya Smith and Petra Krolke started to dominate inside, whilst Alana Mountfield and Carrie Sutherland shut down Manly’s guards. Bears eventually running out winners by 12 points, 62-50.

Best performers for the Bears were Lisa Braunberger 24 points 8 rebounds, 3 assts 2 blocks, Tanya Smith 13 points 16 rebounds 5 blocks, Petra Krolke 13 points 16 rebounds, Carrie Sutherland 9 points, Alana Mountfield 8 points 4 assists.

ABA Men

Norths Bears 93 def by Manly Sea Eagles 109

In the clash between 1^st place and 3^rd place, Manly showed they are deserving of first place by coming out the much more aggressive team and handing the Bears a hiding in the first quarter of the game. The Bears looked lackluster and did not display the defensive effort required against an experienced team with Duane Jordan, Ben Arkell and Karl King having a field day early on. The Bears have themselves to blame, failing to close out on shooters, box out or talk on the defensive end. This combined with Manly shooting the lights out resulted in a 12-39 first quarter deficit.

The Bears finally came out of their shell in the second quarter and continued to play aggressively for the rest of the match bringing it back to a 9 point margin with 2 minutes to go. However, the large Manly start was too big too bring back and Manly ran out winners by 16 points. One other large discrepancy to eventuate from this match was free throw attempts on the back of some dubious refereeing decisions with Manly awarded 40 free throws compared to Norths measly 7 attempts.     

Best performers for the Bears were Luke Brennan 22 points 11 rebounds 4 assts, James MacCann 19points 6 assists, Troy van Spanje 19 points 7 rebounds and Ufojan Isbic 14 points 10 rebounds. 

 After a 50 point thrashing at the hands of the Champions in the early part of the season the Sharks came committed to a better defensive effort. Their goal was to keep Comets to 15 points a quarter and at half time they had only netted 29, right on the Sharks target. 

After a first quarter hiccup the Sharks handled the Comets full court pressure very well for the rest of the game. The ladies from the Shire matched the Champions throughout the game in most departments. Rebounding was even for the game and assists, turnovers, steals, blocks all were within one or two. Even the number of shots taken for the game was 68 a piece. So the determining factor for the game was who would shoot the best from the field and the Sharks percentage was a season low 19%. This gave them no chance to win a game that was there for them to cause a big upset.

For the Sharks, team captain Mel Barlett was the stand out. She finished with 14pts, including a perfect 6/6 from the line and also added 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

 After just coming off a bye the Sharks have another break for the Queens Birthday week-end and come home to the competition leaders, Bankstown on 13^th June 2009.