Round 1 of the Championship Men and Women is in the books for Winter 2022. After 2 difficult years, it seems as if we will finally get a full season and see a winner of the Championship Men and Women in 2022. But before we get there let’s take a look at last night’s games and some of the standout performances!
Championship women
With the competition growing to 7 teams for the Winter season, we are super pleased to see so many familiar faces and young guns stepping up to the Championship level.
WILDCATS 101 – TRY BOYS 38
In their first game, the Wildcats women did not come to mess around as they paced their way to 101 points and a 63 point win over TryBoys. Star recruit Sarah Elsworthy started her season off strong with 35 points and was backed up nicely by Jamiee Crombie’s 19. For Try Boys, it was Milly Soutar who led the way with 13.
CC EAGLES 68 – SURFCOAST 53
Another new coming team, The Surfcoast Bells suited up to take on the CC Eagles. A tightly fought contest saw the CC Eagles pull away to grab a 15 point win. Alaina Peacock led the way with 22 and was backed up by Summer Fields 21. For the Bells Miss Double Double Holly Robinson snagged 13 points while Missy Richmond posted 12 of her own.
SHARKS 68 – YMCA 45
The mighty Sharks came to play in round 1 as they blitzed YMCA to head home with a 23 point win. Heading into half-time down 5 Alex Duck and company turned on the jets to outscore YMCA 39 to 11 to finish off their round 1 win. Alex Duck dropped 30 and was backed up well by Kate Duff who had 24. For the Y, Lucy Howard had 16 and Taylah Richards finished with 11.
Championship men
With 11 teams entered this year, there is no clear favourite to take out this year’s Men’s title. With some player movement and new player signings, this Winter season is sure to be an exciting one.
WILDCATS 110 SG KINGS 70
There was no shortage of scoring in round 1 and Wildcats were on top of it all with an impressive 110 points to kick things off. Wildcats began to put together a strong roster of players over the Summer, and with the addition of DeMarcus Gatlin will be tough to beat. Robbie Kennedy shined in this one wit 31 points including 7 threes. While DeMarcus poured in 18 closely followed by Nick Owusu with 17. The Kings had a tough outing only making 5 threes to the Wildcats 14, with Will Macpherson’s 21 leading the way. Chris Eichler also helped out with 15 but it was not enough to stop the Cats.
VYTIS 79 – TRY BOYS 97
Having Matt Johns back from round 1 this season will absolutely bolster Try Boys chances of making the Winter finals this year. The young and athletics bears were too much for Vytis to handle as they cruised to an 18 point victory. Seb Thomason let the league know that he’s here to score dropping 38 points on his way to a game high, While Matt Johns had 26 of his own. For Vytis Romas Liebich led the way with 32 while newcomer Kevin Brandariz showed off his shooting prowess with 20 points including 4 threes.
SURFCOASTERS 108 – CC EAGLES 85
Surfcoast looked dangerous in their first game of Winter 2022 knocking off perennial finals team CC Eagles by a comfortable 23 points. A three-headed snake of Jack Moran (25 points) Matthew Lloyd (24 points) and Joshua Brunt (20 points) was enough to pip the Eagles in round 1. With no Liam McInerney the Eagles turned to Marc Allan-Goodwin who had a team high 22 points and was backed up well by Nathan Friend’s 18, however it was not enough to get past the Coasters.
ROVERS 97 – YMCA 61
A second-half decimation from Rovers has seen them take home a 36 point win over YMCA in round 1. Big man Rohan Jarvie led the way with 22 and was closely backed up by Nathan Gronbecks 21 and Jye Boyles 20. A short-handed YMCA struggled in the Second half only managing 16 points. Denver Terrill led the way for Y with 20.
SHARKS 55 – LARA 71
In the final game of round 1 and it was the Giants who came away with the 16 point win over Sharks. Gabe Hadley put the 3 pointe away in round 1 as he finished with 27 points, all of which were from inside the arc. Jackson Bentley who is known to go off for some big scoring nights backed him up with 17 of his own, the sharpshooting duo will be a tough guard in 2022. For the Sharks scoring was even but just not there in round 1 as they struggled against Lara, only finishing with 55 for the game. Bradley Jones top-scored for his team with 14 while Seamus Macaskill helped out with 12.
That’s it for round 1 of the GUB Winter Championship wrap up. With the league looking more wide open than it has in many years it is an exciting time to get down and support your team and help them push for a finals berth. Games are all held at AWA Alliance Bank Stadium between 7:45 and 10pm so if you want to see some of the stars shine make sure to get down next Tuesday!
