South Spotlight | Rocci, Bourne keep Keilor winning

Featured image: Trent Moore Sports Photography

Maddy Rocci and Issie Bourne combined for 54 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists as Keilor Thunder made it consecutive wins with a strong finish to beat the Ballarat Miners 81-73 on Friday night in the NBL1 South.

The Thunder were back home at Keilor Stadium fresh off beating the Melbourne Tigers and hosting a Miners team looking to bounce back from a loss to the Knox Raiders.

It was a tight contest the entire night with no more than eight points ever separating the two teams but that proved the final winning margin for Keilor as they improve to a 9-5 record while Ballarat are now 8-7 on the back of consecutive losses.

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Keilor ended up shooting 53 per cent to the 39 from Ballarat while having an extra seven free-throw attempts to claim the win despite having 22 turnovers and conceding 13 offensive rebounds to the Miners.

Rocci and Bourne were the stars in the win once for Keilor with Rocci finishing with 27 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds with 11/21 shooting from the field and 4/5 at the foul line.

Bourne then had 27 points and six rebounds with 5/10 three-point shooting with Lara McSpadden adding 10 points, seven boards, three steals and two assists, Macey Boyle eight points and two rebounds, and Tess Heal five points, six boards and four assists.

Camille Hobby had 15 of her 17 points in the game in the first half to go with five rebounds and two assists on 6/16 shooting.

Abbey Wehrung added 16 points and four assists, Malia Fisher 14 points, 11 boards, four steals and two assists, Hsi Yeh Liu 12 points on 4/4 three-point shooting, and Elissa Brett 11 points, three rebounds and two steals.

Ballarat did start well to lead by eight points in the first quarter but by quarter-time that advantage was back to just 17-16.

The Miners did manage another 20 points to 17 in the second term to go into half-time leading 37-33 with Camille Hobby up to 15 points while Ballarat were able to force Keilor into 10 turnovers to end up taking five more shots despite Maddy Rocci's 12 points for the home team.

Hsi Yeh Liu then caught fire in the third quarter with two of her four three-pointers without a miss up to that point for Ballarat but Issie Bourne was taking over up the other end for Keilor and the scores were all tied at 60-60 by three quarter-time.

It was then Keilor in control throughout the last quarter with 21 points to 13 on the way to the eight-point victory with the second straight as they now build momentum with Bourne and Rocci back together.

Keilor now take on the league-leading Sandringham Sabres on the road next Saturday night while Ballarat remain on the road to the Casey Cavaliers on that same evening.

And in other Friday night NBL1 South action ahead of the King's Birthday long weekend, the Casey Cavaliers beat the Zitina Aokuso-less Melbourne Tigers 83-70 while the Sandringham retained top spot beating the Frankston Blues 70-52.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

KEILOR THUNDER 81 (Rocci 27, Bourne 27, McSpadden 10)

BALLARAT MINERS 73 (Hobby 17, Wehrung 16, Fisher 14)