North Recap | Quarter Finals Friday

Image credit: @simons_sportpics

Mackay Meteorettes were playing catch up most of the night but Unique Thompson, Monique Bobongie and Amari Robinson combined for the last six points as they won their NBL1 North quarter-final over Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

NORTH RECAP | ROUND 13 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Mackay Meteorettes (92) defeated Sunshine Coast Phoenix (89)

The Mackay Meteorettes were playing catch up virtually all evening but they stuck with the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and then to the delight of their home fans scored the last six points for the 92-89 quarter-final victory.

The seasons of both the Meteorettes and Phoenix went on the line at Mackay Basketball Stadium on Friday night to open the NBL1 North finals.

Both teams will have aspirations of being title contenders too but the reality is that the season would be over for one of them by the end of the opening night of the finals series for 2025.

Mackay finished the regular season in fourth position with a 10-4 record to only miss out on third place thanks to the season split with Cairns while Sunshine Coast were three games back but only one position below at 7-7 in fifth.

It certainly didn’t play out like a game between two teams with three games separating them and the first quarter saw them combine for 51 points with Sunshine Coast leading narrowly 26-25 by quarter-time.

The Phoenix then took control of the contest by completing a 13-0 run into the second period which saw their lead grow to as much as 15 points, and by half-time the visitors were still well in control with that 50-35 advantage.

Mackay had their work cut out to get back into the contest on their home floor and they did fire up in the third term by piling on 33 points with 11/21 shooting from the field with 5/11 from downtown to the 4/16 shooting for just 17 points from Sunshine Coast.

That did mean that the Meteorettes grabbed the one-point lead by three quarter-time thank to a couple of late free throws from Cheyenne Bobongie.

The stage was set for the big finish in the elimination match up with Sunshine Coast regaining the lead with the first four points of the fourth period and they soon were back out to a five-point advantage when Shannon Ryan knocked down a pair of foul shots.

Sunshine Coast were then still leading by three thanks to a bucket from Amy Browne with just over two minutes to play, but they wouldn’t score again the rest of the way.

It took more than a minute for Mackay to score themselves but it came on the fast break with a Hannah Jensen block on Kayla Mathews up one end that led to Unique Thompson finishing up the other to cut the deficit to one.

Thompson then scored again 30 seconds later and Sunshine Coast were struggling to even up shot attempts late in the piece with Mackay's desperation shining through.

Then even with Cheyenne Bobongie missing a pair of free throws, Amari Robinson nabbed the massive offensive rebound and was subsequently fouled, and then hit the game clinching two foul shots for Mackay to advance with the three-point victory.

The season for the Meteorettes now extends into next week where they take on the Southern Districts Spartans with the winner to advance to the NBL1 North grand final series for 2025.

Ahead of her first WNBL season coming up at the Sydney Flames, former NBL1 East grand final MVP Unique Thompson was outstanding in the win for Mackay with 30 points and 13 rebounds with 13/23 field goal shooting.

She had plenty of strong support too with Monique Bobongie finishing with 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals, Emme Shearer 18 points and three assists, Amari Robinson 14 points and eight rebounds, and Cheyenne Bobongie four points, nine boards, eight assists and two steals.

The season is over for Sunshine Coast despite leading for almost 29 minutes of the game with Erin Bollmann delivering 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, four steals and two blocks in a tremendous all-round showing despite shooting 8/27 from the field.

Shannon Ryan finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for the Phoenix, Jessica Boundy 12 points, five boards, two assists and two steals, Amy Browne 10 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Kayla Mathews nine points, four assists, two boards and two blocks.

MACKAY METEORETTES 92 (Thompson 30, M Bobongie 19, Shearer 18)

SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 89 (Bollmann 25, Ryan 18, Boundy 12)