South Spotlight | Pizzey leads Eltham to fourth straight

Featured image: Ian Knight Photography

The Eltham Wildcats overcame 22 points and 12 rebounds from Lou Brown for the Frankston Blues with Bec Pizzey continuing her standout NBL1 South start after playing with the New Zealand Tall Ferns in her team's 78-70 home Wednesday win.

Pizzey has been one of the players of the NBL1 South season so far by doing a bit of everything and she was instrumental once again in Wednesday night's match up with the Blues to lead her team to a fourth straight victory at Montmorency Secondary College.

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After Frankston raced out to an 11-2 start, Eltham outscored them 51 points to 25 the rest of the first half to end up leading by as much as 19 in the second half on the way to the eventual eight-point win that takes them to 4-1 on the season.

It's four straight wins now for Eltham with Pizzey at the forefront of everything they are doing coming off playing a key role for the New Zealand Tall Ferns in a FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico.

She delivered another standout all-round performance made up of 19 points, eight rebounds, six steals, three assists and two blocked shots.

Lil Dart also finished with 14 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals, Mackenzie Smith 12 points, four boards, two assists and two steals, and Emily Maltezos 11 points and four assists with 3/6 shooting from downtown.

Sara Rose-Smith was also a team-high +14 in her 25 minutes for four points and eight rebounds in the Eltham victory.

Frankston couldn’t quite maintain their hot start even though they did fight hard in the second half with Lou Brown finishing with 22 points and 12 rebounds but she did only manage seven points and three boards after half-time.

Pahlyss Hokianga delivered 15 points, four rebounds and two steals with 4/7 three-point shooting while Emily Monaghan contributed 14 points, four boards, four assists and three steals with 4/10 shooting from behind the arc.

Sianni Martin also had 14 points and two assists, and Jacqui Trotto nine rebounds including four at the offensive end to go with three assists, two blocks and two points.

It was a flying start on the Wednesday night away from home by Frankston and they were leading 11-2 3:15 into the game once Emily Monaghan scored and forced Matt Bongetti into the early timeout.

Eltham did respond well straight out of that timeout with five quick points to Emily Maltezos but it was still Frankston leading 24-21 by quarter-time with Lou Brown already having six points and five rebounds to her name while they shot 10/18 from the floor opposed to the 8/19 from the Wildcats.

The 'Cats then totally took control of the contest in the second quarter by piling on 31 points on the back of shooting 10/18 from the field, 5/10 from downtown and even 7/10 at the foul line.

Eltham also had just the one turnover in the second frame after four in the first and with Bec Pizzey already having an impressive stat-line of 13 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists, the home team went into half-time on top 53-36.

That was despite Brown having another nine points and four rebounds in that second quarter but by half-time, the rest of her Frankston teammates had just 21 points with 8/22 shooting.

Frankston were able to clamp down on Eltham in the third quarter holding them to just 10 points and the Blues did score eight straight themselves to get back within 12 by three quarter-time.

Frankston couldn’t quite get close enough to strike in the final term, though, with Eltham holding firm for the eight-point Wednesday night win at home for the fourth straight victory.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday night in Round 3 of the NBL1 South with the Wildcats on the road to the Ballarat Miners while the Blues play host to the Kilsyth Cobras.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

ELTHAM WILDCATS 78 (Pizzey 19, Dart 14, Smith 12)

FRANKSTON BLUES 70 (Brown 22, Hokianga 15, Martin 14, Monaghan 14)