East Spotlight | Olechnowicz shoots CoE to third straight

Featured image: @DiscoveryOne_Photography, Greg Francis

Olivia Olechnowicz top scored with 19 points and hit three triples to help lead the Centre of Excellence to a third straight win in the NBL1 East and starting their local double with the Canberra Nationals with the 93-71 victory.

Both teams will play twice in the space of 24 hours heading into the King's Birthday long weekend and each of them won twice last weekend too.

Caitie Jones showed the way in wins for the Nationals against the Central Coast Crusaders and Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders while the CoE had wins over the Newcastle Falcons and Sydney Comets.

It was the Centre of Excellence in control virtually from the start, though, leading by seven points at quarter-time, 16 at half-time and 19 at three quarter-time before completing the deal on the 22-point win to improve to an 11-4 record.

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The CoE ended up shooting 46 per cent for the game to 36 from Canberra while they went 12/30 from behind the three-point line to 7/30, and also force the Nationals into 20 turnovers as they ended up getting up an extra six shot attempts.

Plenty of Centre of Excellence players had a big impact but none more so than Olivia Olechnowicz who delivered 19 points, four rebounds and three assists with 3/5 three-point shooting.

Reece Anticevic also produced 15 points with 3/6 three-point shooting while Eliza Shanahan contributed 13 points and two steals with 3/5 shooting from downtown, and Jasmine Jones 11 points and four assists.

Zara Russell also had nine points, two rebounds and two assists, Lily Mapp eight points, 22 boards and two assists, and Aspen Crase six points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Allison Day top scored for Canberra with 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals with Callie Bourne contributing 13 points, 10 boards, six assists and three steals.

Zara Funnell added 13 points while Caitie Jones had 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals with just 4/15 shooting, and Skye Rees nine points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.

Canberra came into the double against the Centre of Excellence coming off two wins last weekend while the CoE also won twice to set the tone nicely for their back-to-back match ups.

The Centre of Excellence ended up having the better of the opening quarter with 24 points to 17 including leading by as much as nine along the way.

The CoE took further control in the second period with another 24 points to 15 with that lead getting out to as much as 16.

Along the way, over the first half they showed their depth with 24 points from the bench to four along with 26 points in the paint to 14, and nine second chance points to two.

The Centre of Excellence as a result were leading 48-32 by half-time before that lead grew to 22 points in their favour in the third quarter with yet another 14 points in the paint to six and completing an 11-0 scoring run.

That saw the CoE take the 74-55 lead into three quarter-time before another 19 points to 16 in the last term saw them secure the 22-point victory on their home floor.

The two teams will do it all again now on Friday evening at Southern Cross Stadium in Tuggeranong heading into the King's Birthday long weekend.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 93 (Olechnowicz 19, Anticevic 15, Shanahan 13)

CANBERRA NATIONALS 71 (Day 17, Funnell 13, Bourne 13)