South Spotlight | Spectacular Abbey gets Eagles home

Featured image: Ian Knight Photography

Abbey Ellis was spectacular with 37 points, 12 rebounds and five assists but the Diamond Valley Eagles had to see off 38 points with eight three balls in third quarter from the Bendigo Braves before securing the 109-93 NBL1 South win.

The Eagles were back home after splitting their Tasmanian road trip last weekend and hosted the Braves at Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre with Bendigo fresh off a win at home the previous night against the Frankston Blues.

Diamond Valley lit it up with 31 points on 6/11 three-point shooting in the first quarter with Ellis scoring 15 of those points and Erin Riley 11 before they were still up 13 at the half.

But Bendigo lit it up with 38 points and 8/9 three-point shooting in the third frame before the fresher Diamond Valley pulled away again for the 16-point victory to improve to 9-3 on the season.

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Abbey Ellis had a spectacular performance for Diamond Valley with 15 points to get rolling in the first quarter and another 10 in the second, five in the third and finally seven in the fourth.

She finished with 37 points, 12 rebounds and five assists with 14/19 field goal shooting to go with 6/9 from downtown and 3/5 at the foul line.

Alex Sharp was also back into the Eagles line-up and produced 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals with Erin Riley adding 20 points, five boards, five assists and two steals, and Tayha Watkins 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Bendigo did dig deep to make a game of it with that remarkable third quarter but couldn’t quite finish the job to now sit on 4-8 for the season having split their weekend double.

Hannah Hank returned from Australian Gangurrus 3x3 duties and was big for the Braves with 27 points and 11 rebounds on 11/18 shooting with Olivia Pollerd draining 5/7 from downtown for 26 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Kelly Wilson had another 17 points and 13 assists while Mia Harvey contributed 13 points on 3/7 three-point shooting.

It was a spectacular start from Diamond Valley who were playing their lone game of the weekend with Abbey Ellis catching fire with 15 points in the first quarter with Erin Riley adding 11.

That saw the Eagles open up a 31-21 advantage by quarter-time with 6/11 three-point shooting to the 2/7 from the Braves who were coming off the win the previous night over the Frankston Blues.

Ellis then had another 10 points in the second frame and Alex Sharp was up to 10 points, four rebounds and three assists by half-time after missing last week's road trip to Tasmania.

The Braves were doing well to stay in touch by half-time with 13 points from Olivia Pollerd and the eight points and eight rebounds from Hannah Hank, but Diamond Valley remained on top to lead 55-42 going into the break.

Bendigo then got on a roll to start the second half and halfway through the third quarter they had drawn back level with a three-point barrage that saw them put up 21 points in just under five minutes.

Diamond Valley were clinging to the 81-80 lead by three quarter-time but Bendigo had scored 38 points in the spectacular third term with 8/9 three-point shooting with Pollerd and Mia Harvey doing most of the damage.

That set up the big finish but the Eagles were on their home floor and were the fresher of the teams, and that paid dividends as they ran over the top of the Braves with 28 points to 13 on the way to securing the 16-point victory to maintain touch with the top two NBL1 South teams.

The Eagles will look to keep their winning form going on Saturday night on the road to the Eltham Wildcats while the Braves will be back home that same evening against the Waverley Falcons.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 109 (Ellis 37, Sharp 26, Riley 20)

BENDIGO BRAVES 93 (Hank 27, Pollerd 26, Wilson 17)