North Spotlight | McDowell-White sisters rule again for Spartans

Featured image: @taylorearnshaw.photog

Jess McDowell-White had her second straight triple-double to start the NBL1 North season while sister Hayley had 41 points on 10 three-pointers as the Southern Districts Spartans won big again 95-66 away to the Rockhampton Cyclones.

Coming off being so close to winning last year's championship by winning Game 1 of the Grand Final Series before losing the next two to the Logan Thunder, the Spartans have come into the 2026 season on a mission.

They beat the Brisbane Capitals by 44 points last week and then repeated the dose on the road to the 2024 champion Cyclones at Bravus Arena on Anzac Day eve.

Hayley McDowell-White set the tone with four threes in the first quarter and ended the night hitting 10 of them with the Spartans ending up leading by as much as 31 on the way to the 29-point victory to go to 2-0 and send the Cyclones to 0-2.

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With Hayley McDowell-White making 10 of them, Southern Districts knocked down 19/45 from three-point range for the game and 45 of their 78 shot attempts in the game came from beyond the arc while Rockhampton only managed to shoot 7/36 at 19 per cent from deep.

The McDowell-White sisters were again outstanding in the big win for Southern Districts with Hayley landing 10/23 from behind the three-point line for 41 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Then Jess had her second straight triple-double to open 2026 with 11 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds to go with four steals while being a +29 for the game the same as Hayley.

Abby Solway added 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Spartans, Emily Preston 10 points, five boards and three steals, and Kalani Purcell pulled down 10 rebounds to go with two points, three assists and three blocked shots.

Rockhampton are now 0-2 to start the season with Gracie Stugart top-scoring with 20 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Isla Shackleton added 12 points and four rebounds, Halle Shipton 12 points, seven boards and two assists, and Emily Kiser six points and 11 rebounds.

It was a home opener for Rockhampton and they did start well enough to lead by seven halfway through the first quarter before the Spartans took total control.

Southern Districts went on to score 20 consecutive points and that saw them leading 25-12 by quarter-time on the back of 11 points with four triples from Hayley McDowell-White while they hit 7/12 as a team up against the 2/11 from the Cyclones.

Rockhampton were able to work back into the contest in the second quarter outscoring Southern Districts 24 points to 17 and that limited the lead from the Spartans to 42-36 by the half-time interval.

It was Southern Districts' turn to take back complete control in the third frame as they went on another 13-0 scoring run to open up a 25-point lead and to end up outscoring Rockhampton 30-14 to go into three quarter-time on top 72-50.

The lead got out to 31 as well in the last term for the Spartans as they ended up going on to win by 29 to continue their ominous start to the season after being so close to a championship in 2025.

The Spartans remain up north to take on the Mackay Meteorettes now on Anzac Day while the Cyclones don't play again until hosting the Brisbane Capitals on Sunday May 10.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | ANZAC ROUND

ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES 66 (Stugart 20, Shackleton 12, Shipton 12)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 95 (H McDowell-White 41, Solway 18, J McDowell-White 11)