Chambers Franklyn Game Review

Saturday Night NBL1 Wildcard Series – Women:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves women, though inconsequential to their NBL1 West standings, took another defeat against the Centre of Excellence (COE) in the NBL1 Wildcard Series game on Saturday, 59-79!

The stage was set for a monster clash on Saturday night with the COE arriving at HBF Stadium having won all 3 of the other NBL1 West match ups vs East Perth Eagles (89-49), Warwick Senators (77-59) and Willeton Tigers (75-72). Although the final score didn’t reflect it, the Wolves were neck and neck with the COE for most of the game.

No more than three points separated the teams in the first quarter with the CoE leading the Wolves 14-13 by quarter-time.

The young guns then began to pull away in the second quarter outscoring the Wolfpack 21 points to 13 to end leading by as much as 10 points, and being up 35-26 by half-time.

It remained a tight contest during the third quarter with the Wolves clawing their way to a 18-17 quarter win, but then the CoE were able to produce 27 points to 15 in the fourth to end up winning 79-59.

The result means that the Centre of Excellence Women have now won eight of their 12 matches in 2022 in their tour around the country.

Their wins have come against the Eltham Wildcats, North Adelaide Rockets, Southern Tigers, Mackay Meteorettes, East Perth Eagles, Warwick Senators, Willetton Tigers and now the Joondalup Wolves.

The defeats have been at the hands of the Bendigo Braves, Townsville Flames, Frankston Blues and Knox Raiders.

They move on to face the top two NBL1 North teams starting with the Logan Thunder on tonight (Monday) and the Southern Districts Spartans on Tuesday.

MVP of the game, Teige Morrell put up 26 points and 12 rebounds. Tia Ucich, 10 points with Shani Caldwell 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Laniesha Paddon also had 7 points for the Wolfpack and Nes'eya Parker-Williams 3 points, 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists.

Coach Marcus Wong shared his thoughts on the game: “We knew it was going to be tough. We know they’ve been playing really good basketball. I think it’s really good for us to come up against that level of intensity and defensive pressure they bring. Again, it’s like the game against Warwick – we’ll take a lot from it; we’ll learn from it. And hopefully that helps us for the rest of the season.” 

The Wolves next game will be back at home in Round 17 of the NBL1 West competition against the Eastern Suns. Be sure to wear your odd socks, and bring extra cash for the Sock it to Sarcoma activities, auctions and raffles!

Saturday Night Round 16 – Men:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves men went down again against the Geraldton Buccaneers in the NBL1 West Round 16 top of the ladder rematch on Saturday, 59-83!

It was a rematch of the 2019 Grand Final on Saturday night and the Geraldton Buccaneers repeated that result with the 24-point win over the Joondalup Wolves.

The league-leading Buccs were back home at Active West Stadium to host the Wolfpack with the two teams having met just two weeks ago in Joondalup and Geraldton won that game on the road 91-78.

The Buccaneers started on fire putting up 30 points to 19 in the first quarter having led the Wolves by as much as 12 points.

Geraldton stretched that lead out to 16 points during the second term before going into the half-time break leading 45-34.

The Buccs continued the charge with another 20 points to 10 in the third quarter, and then 18 to 15 in the fourth to see them end up winning 83-59 against a Wolfpack team in third spot on the table.

The Wolfpack are now 14-5 after the defeat.

It was a huge dominance on the glass from the Buccaneers as they pulled in 57 rebounds to Joondalup's 32 including 22 at the offensive end to 10. That helped them take 10 more field goals for the game while shooting 44.0 per cent opposed to the Wolves uncharacteristic 29.2.

MVP of the game, Joel Vaiangina top-scored for the Wolfpack with 16 points to go with 4 rebounds. Julian Pesava added 11 points, 5 boards and 3 steals, Jordan Wellsteed 10 points and 3 boards, Tom Parkinson 6 points, Jonathan Wade 6 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, and CJ Turnage 6 points and 8 boards.

Coach David Morrell shared his disappointment after the game: “We obviously didn’t play our best, and when you’re playing the top team on the ladder, you know everything is going to be tough. You have to be at your best if you’re going to go on the road and beat Geraldton. We didn’t make shots, we didn’t rebound, we didn’t do the little things that would get us over the line against a top team. Hopefully we can learn our lessons and be better next week.”

The Wolves next game will be back at home in Round 17 of the NBL1 West competition against the Eastern Suns. Be sure to wear your odd socks, and bring extra cash for the Sock it to Sarcoma activities, auctions and raffles! We’ll see you then, Wolfpack Family!