South Spotlight | Hawks return to winner's list

Featured image: @tashwardenphotography

It was mid-week NBL1 South basketball on Tuesday night with Ally Bates scoring 15 points with five triples to lead the Ringwood Hawks to the gritty 58-53 win over the Frankston Blues to open First Nations Round.

The two teams arrived at Norwood Secondary College keen for a rare win in 2026 with the Hawks having lost 11 of their last 12 games with the Blues on a 10-game losing run.

Both teams were down key players too with Ringwood without Jo Raflo, Izzy Feller and Emma Clarke while Frankston were still without Pahlyss Hokianga.

It turned into quite the Tuesday night grind but after Frankston hit the front early in the fourth quarter, Ringwood took back control on the way to the five-point win to improve to a 3-15 record while the Blues have now lost 10 straight at 5-13.

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Considering the rough form of both teams of late, it was never going to be overly pretty and it wasn’t with just the combined 111 points with Ringwood shooting 30 per cent to the 28 from Frankston with the Hawks going 9/32 from downtown to the Blues' 5/23.

Ringwood then also had 15 turnovers and Frankston 17 but the Hawks got the job done with Ally Bates top scoring with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists with 5/8 three-point shooting.

Chelby Koker added 12 points, seven assists and two rebounds, Taylor Mole 11 points, nine boards, five steals and three assists, Honey Kaur 10 points and seven rebounds, and Aneta Bandilovska seven points and eight boards.

It was an 11th straight loss for Frankston with Megan Mullings finishing with 13 points and seven rebounds with Emily Monaghan top scoring with 16 points, seven boards, three steals and two assists.

Jacqui Trotto also had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, and Lou Brown 10 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

Both teams came into the match up looking for some late season joy after tough campaigns in 2026 but it was tough going at the offensive end with just the 27 combined points in the first quarter.

That saw Ringwood leading 18-9 by quarter-time on 38 per cent shooting with Ally Bates, Taylor Mole and Honey Kaur all scoring six points apiece.

It was rough going for Frankston with just 1/14 shooting while they did go 6/7 from the foul line with Emily Monaghan having five of their points and Jacqui Trotto four.

It was then just 27 points again between both teams in the second term with 14 to Frankston on 5/11 shooting and 13 to Ringwood on 5/23.

But Ringwood did get up an extra 14 shot attempts thanks to 10 offensive rebounds to four, and forcing the Blues into nine turnovers and having just four themselves to see the home team still leading 31-23 by half-time.

Things then tightened up in the third quarter thanks to 18 points to 12 in favour of Frankston as they shot 6/16 from the field opposed to just the 4/12 from Ringwood.

That saw the Hawks only leading 43-41 by three quarter-time and the Blues then got on top with back-to-back threes early in the fourth quarter form Lou Brown and Monaghan.

Megan Mullings then stretched their lead to three only for Ringwood to respond with triples from Chelby Koker and Bates. Ringwood then closed out the win with a bucket to Koker and two free throws to Kaur to record a third victory for the season.

The Hawks now have another mid-week game this week when they remain at home to the Kilsyth Cobras on Thursday night while the Blues will look to bounce back on Saturday night at home to Geelong United.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

RINGWOOD HAWKS 58 (Bates 15, Koker 12, Mole 11)

FRANKSTON BLUES 53 (Monaghan 16, Mullings 13, Trotto 11)