North Grand Final | Baldwin rules as Mackay take charge

River Baldwin dominated inside for the Mackay Meteorettes and they couldn’t have been more emphatic in Game 1 of the NBL1 North Grand Final series hammering the Townsville Flames 107-78.

The two teams finished third and fourth at the end of the regular season with identical 11-5 records but had similar paths to this weekend's Grand Final series that will be held at Townsville's Carmichael Ford Stadium.

The Flames started the finals with a thrilling two-point win against the Southern Districts Spartans and then beat the Cairns Dolphins by four points last Saturday night to earn the hosting rights to the Grand Final.

The Meteorettes beat the Northside Wizards at home to start the finals and then beat the regular season champion Logan Thunder by a solitary point in a heart stopper last Saturday to win their way into the Grand Final.

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It didn’t take Mackay long to take charge of the contest and they went on a 9-0 run in the first quarter on the way to the eventual 30-16 lead by quarter-time.

That lead got out to as much as 15 as well in the second frame for the Meteorettes before Courtney Woods led the charge to get Townsville back into the contest.

She had 23 points to half-time and the Flames had 27 points to 20 in the second quarter to cut the half-time advantage to the Meteorettes back to 50-43 with a buzzer-beater from Chailee Ward.

Mackay were shooting 19/36 to the 16/40 from Townsville along with 10/12 at the foul line to 6/7 while the Flames had 5/15 shooting from the outside to 2/8.

If Townsville had felt back into the contest at half-time, that didn’t last long with Meteorettes dominating further in the third term with 30 points to 18on the way to building a 22-point lead along the way.

Mackay shot 12/20 from the field and 3/7 from downtown for the quarter to the 6/19 and 3/10 from Townsville to go into the three quarter-time break leading 80-61.

The Meteorettes then remained in control the rest of the way with another 27 points to 17 in the last quarter on the way to the 29-point Game 1 win to be just one win now away from a first championship of the NBL1 era, and first since three straight from 2012-13-14.

It was a domination job from Mackay with shooting 58 per cent from the field to 38 along with 18/21 from the foul line to 9/14 despite the 14 offensive rebounds to seven from Townsville.

River Baldwin was quite the imposing force inside for the Meteorettes finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks with 12/21 shooting from the field and 7/8 from the charity stripe.

Cheyenne Bobongie also had 19 points and eight assists with 3/4 three-point shooting with Monique Bobongie adding 15 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Chelsea Brook 14 points, eight boards and six assists.

Nikita Muscat also had 11 points and six rebounds, and Sammie Puisis nine points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

It's going to take quite the turnaround in Games 2 and 3 now from Townsville with MVP Courtney Woods having 23 points to half-time and finishing with 30 along with seven rebound and three assists with 5/8 shooting from the outside.

Bree Stephens contributed 20 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks, Kate Searle 12 points on 4/5 three-point shooting, and Ella Tofaeono six points, six rebounds and three assists.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | GRAND FINAL GAME 1

TOWNSVILLE FLAMES 78 (Woods 30, Stephens 20, Searle 12)

MACKAY METEORETTES 107 (Baldwin 31, C Bobongie 19, M Bobongie 15)