South Spotlight | Cobras survive Falcons scare to go 4-0

Featured image: Shane Panther | @shanejpg.sport 

The Waverley Falcons scored 12 straight points after being down 15 late in the third quarter but the Kilsyth Cobras managed to hold them out in a thrilling finish for the 82-80 Thursday night NBL1 South win.

The Cobras were back home at Kilsyth Sports Centre putting their undefeated record on the line against the Falcons and the home team looked on track to do exactly that when up five with two minutes to play in the third period.

That's when Waverley got on a roll with the last 10 points of the third frame and the first two of the fourth, and they ended up hitting the lead and being up 80-79 late when Amelia Todhunter hit a three ball.

Haylee Andrews then scored a tough bucket for Kilsyth before a turnover from either team allowed the Cobras to secure the two-point win and go to 4-0 on the season.

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Kilsyth maintains a perfect record to start the season with the win with Nikita Young finishing with 23 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals without missing a shot.

Young only took two shot attempts in the second half and eight for the game, but she went 8/8 along with 3/3 from deep and 4/5 at the foul line in her 28 minutes.

Along with her huge plays late, Haylee Andrews ended up only narrowly missing a triple-double with nine points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Catelyn Van Es also had 14 points and three rebounds for the Cobras, Lily Exton 10 points, six boards and two assists, Ariel Jenkins nine points and three rebounds, Emme Shearer eight points, seven boards and three assists, and Georgia McBean seven points and two rebounds.

The Falcons are now 2-3 to start the season with Maddi Utti putting in another strong showing with 25 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots on 10/17 shooting from the field and 4/5 at the line.

Sophia Locandro added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Waverley, Amelia Todhunter nine points, four assists and four steals, Tayla Dalton nine points five rebounds and four assists, Hannah Rapp nine points, five boards and five assists, and Millie McCarthy eight points and three rebounds.

The Thursday night match up saw Kilsyth get off to a strong start with an 8-0 run leading into quarter-time to be leading 24-18 on the back of 11 points with perfect shooting from Nikita Young.

The Cobras shot the ball at 45 per cent opposed to 38 from the Falcons along with pulling down six offensive rebounds to two to get four extra shot attempts.

Both teams got to the foul line plenty in the second quarter with the Cobras going 9/11 and the Falcons 4/8 and in the end Kilsyth put up 26 points to 25 from Waverley to go into the half-time break still leading 50-43.

Young continued her perfect shooting night going 6/6 from the field and 2/2 from deep to lead the Cobras with 18 points while Maddi Utti had eight points on 7/10 shooting for Waverley even though the Falcons were -13 with her out there.

Kilsyth remained in control for a lot of the third quarter too and were leading by a game-high 15 with just over two minutes to play, but that's when the Falcons responded impressively.

Waverley closed the third quarter by scoring the last 10 points and suddenly it was just a five-point ball game by three quarter-time.

The Falcons kept that momentum going with the first two points of the fourth quarter and after drawing level a couple of times, the visitors eventually claimed the lead with a three-point play from Utti with just over five minutes on the clock.

Catelyn Van Es responded to put the Cobras back on top but then Amelia Todhunter hit a massive three with two minutes to play to give Waverley the one-point edge.

Haylee Andrews then made a tough finish driving to the basket to put Kilsyth back up one and the home team had the chance to extend that lead on the final possession that started with 23 seconds to go.

However, Young threw the ball out of bounds giving the ball back to Waverley with 10.3 seconds to play. It was a similar story with Utti losing the ball on the dribble and that was enough for Kilsyth to secure the win with Andrews making one at the line and missing the second for time to expire.

Kilsyth back up against Frankston Blues on the road on Saturday night with Waverley not to play again until a road trip to the Mount Gambier Pioneers on Anzac Day.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

KILSYTH COBRAS 82 (Young 23, Van Es 14, Exton 10)

WAVERLEY FALCONS 80 (Utti 25, Locandro 17, Todhunter 9, Dalton 9, Rapp 9)