South Spotlight | Raiders celebrate Leah, banner raising

Featured image: Ian Knight Photography

Despite a late Alicia Froling ejection, the Knox Raiders celebrated 200th NBL1 South game for Leah Santomaggio and their championship banner in first 2026 game at home beating the Casey Cavaliers 86-82.

On the back of last year's triumphs where the Raiders won both an NBL1 South and National championship, they hosted the Cavaliers at the State Basketball Centre on Thursday night ahead of the Easter break.

Both teams opened the new season back on Saturday night with Knox losing at the death to Maddy Rocci and Keilor Thunder while the Cavs won on the road to the Dandenong Rangers.

The Raiders were able to open up a double-figure lead early in the second half despite the best efforts for Casey of Dallas Loughridge, and Knox were still up nine with just over four minutes to play.

That's when Froling received a disqualifying foul after fighting for a loose ball and making contact with Hailey Wynd, and the Cavs made a charge from there to get back within two only for the Raiders to hold on for the four-point win.

Paige Bradley produced a monster performance in the win for Knox with 24 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds including going 4/5 from behind the three-point arc.

Before her ejection with just over four minutes to play, Froling had 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks for the Raiders with Paige Burrows adding 13 points, five assists and three boards with 3/6 long-range shooting.

Haliegh Reinoehl was +13 in her 31 minutes with 14 points, 10 rebounds and two steals while Leah Santomaggio celebrated her 200th game with 11 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Dallas Loughridge did all she could to give Casey a chance at the win finishing with 30 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals but she did only manage the two points on two shot attempts in the final quarter.

She ended up shooting 8/13 from the field, 5/7 from three-point territory and a perfect 9/9 at the free-throw line.

Chelsea D'Angelo added 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, Nyaduoth Lok 15 points, eight boards, three assists and two blocks, and Sam Bowman 10 points and 14 rebounds despite her 4/17 shooting.

Knox did some good work around the basket in the opening quarter with eight points in the paint to two and scoring six second chance points off the offensive rebounds.

Casey kept themselves in touch with some efficient shooting, meanwhile, and by quarter-time it was the Raiders narrowly leading 22-20.

Knox took control during the second quarter and opened up a 12-point lead on the back of going on a 7-0 scoring run, but Casey did well to work back into the contest and by half-time that lead for the Raiders was just 46-43.

The Raiders then shot out of the blocks to start the second half with an 8-1 to be back out to a double-figure lead and that soon grew to 12 before the Cavaliers were forced into an early timeout.

The Cavs then again responded the rest of the quarter as well and were back within three by three quarter-time with Dallas Loughridge already having 28 points and seven assists to her name in a dazzling individual performance running the show.

Knox were back out to a nine-point lead with just over four minutes to play when things got interesting and Alicia Froling found herself ejected after being given a disqualifying foul after fighting for the loose ball and collecting Hailey Wynd.

A couple of minutes later and suddenly the Cavaliers were back within two and had the momentum, but that would be as close as they got with Knox holding on to win by four to celebrate their banner raising night.

The Cavs will next host the Frankston Blues next Saturday night while the Raiders remain at the State Basketball Centre to take on the Dandenong Rangers that same evening.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

KNOX RAIDERS 86 (Bradley 24, Froling 17, Reinoehl 14)

CASEY CAVALIERS 82 (Loughridge 30, D'Angelo 16, Lok 15)