South Spotlight | Falcons make it four straight

Featured image: Cam Brown | @cambrownvisuals

The Waverley Falcons were down four at half-time but outscored the Diamond Valley Eagles 42 points to 29 in the second half to make it four straight wins with the 71-62 home victory on King's Birthday.

It was the wrap up of the King's Birthday long weekend at Waverley Basketball Centre for both teams with the Falcons coming into the contest on a three-game winning run while the Eagles were attempting to bounce back from a last up loss to the Eltham Wildcats.

Waverley were then leading by four points at quarter-time before Diamond Valley took over with 16 points to eight in the second to be on top 33-29 by half-time.

But the Falcons took over from there with 42 points to 29 over the final 20 minutes to secure the nine-point victory and improve to an 8-5 record with the four consecutive victories.

It's back-to-back losses now for Diamond Valley as they slip to a 9-5 record.

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It was a strong showing especially outside of the third quarter from Waverley for the fourth straight win with Liana Kinkela finishing with 12 points and six rebounds while Katelyn Shumate had 12 points, seven boards and two assists despite the 4/13 field goal shooting.

Maddi Utti produced another 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Amelia Todhunter 10 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, Tayla Dalton nine points, five steals, three rebounds and three assists, and Hannah Rapp seven points on 2/2 three-point shooting.

It's back-to-back losses now for Diamond Valley with Isis Beh finishing with 15 points and four rebounds on 5/5 shooting from the floor and 5/6 at the foul line.

Alex Sharp also had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Eagles, Shannon Dufficy 10 points, three boards and two assists, Erin Riley nine points and two rebounds, and Abbey Ellis five points on 1/9 shooting with seven boards, three assists and two steals.

Having sat out the long weekend, both teams dusted themselves off to wrap up King's Birthday by hitting the floor and it was the Falcons who pushed out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter and were still on top 21-17 by quarter-time.

Things dried up significantly for Waverley in the second quarter and they ended up managing just the eight points and Diamond Valley put up 16 and that saw the visitors head into half-time leading 33-29.

Isis Beh had 11 points for the Eagles and Alex Sharp 10 while Abbey Ellis was scoreless on 0/5 shooting, but they were still leading by four with just the five turnovers and getting to the foul line 12 times to five.

Katelyn Shumate did have eight of the 29 points for Waverley but they were shooting just 38 per cent from the field and combined with only five free-throw attempts and 11 turnovers they were down four at the half.

The Falcons turned things around in the third quarter with 18 points to 11 with nine free-throw attempts while only sending the Eagles there twice and holding them to 5/15 shooting and forced them into five turnovers.

That saw Waverley leading 47-44 by three quarter-time before the home team took care of business to close out the game with another 24 points to 18 in the final term for the nine-point Monday night victory at home.

The Falcons will look to keep their momentum going at home to the Nunawading Spectres on Saturday as the Eagles attempt to bounce back on the road to the Dandenong Rangers.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

WAVERLEY FALCONS 71 (Kinkela 12, Shumate 12, Utti 11)

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 62 (Beh 15, Sharp 12, Dufficy 10)