Chambers Franklyn Game Review

Saturday Night Round 6 – Women:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves women had their sixth straight win on Saturday night, defeating the South West Slammers in Round 6 of the NBL1 West 2022 season 106-51!

Teige Morrell was a notable feature straight out of the gates with 15 points including three “and-1’s” that had the Wolves up 25 to 8 in the first quarter.

The Wolves defence kept the Slammers down all game. The most points they’d score in a quarter all night was 16 – in the second quarter. And with 31 second quarter points dropping for the Wolves, the lead stretched to 56-24 entering half time.

The excitement in the arena stayed high with the Zambrero T-shirt burrito toss, highlight plays and the Wolves continuing to wreak defensive havoc for the Slammers two star players – Tylinn Carter and Alexandra Ciabattoni – winning the quarter 28-12.

The Wolves finished out the game with plenty of contribution from the bench. Nine out of the twelve suited up scored 5 or more points with 7 of the 12 putting up 50% or more from the field and a total of 33 assists as a team - resulting in a 106-51 victory!

Point guard, Tia Ucich ended the night with a notable 11 rebounds and 4 assists. MVP of the game, Teige completed her stat line with 22 points (73% shooting), 11 rebounds and 4 assists in 22 minutes. Robbi Ryan was kept to limited minutes facing a bit of foul trouble in the first half, but she still managed to score an impressive 20 points in a total of 18 minutes of game time; shooting at 69% from the field. And although Neseya Parker-Williams struggled with her perimeter shooting on the night, she came away leading the team with 6 assists to add to her 12 points and 9 rebounds.

Captain Chelsea Belcher contributed 11 points (50% shooting), and veteran Shani Caldwell had a notable 9 points at 67% shooting.

Head Coach Marcus Wong stated how pleased he was with the Wolves’ defence on the night and Shani added her thoughts stating, “On offense, I think we moved the ball really well – got it through people’s hands and got the ball to the right people to get the right shots.”

The Wolves are on the hunt for 7-0 as they head on the road against the Goldfield Giants this Saturday, 21 May.

Saturday Night Round 6 – Men:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves men defeated the South West Slammers in Saturday night’s Round 6 of the NBL1 West 2022 season 120-67!

The men came out of the gates flying to start the game on Saturday night, scoring on just about every possession - all but 3 of their first quarter possessions. SW Slammers took a timeout down 20-6 after back-to-back 3s made by young Wolves player Gabe Chadinha, and CJ Turnage. The Slammers settled in offensively for a bit, and got the score back to 27-20, but that was as close as the game would get.

The Wolves were great with their passing. 11 of their 15 made field goals in the first quarter came off of assists. To stretch out their lead at the end of the first quarter they finished with a Julian Pesava 3, and the second 3 of the quarter by Gabe Chadinha on back-to-back possessions. The lead was at 37-21 at quarter time. 

The second quarter was slightly less of an offensive explosion, but the Wolves did add another 30 onto the board, and still were scoring at will. To close the half, with the score at 61-40, Maris Colton drove hard and was fouled on a dunk attempt and made both free throws, then CJ Turnage followed that up with two aggressive drives in a row in pick and roll, both for scores, extending the lead to 67-40.

The 3^rd quarter was the Wolves best defensive quarter. The Slammers failed to score until 2:51 left on the clock in the 3^rd and by then, the score was 87-40. That marked a 20-0 run to start the half all but solidifying the game. 

With the Wolves up 96-48 at the quarter break, many Wolves juniors got some valuable playing time. Gabe Chadinha played 20 minutes on the night, had 8 points and 3 assists, and played some really nice, aggressive defense.  Ned Oneran and Ben Geel played the full forth quarter. Ned went 2/3 on the game, scoring 5 points and Ben chipped in an old-fashioned “and-one” finish for 3 points on the game. Tariq Muturi and Zion Warioba also got court time on a night where both of them made the 12-man squad for the first time of their careers. Zion scored 4 points and Tariq scored 3. All 12 Wolves players scored at least 3 points on the game.

CJ Turnage led the way as MVP with 22 points, 7 assists and 5 steals in only 24 minutes, and Julian Pesava chipped in 20 points and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes. Joel Vaiangina had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and a couple of monstrous dunks we expect to see in the NBL1 highlights for the week. 

Julian Pesava shared his thoughts on the young players’ contribution to the night:

“It’s great for both our women’s and men’s programs to have a huge win and let a lot of the younger guys get some experience; they push us in practice and it’s good for them to come in and get some burning and see what it’s like in the game. And I think they did really great - defensively, offensively; they were making moves very confidently and it was good to see.”

A great team win for the Wolves who go on a really tough road trip to the Goldfield Giants this week – Saturday 21 May for the NBL1 Round 7. If you can’t make the drive out, be sure to watch online via the livestream right here on our website!