Author: Tristan Prentice

You can Banks on it - Zoe Banks proved again to be a tough cover for the afternoon for the Waatu - Photo provided by Uni Sports/UTAS

Petra and Pratt can’t prevent UTAS takeover

The Waatu Women pushed hard for a half but eventually a couple of “Chargers” rammed them out of Sorell as UTAS triumphed 89-49. Zoe Banks and Josie Pinkerton caused problems all afternoon as they took Anthony Stewart’s UTAS to a third quarter score of 33-9 which eventually pushed off the spirited Waatu. 

A fast start from UTAS led by Banks and Pinkerton saw timeout early to the Waatu – particularly to deal with the up court pressure of the team missing two of last week’s heroes Alice Sabine and Jemima Whitton. The response came from Georgia Winter with and1 but then the Waatu ran into Maddie Straatsma who gave the home side a commanding 23-6 lead at the first break.  

Winter opened the second with a triple then backed it up with another to show some fight. Defensively the Waatu got to work through Petra Rychtarikova who had a solid quarter. Bobbing up for some key baskets too was Erin Pratt as the Waatu through some consistent possessions brought it back to 38-23 at the half.  

Winter tried to answer an early barrage from UTAS but the likes of Pinkerton, Banks and Ruby Erin were proving the challenge – 33-9 in the quarter taking the game right away from the aways side. 

Pratt produced a highlight in the final term with a block then coast to coast finish, Rychtarikova finished some of her good work and even Sophie Hampel managed to hit the scoreboard.

The experience would’ve been valuable for many who hadn’t received much court-time including Hampel, Pratt and Jasmin Francis. The Women next take on Latrobe University (LTU) who sit third on the ladder currently and while a challenge – the Women are 1-0 at home in 2024 in need of a big crowd Wednesday at the State Basketball Centre.              

RD 4 Women UTAS 89 (Pinkerton 22, Banks 19, Erin 14, Bartlett 8) defeated AU Waatu 48 (Winter 20, Rychtarikova 13, Pratt 10, Hampel 5) – *Player Scores calculated but not finalised

Waatu first five gone in three quarters to UTAS  

The Waatu Men got the great start against UTAS but were unable to sustain their pressure – falling convincingly to a polished home side 82-58 at Sorell in Tasmania.  

Minus Harry Bruce – Waatu’s Bailey Nathan burst out of the blocks with a turnaround hook off the window to lead UTAS to a timeout 2-10 – Mark Nash clearly not happy with the defensive effort early. It seemed to shake the home side into gear as Zach Collins and Jordan Walker along with son of a gun Brooklyn Bruton lifted UTAS back into the lead 17-16 by quarter time.   

That continued in the second with Archie Stewart draining a triple and Walker a couple of easy looks in a row. The 7-0 run was enough for coach Scott Freer to burn timeout and try to address the chaos. Jordan Straatsma proved to be the dominant force with multiple plays but Ayual Garang and Bailey Nathan with a spin drive through the gap cut the margin back to 40-28 at the half. 

Garang became the potential game-breaker in the third with some key baskets hurting UTAS in transition – but he needed help and struggled to find it. Straatsma and Bruton found ways to keep the gap big enough, taking it to 60-43 with one to play.

Bruton and Stewart closed it out early for UTAS but there were some last quarter highlights from debutant Rupert Males and even Mitch Cretin put on the spin move for a nice finish. The team struggled for continuity in this one and to string consistent possessions together – a big improvement looms this coming Wednesday. The Men next take on Latrobe University (LTU) who sit fifth on the ladder currently. At 3-2 for the season sitting seventh it’s a must win game at home for the Waatu to make the finals.                    

RD 4 Men UTAS 82 (Bruton 15, Straatsma 12, Stewart 11, Walker 10, Collins 9) defeated AU Waatu 58 (Garang 14, Kourani 10, Nathan 8) – *Player Scores calculated but not finalised

Catch the Waatu’s fifth round games this week against Latrobe University (LTU) on Wednesday on Uni Sports TV from 11:00am or watch live at the State Basketball Centre at Wayville Showgrounds.

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United at the SBC - A first home game at the new State Basketball Centre set the scene for the home opener - Photo supplied by Adelaide Uni Sports and Recreation  

Alice brings Wonderland for Women

The Waatu Women had a win last Wednesday as they won only their second game in existence and first ever home win with a thrilling 75-71 result at their new venue the State Basketball Centre.   

It was driven by a phenomenal third quarter by Norwood Flame Alice Sabine (Medicine) who found chemistry with fellow Flame Jemima Whitton (Viticulture and Oenology) and Warrior Georgia Winter (Veterinary Technology) to produce a 24-11 third term.

It began with the away side with Maali through Jenna Teasdale opening proceedings with an impressive eight points and six rebounds, a team rebound count of 10-18 and a 15 point margin at 4-19. The fightback started just over halfway through the quarter as Winter (eight points) drew the margin back to 10-23 after one. 

The second was much closer with Sabine beginning to insert herself into the game with multiple second chances created through controlling the glass with a turnaround of 14-9 on the boards to bring it back to 24-27. Whitton with sharp hands also blended together the offence to bring it back to 28-42 at the half.

That’s when Sabine sparkled for the start of the third quarter. She reeled off ten points, eight rebounds with four offensive boards dished continuously by Whitton with four assists. Both along with their Waatu teammates stopped Teasdale and the other Maali bigs – but Teasdale and her co-captain Zoe Shanahan managed to keep them from conceding the lead holding onto it just 52-53 with one to play. 

The final term was full of nervous tension for the home side but also the chance to create some history with Central Districts Lions Meaza Otto (Health and Medical Science) going head to head with a cameo from Maali’s Caitlin Lea. Otto’s eight final quarter points along with Winter who consistently kept the scoreboard ticking over gave the Waatu the lead for a total of 1:59 in the game. The ability to shutdown Teasdale and Ruby Hamilton ultimately proved the catalyst as Otto and Winter calmly slotted free throws to seal the result. 

Sabine was superb and narrowly missed out on the New Balance UBL player of the week with 23 points with a perfect 8/8 from the stripe, 21 rebounds (eight offensive) and eight assists, Winter not far behind with 24 points and five rebounds no doubt leading the way for the club MVP early in the season. Whitton nearly notched a triple double with eight points, seven rebounds (four offensive) and six assists. The Waatu wrestled the rebound count back 53-40 (a 43-22 turnaround) in the finish and grabbed 21 assists.  

It was an impressive coaching performance from Scott Freer and his coaching team to turn the game at halftime the way they did. The Women next take on the Zoe Banks and Hope Brooks led UTAS this Wednesday in a first UBL trip to the “Island”.               

RD 3 Women AU Waatu 75 (Winter 24, Sabine 23, Otto 10, Whitton 8) defeated UWA Maali 71 (Teasdale 22, Hall 10, Hamilton, Shanahan 8)

Waatu continue winning ways to complete historic home double 

The Waatu Men buoyed by the previous result took all momentum into their clash and despite a small comeback in the late third quarter – proved too strong as they went 3-1 in the season 108-94 in a convincing home performance at their new venue the State Basketball Centre. 

Minus Norwood Flame Darcy McNamara (Education) – Emil Kourani (Occupational Therapy) got the scoreboard moving once again with some early hits (eight in the opening quarter) and then got some great assistance from West Adelaide Bearcat Harry Bruce (Commerce) and Central Districts Lions Ayual Garang (Architecture) with nine points a piece as they dealt out the business in the opening term 30-22. 

The scoring was free flowing and with Bruce mastering all on the floor (10 points for the quarter) and Garang continuing to build on his numbers (fours points and three assists) – the Waatu answered all the challenges from the Maali. Even Sam Davies (Nursing) with six points and Bailey Nathan (Computer Science) applied degrees of pressure at both ends to surround Kourani’s seven for the term. The Waatu with a compelling 67-54 lead at the half shooting the ball at 62 percent.

The Waatu continued their dominance through Garang and Kourani who pushed the margin out to its biggest lead of 24 points. A small turn around from the Maali saw them back within slight striking distance thanks to Ben Thorp and East Perth Eagle Joe Harwood that gave the away side a glimmer with an 86-72 scoreline leading into the fourth. 

Bailey Nathan helped close it out with 11 points in the final term to go near his career high of 24 points with the Maali’s first match best Korede Oyemade with 12 points in the final term to put some wallpaper over cracks as the Waatu sealed their third win of the season and a historic double for the club.

It was hard to split the impact of the Waatu as several got the job done with Harry Bruce leading the way with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists but with numbers that did not tell of the influence he had on the court. Ayual Garang was the stats sheet stuffer with 21 points at 75 percent from the field, 11 rebounds and seven assists and Kourani was the sharpest shooter of the afternoon with 25 points at a high clip of 50 percent. Add to that Nathan’s 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Issac Hampel engineering seven points and eight rebounds – it was an impressive set of numbers from the Scott Freer led Waatu.

Harwood was strong for the Maali with 21 points and six rebounds while Oyemade did finish with some big numbers in the second half of 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Waatu travel to the “Island” to take on UTAS for the first time and will have to deal with the likes of Alex Bestwick and Zach Collins who have taken out multiple POTW’s as well as famous sons of NBL names such as Nash and Bruton.                      

RD 3 Men AU Waatu 108 (Kourani 25, Bruce 23, Garang 21, Nathan 20, Davies 10, Hampel 7) defeated UWA Maali 94 (Harwood 21, Oyemade 19, Thorp 14, Morgan 15, Barrett 11)

Catch the Waatu’s fourth round games this week against University of Tasmania (UTAS) on Wednesday on Uni Sports TV from 11:30am.

NEW – PITCH TO THE PUBLIC 

It takes 4 hours a week to write, research and produce our content but we want to write extra content this next few months so we thought we’d pitch to the public

Four new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have one of two pieces produced on the topics of

“SA Schools shine on Gold Coast” (Australian Schools Championships 2024)

“The Powerhouses of SA School Basketball” (Looking at the last five to ten years of school basketball)

Eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have both pieces done for production

Please DM if you’d like to support another way than subscription

See if you can provide the assist we need to tell the South Australian Basketball story

All Episodes of the SA Shotclock available on podcasting platforms in the coming months – we apologise for the delay as logistics are sorted