Chambers Franklyn Game Review

Saturday Night Round 7 – Women:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves women had their seventh straight win on Saturday night, defeating the Goldfield Giants in Round 7 of the NBL1 West 2022 season, 91-60!

It was a transition battle to start the first quarter; both teams ready to run and gun back and forth at a fast pace with a Giants’ attack on the rim miss, defensive rebound, Wolves’ missed jump shot, defensive rebound. Then a steal by Teige Morrell resulted in the first two points on the board by Robbi Ryan, which Giants star guard, Emma Kiasztorny, immediately answered back with a 2-point layup of her own. It would seem defence was going to be the difference maker on the night.

And the Wolves wasted no time in taking control and setting their own pace with defensive stops reverting into some solid offensive sets – overtaking the Giants 32-17 in the first quarter. It would be the highest scoring quarter for the Wolves on the night, but also for the Giants as the Wolves went on to keep them to 16, 12 and 15 in the remaining quarters.

Robbi Ryan had 8 points at quarter break including a highlight-worthy 3-point bomb. Teige chipped in 11 of her own, and the team was rolling. Robbi and Teige both went into half-time with 15 points and the Wolves held a solid lead, 51-33.

With limited minutes in the first half due to 3 fouls early in the second quarter, Neseya-Parker Williams came out firing in the third - contributing an easy 6 points to the score board. Tia Ucich’s knockdown 3 and shifty moves in the key resulting in a great finish added another 5 points to the board.

The fourth quarter showcased the depth of the Wolves team with Akim Lual, Hannah Duncan, Olivia Basso and Aryaan Horne all contributing some good minutes – a couple big rebounds from Hannah, a rebound, steal and assist from Ary and one 3 a piece for Olivia, Laniesha and Akim.

In the end, the Wolves defence proved to be the difference maker with 17 steals resulting in 19 points from turnovers to the Giants’ 3. Robbi’s game MVP performance included an offensive stat line of 23 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, along with a phenomenal defensive effort – holding Giants’ import, Danielle McCray to just 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Teige finished the night with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals; Neseya with 12 points and 5 steals; Tia with 13 points and 7 rebounds and Laniesha with a notable 10 points.

Head Coach Marcus Wong shared his thoughts on the game: “I’m really proud of how the girls approached the trip. The travel makes a tough game even tougher, and the girls stayed disciplined and focused on the task ahead. The score line doesn’t really give a true reflection of how tough the game was – they are a good group and play hard for 40 minutes. We probably put in one of our best defensive efforts for the year, so we are really happy with that.”

The Wolves are on the hunt for 8-0 this Saturday, 28 May against the Mandurah Magic as they return to home territory. Be sure to come out and cheer them on to another victory!

Saturday Night Round 7 – Men:

The Chambers Franklyn City of Joondalup Wolves men lost by 3 on the road to the Goldfield Giants in Saturday night’s Round 7 of the NBL1 West 2022 season 70-73.

It ended up coming down to a single possession Saturday night, a sideline out of bounds with 3 seconds left, down 3. The Giants guarded it well and Julian Pesava ended up with a tough, leaning 3 at the buzzer that was off the mark.

It was a back and forth first quarter, and the game was very close. Julian Pesava and Jonathan Wade came out well. Goldfields was pressuring full court, and throughout the first quarter, Wade and Pesava got kick ahead passes over the top of pressure, and got to the rim for scores. The Giant’s leading scorer, Jesse Ghee was held very quiet in the first quarter. He only took one shot in the quarter, a miss, and was held to zero points. Giants’ big men Manylok Malek and Hussayn Ford picked up the slack hitting midrange shots.

The second quarter was the worst quarter for the Wolves. The score was 23-24 at quarter time but the Wolves lost the second quarter 16-23. Offensively the Wolves failed to convert shots in the paint, and then the Giants made their run as two things happened – Jesse Ghee got rolling with 9 points for the quarter and the Wolves failed to secure defensive rebounds, giving Goldfields some easy loose ball putbacks to maintain momentum. Down 11, about to go into half, Jonathan Wade hit a big corner 3 with 2 seconds left to cut the score to 8. The score was 39-47 at halftime.

The Wolves came out hungry in the second half and their defense and rebounding clearly picked up. After scoring 47 points in the first half, the Giants would be held to 26 points for the entire second half. Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn’t score it quite well enough to take advantage of their stingy defense. They were great the 3^rd quarter though and cut the 8-point halftime deficit to a tie game 58-58, winning the quarter 19-11. This was on the back of a good play by CJ Turnage, some great hustle-play scores by Joel Vaiangina, and some timely shots by Maris Colton, who was playing the whole game with a bandaged-up head from an elbow he took about 60 seconds after taking the court in the first quarter.

The Wolves’ defense was tremendous in the fourth quarter again, holding the Giants to only 15 points. You’d think that would be enough to get over the line, but it wasn’t. The well dried up for the Wolves offensively. It went back and forth in a very exciting quarter. CJ Turnage had a couple big buckets, but then with 4 min left, the Wolves failed to score a few possessions in a row, including a couple turnovers. This led to a 7-0 run for the Giants including a big transition dunk by Hussayn Ford, and Coach David Morrell called a timeout down 7 with 4 minutes to go.

With 40 seconds left, Wolves had the ball down only 1, and they had an ugly, disrupted possession following a Turnage/Vaiangina pick and roll that was guarded well. After this stop, the Wolves had to put the Giants to the free throw line. With 3 seconds left, Jesse Ghee made both. Then the one possession to try to tie the game, the Wolves missed the 3 and came up just short.

MVP of the game, CJ Turnage ended up with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists. Julian Pesava had 16, and Jonathan Wade had 13. Joel Vaiangina also had a double-double on his birthday, 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Head Coach David Morrell shared his thoughts on the game: “We are happy with how our defensive system and mentality has been building. Holding the Giants to 73 points in Kalgoorlie where they are extremely tough, should be enough of an effort to win that game. But offensively we still have a lot of growing to do. We just left plays on the floor we needed to finish, and we didn’t consistently get what we needed to in the 4^th quarter. All game, we showed that we have a lot of work to do on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Wolves return home this Saturday, 28 May against the Mandurah Magic. Be sure to come out and cheer them on to victory! We’ll see you there, Wolfpack family!