East Spotlight | Norris shoots Sharks to big win

Featured image: Rob Sheeley/@robshots

Maddy Norris was on fire early with 18 points in the first quarter and 24 to half-time before finishing with seven triples as the Sutherland Sharks made it a double win NBL1 East weekend beating the Penrith Panthers 88-56.

The Sharks started their weekend beating the Sydney Comets also on the road ahead of arriving at Minto Indoor Sports Centre against a Panthers team making their only appearance of the weekend but having lost eight straight.

It didn’t take long for Sutherland to get going and Norris set the tone with five three-pointers and 18 points in the first quarter before another six on two long balls in the second term to help the Sharks to the 59-36 half-time advantage.

The Sharks went on to score the 32-point victory from there to improve to a 6-4 record on the season with the double win weekend.

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It was a dominant performance from Sutherland for the double win weekend with 45 per cent shooting from the floor along with going 12/35 from three-point range even though that was just 1/13 after half-time.

The damage was done by then and it was Maddy Norris setting the tone with 18 points in the first quarter on the way to 26 for the game with 14 rebounds and six assists on 7/14 shooting from three-point land.

Lauren Nicholson also provided 17 points, six assists and five rebounds on 3/7 three-point shooting while Abi Curtin contributed 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals, Olivia Douglas 11 points, nine boards, six steals and three assists, and Jordyn Dewhurst seven points and three rebounds.

Penrith are now 1-10 on the season with the nine straight defeats on the back of scoring just the 56 points on 28 per cent shooting even though they did manage 11/24 from outside the arc.

Tatiana Beaumont top scored with 18 points and two assists with 5/6 three-point shooting for the Panthers with Chanel Bastin adding 10 points and three boards, Sofia Hunt nine points and three assists, and Maria Garcia Leon eight points and 13 rebounds.

The Sharks were looking to back up their win the previous night and started strongly away to the Panthers with 25 points to 17 in the first quarter with Maddy Norris unstoppable with 18 points on 5/8 three-point shooting.

Sutherland then kept that momentum going with another 34 points to 19 on the way to leading by as much as 29 points and being on top 59-36 by the major break.

Norris was up to 24 points on 7/11 three-point shooting by half-time with Lauren Nicholson adding 12 points with 2/3 long-range shooting herself with the Sharks going 11/22 as a team by half-time.

Tatiana Beaumont did have 15 points on 4/5 shooting from behind the arc herself for Penrith despite the 23-point deficit and her team having 13 turnovers.

The scoring really dried up from both teams in the third quarter with them combining for just 21 points with Sutherland scoring another 12 points on 6/17 shooting with Penrith managing just nine on 3/18.

The Sharks then managed 17 points to 11 in the final term on the way to the 32-point victory to make it a double win weekend.

The Panthers will be back in action on Saturday June 13 when they host the Norths Bears while on that same evening the Sharks will play host to the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

PENRITH PANTHERS 56 (Beaumont 18, Bastin 10, Hunt 9)

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 88 (Norris 26, Nicholson 17, Curtin 12)