North Spotlight | Emphatic start to Logan title defence

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It was a 25-4 start to the NBL1 North championship defence from Logan Thunder and they turned that into the season-opening 94-49 hammering of the Gold Coast Rollers on Sunday.

It was the final game of the opening round of the NBL1 North season at Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium with Gold Coast trying to start encouragingly after winning the last three games of 2025.

It was a significant test up against the defending champions, though, and that proved the case with Logan on fire from the start with the lead 15-2, 25-4 and 37-8 advantage.

They maintained control the rest of the way to end up winning by 45 points while forcing Gold Coast into 30 turnovers and starting their championship defence on the road in ideal fashion.

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It was as commanding a start to a championship defence as you can get with Logan shooting 14/40 from downtown and 46 overall while having 17 offensive rebounds but they left some points out there with the 8/19 free-throw shooting including Leah Scott's 2/9.

Scott still had 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals despite that with Vahayliah Seumanutafa starring with 24 points on 9/12 shooting from the field and 4/7 from behind the arc.

Kendell Heremaia also had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals, Mikhaela Cann 12 points, eight assists, seven steals and five rebounds, Maddy Allen 11 points and two assists, and Prasayus Notoa 10 points and 11 rebounds.

It wasn’t the type of performance Gold Coast were hoping to start the season with after winning the last three games of 2026 and with New Zealand basketball great Pero Cameron in charge.

The Rollers shot just 33 per cent for the game with 5/22 from downtown and had 30 turnovers to only manage 29 fewer shot attempts than Logan.

Emma Petrie finished with 10 points and seven rebounds with Ariana Moorer contributing 10 points and three boards, Tara Manumaleuga nine points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Nyah Morris seven points and five boards.

On the back of last season's championship triumph, Logan couldn’t have possibly been more dominant to start 2026 racing out to a 15-2 and 20-3 advantage against the remarkably youthful Gold Coast outfit.

Logan turned that into the 25-4 and were on top 37-8 by quarter-time on the back of shooting a scorching 76 per cent from the field with 6/9 from behind the arc with Vahayliah Seumanutafa having 12 points and Mikhaela Cann nine already.

It was a horror first 10 minutes from the Rollers with just the eight points and nine turnovers with 3/14 field goal shooting.

It was more of a competitive second quarter with just the 18 points from the Thunder and 13 from the Rollers with Gold Coast still well in control heading into half-time leading 55-21 with 51 per cent shooting to 24, and having forced the Rollers into 17 turnovers to take an extra 15 shots.

While Logan only managed the 17 points in the third quarter on 7/22 shooting, they again held Gold Coast to just the nine points on 2/9 with another seven turnovers to have stretched the lead to 42 by three quarter-time.

It was another 22 points to 19 in the fourth quarter in favour of the Thunder as they emphatically started their championship defence with the 45-point thumping win.

Logan will now be at home to unveil their championship banner on Anzac Day against the Brisbane Capitals while Gold remains at home to play host to the Ipswich Force.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 49 (Petrie 10, Moorer 10, Manumaleuga 9)

LOGAN THUNDER 94 (Seumanutafa 24, Heremaia 15, Scott 12, Cann 12)