South Spotlight | Keilor dig deep to beat Nunawading

Featured image: Rachel Louise - Rachel Louise Photography @rachellouisephotographyau

Keilor Thunder overcame the absence of Maddy Rocci as she chases her WNBA dream with Izzy Wightman and Lara McSpadden coming up huge to beat the Nunawading Spectres 70-53 who had another off shooting performance.

The Spectres came into the weekend having won their opening four matches of the season, but their shooting went cold on Saturday night in a loss to the defending champion Knox Raiders.

They had the chance to quickly hit back on Sunday at Nunawading Basketball Centre but it wasn’t to be as they went 2/14 in the first quarter to set the tone for the afternoon with Keilor able to take control and be in charge of the whole contest to win by 17.

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Keilor made up for the absence of Maddy Rocci as she attempts to make the WNBA having signed a training camp contract with the Toronto Tempo with a strong all-round team performance.

The Thunder are now 3-2 on the season with Izzy Wightman stepping up for 24 points and five rebounds on 10/16 shooting from the field and 3/5 from downtown.

Lara McSpadden celebrated her 100th game in the NBL1 with 21 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals with Macey Boyle providing 12 points, five boards and four assists, and Kasey Burton five points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals.

It was a second straight tough offensive outing for the Spectres of the weekend with them only ending up going 26 per cent from the field and 6/27 from downtown which meant they were never really in the game despite taking five extra shots and five more free throws.

Nunawading are now 4-2 after the hot start to 2026 with Kylee Blacksten top-scoring with 15 points and three rebounds despite going 4/15, but she did make all six foul shots.

Kate Tanner added nine points, 10 rebounds and two steals despite shooting 3/12 with Rachel Antoniadou adding nine points, Teagan Potter seven and three rebounds, and Riley Lupfer six on 2/13 shooting.

Nunawading returned home trying to bounce back from their first loss of the season the previous night but they didn’t get the opening they wanted with Keilor racing out to the 20-5 opening.

The Thunder were still leading 20-8 by quarter-time with 11 points from Izzy Wightman while in her 100th NBL1 game, Lara McSpadden had seven points and five rebounds.

Keilor shot 9/17 to Nunawading's 2/14 for the lead before retaining control through the second quarter too with another 24 points to 21.

That saw the Thunder leading 44-29 going into the main break on 53 per cent shooting heading into the locker room to the 30 from the Spectres including just 3/16 from behind the three-point arc.

Wightman went into the half on 17 points with 7/9 shooting while McSpadden was also up to 13 and eight.

The lead for Keilor grew to a game-high 22 points in the third quarter as well and they were still up 18 by three quarter-time, and then both teams only combined for 23 points in the final term with the Thunder getting the 17-point Sunday victory to go to 3-2 on the season.

The Spectres will try to respond to their tough weekend next Sunday on the road to the Bendigo Braves with Keilor away to the Ballarat Miners on Anzac Day.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 53 (Blacksten 15, Antoniadou 9, Tanner 9)

KEILOR THUNDER 70 (Wightman 24, McSpadden 21, Boyle 12)