Adelaide Waatu's first home game against the Curtin Uni Carnaby's was back in 2022 - Photo supplied by Adelaide Uni Sports and Recreation
Kabugua repeats points to down Waatu
The Waatu Women ran into their scoring nemesis in NBl1 West East Perth Eagle Aleka Kabugua as she repeated the 31 point haul she downed against the Waatu in Adelaide in 2023 as her Carnaby’s created the divide after quarter time with a 102-49 win at the Curtin Stadium.
Kabugua’s 31 points at 51 percent, Willeton Tigers’ Piper Hearn’s 21 points at 61.5 percent plus four steals and rebounds and Captain Eva Cooke’s near triple double of 11 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds was telling after quarter time. It was a much stronger showing from the Waatu with some of its NBL1 experienced players including Georgia Winter with 14 points and six rebounds and Meaza Otto with a near double double of nine points and rebounds.
The Carnaby’s led by Joondalup Wolves and NBL1 2022 National Championship coach for the Warwick Senators Jonelle Morley got off to a fast start with a 7-0 run to open proceedings through Jess Mantle, Jasmine Clarke (eight points and 11 rebounds) and Kabugua causing all sorts of problems for the Waatu leading by up to 13 points. It took Central District Lions Otto and Woodville Warriors Winter to wrestle momentum back with some timely baskets to cut it back to 18-8. The quarter for the Waatu finished strong with debutant Raima Johnson scoring four points in a minute to cut it right back to 24-20 after one stanza – a 17-20 turn around.
The home side started the second like they did the first, reeling off an unanswered run through the hands of Wolves Kyah Nicholls and Kabugua. Winter’s threes couldn’t prevent the storm coming from Curtin as they strung baskets together one after another nailed down by a triple to Hearn on the halftime buzzer to take a strong lead of 57-32 to the main break.
Having not cooled off at the half the Carnaby’s continued to cause carnage for the Waatu opening up a 22-5 quarter led by Hearn. Positives came from the inside presence of newcomer Petra Rychtarcikova (five points for the quarter to join their nine rebounds for the game) – but the Carnaby’s held court with 79-37 with one to play.
Winter continued to fight hard with some late points but Kabugua capped off a stellar performance for the home side, icing the victory 102-49. Although limited opportunities the Waatu did engineer 10 second chance points and created scoring opportunities in the opening quarter and levelled up the rebounds 57-55 in the contest with plenty of lessons no doubt learnt from their first time as a new group on the floor.
Bruce Almighty, Garang give Waatu winning start
The Waatu Men have won all three of their games against the Carnabys in their three year history since 2022 with a entree of delight for the season 85-93 at the Curtin Stadium.
The big inclusions of Central District Lions Ayual Garang with an impactful 25 points at 50 percent, nine rebounds and four ferocious blocks and West Adelaide Bearcats Harry Bruce with 23 points helped keep the scoreboard ticking over. The rise of Garang and Bruce along with another lot of supporting cast members from local college scenes set the tone for the Waatu.
From high school basketball star to an opening push for the UBL went St Peter’s College/Sturt Sabre Emil Kourani (19 points) backed up by Trinity College product Garang to give the Waatu a 6-9 start. The Carnabys with Lachlan Bertram another year stronger under 482 NBL game legend head coach Ricky Grace backed up his 31 points in 2023 helped his team back to a 11-14 margin. Garang continued to control air traffic control with a huge block on Jake Levey but Levey returned fire with a three of his own. A couple of sloppy turnovers gifted Brayden Atwell (12 first half points) and Hudson Roamer some gifts and it was 26-24 after one quarter.
The start belonged to Bruce almighty as he took consecutive drives to the basket and finished strong to edge the Waatu back to 33-29 but Bertram (19 first half points) was holding the Waatu single handedly at bay. The second term belonged to Garang who had 14 points to half time plus another enormous rejection of a Carnaby but Bertram’s buzzer beating triple at half-time saw the home side ahead 50-48 at the main break.
Both teams hit back at each other continuously to open the third with Bruce started proceedings in the third with a triple only to be answered by sharp shooting Harry Evans. Both his triples tied things up but a big run to end the quarter of 4-11 instigated by Andrew Brennan (double double of 12 points and rebounds) and Kourani saw the Waatu turn for home with a 65-72 lead.
Levey started the run for the home side to bring it back to 71-74 before Bertram and Garang went head to head again to bring it back to 77-81. Bertram’s triple drew it to 83-83 a piece with less than two minutes to go. That’s when Kourani explored with the dribble to find a deuce, then dropped a three ball. The Waatu engineered multiple stops before Bruce with a contested layup and offensive board put back sealed a first up away win in the West 85-93.
Catch the Waatu’s second round games this week against Federation University Tuesday on Uni Sports TV from 4:00pm AEDT (3:30pm SA Time) and Melbourne University Wednesday 12:00pm AEDT (11:30am SA Time)
RD 1 Women CU 102 (Kabugua 31, Hearn 21, Cooke, Nichols 11, Clarke, Farrington 8) defeated AU Waatu 49 (Winter 14, Otto 9, Whitton 8)
RD 1 Men CU 85 (Bertram 33, Atwell 15, Evans 13, Levey 11) defeated by AU Waatu 93 (Garang 25, Bruce 23, Kourani 19, Brennan 12, Hampel 7)
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