North Spotlight | Wizards enter finals with another win

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It was a remarkable finish to the NBL1 North season with both the Northside Wizards and Mackay Meteorettes winning on Sunday to join the Townsville Flames and Southern Districts on 11 wins to occupy the last four playoff positions.

It was the last day of the regular season in the NBL1 North with the Spartans and Flames already winning on Saturday night to close their regular seasons to finish on 11-5 records.

Mackay and Northside then had doubles this weekend with both winning on Saturday night ahead of the Meteorettes away to the Gold Coast Rollers and the Wizards hosting the North Gold Coast Seahawks on Sunday.

In the end, Mackay defeated Gold Coast 84-69 and then Northside beat North Gold Coast 83-69 to leave all four teams finishing on identical 11-5 records behind the top two teams Logan Thunder (14-2) and Cairns Dolphins (13-3).

What that means is that the four teams all play in quarter finals next Saturday night with Townsville at home to Southern Districts, and Mackay hosting Northside.

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The Wizards were back home on Sunday at Northside Indoor Sports Centre fresh off beating the Sunshine Coast Phoenix the previous night ahead of hosting a Seahawks team that might be out of the playoff hunt, but are dangerous and had a positive second half of the season.

There was every chance the result wouldn’t end up changing where the Wizards finished, but they still wanted to enter the finals in winning form and started well to lead 21-16 by the end of the first quarter.

But the Seahawks stayed in touch with 23 points to 20 in the second period to limit the lead of Northside to 41-39 by half-time with Nes'eya Parker-Williams having another 11 points for the Wizards while Katie Deeble had 14 for North Gold Coast and Georgia Woolley 12.

The Wizards were able to pulled away in the third frame to open up a 12-point lead and to still be up 10 by three quarter-time with Parker-Williams adding another 10 points while they made three triples after going just 2/9 from the outside in the opening half.

Northside were then able to close the deal from there with 23 points to 19 in the final period to secure the 14-point victory and finish the season with an 11-5 record and three straight wins.

The major difference in the game was the Wizards creating 19 turnovers from the Seahawks to allow them to get up an extra 11 shot attempts with Nes'eya Parker-Williams shining again with 26 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals and four blocked shots.

Kelsey Ransom also had 22 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals, Grace Ellis 18 points, seven boards, two assists and two steals, and Nadeen Payne four points, five rebounds and four assists in just over 12 minutes.

North Gold Coast end their season at 7-9 after starting off going 0-4 and you can some definite encouraging signs moving forward after their first campaign back in the NBL1 North.

Katie Deeble ended up with 20 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Seahawks with 4/7 shooting from the outside.

Georgia Woolley had another 16 points, five assists and three rebounds, 16-year-old Charlize Brown 11 points with 5/8 field goal shooting, and Antoniette Emma-Nnopu 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 14

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 83 (Parker-Williams 26, Ransom 22, Ellis 18)

NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 69 (Deeble 20, Woolley 16, Brown 11)