East Spotlight | Shelley stars again as Bears stay perfect

Featured image: Aaron Camua | @aaron.camua

Jaz Shelley delivered another 32 points, 10 assists and six three-pointers and the Norths Bears were too much for the Centre of Excellence to remain undefeated this NBL1 East season with the 92-66 victory.

The Bears were back home at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre facing a real challenge to their undefeated streak by the Centre of Excellence who had won twice last weekend following a loss to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

It was a dominant start to the game from Norths with 25 points to nine in the first quarter holding the CoE to shooting just 4/17 before they also took further control in the second half.

The Bears had 49 points to 29 in the second half on the way to the 26-point victory to improve to a perfect 12-0 record on the season with the Centre of Excellence slipping to 8-3 with the loss.

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Norths finished the game shooting 46 per cent from the field, 15/33 from downtown and 11/11 at the foul line opposed to 40 per cent from the CoE with 5/19 from deep and just 5/7 at the stripe.

Jaz Shelley continued her dazzling MVP-level form for the Bears as they stayed unbeaten on the back of her 32 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and three steals with 11/22 shooting from the field, 6/12 from behind the arc and 4/4 at the free-throw line.

Caitlyn Martin also had 16 points and four assists with 4/8 three-point shooting, Talya Brugler 14 points and 13 rebounds, Emma Donnelly 11 points, six boards and two assists, and Issy Morgan eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Isabel Smith ended up top scoring for the Centre of Excellence with 22 points and five rebounds with Olivia Olechnowicz contributing 13 points, three boards, three steals and two assists on 3/4 three-point shooting.

Reece Anticevic added 12 points and seven rebounds for the CoE, and Lily Mapp four points to go with 10 rebounds.

The undefeated Bears knew their streak was potentially receiving its biggest challenge and as a result they shot out of the blocks to open up a 16-point lead already by quarter-time on the Centre of Excellence.

Jaz Shelley already had 13 points to her name and Caitlyn Martin seven with the Bears leading 25-9 by quarter-time with the CoE only managing to shoot 4/17 from the field while also having five turnovers.

The Centre of Excellence did work back into the contest in the second term by outscoring the Bears 28 to 18 and going on a 13-0 run to get right back into it.

Isabel Smith and Olivia Olechnowicz were up to 11 points each by half-time for the CoE after a quarter where they shot 12/20 from the field and 4/6 from downtown to the 7/19 from the Bears.

Norths were still leading 43-37 by the break and then it was the Bears pushing out to another handy lead by three quarter-time thanks to a buzzer-beating three ball from Martin.

That took her to 13 points and had the Bears leading 67-51 with Shelley up to 22 points and seven assists before Norths went on with the job from there with another 25 points to 15 in the last quarter to win by 26 and improve to 12-0 on the season.

The Centre of Excellence will attempt to hit back on Sunday when they host the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders while the Bears are next in action next Saturday when they are also at home to the Maitland Mustangs.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

NORTHS BEARS 92 (Shelley 32, Martin 16, Brugler 14)

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 66 (Smith 22, Olechnowicz 13, Anticevic 12)