Author: Tristan Prentice

Parfitt delicious form - North Adelaide Rockets Steve Parfitt after a strong last round has a delicious form line heading into the AU Waatu's quarter final elimination against the familiar faces of UTS - Photo by Picture IT Sport Photography/Sharnee Jones

Miles travels but Burrows, Hindle hurt Waatu in third quarters

The Waatu Women stayed in the contest against the highly talented VU group but fell in their first road game 75-45 at VU Sports Arena

Tegan Hindle dominated the contest with 20 points and seven assists along with two steals – along with Cashide Green (17 points, six rebounds and three assists), Imogen Wardley (13 points), Ebony Sans (8 points and 10 rebounds) and Tamsyn Kirk (double double of 11 points and 15 rebounds) who again were consistent. Scarlett Miles was a big return for the Waatu with 10 points and along with Tamika Reid with 9 points and five rebounds and Ash Haigh with seven points and six rebounds kept the battle afloat till a 23-8 third quarter from VU sealed it.   

The road trip continued the following day as AU went down in spirited fashion to RMIT 61-49 after leading for stretches of the contest at RMIT University.  

Ruth Burrows helped RMIT bury the Waatu with a cracking 15 points and 13 rebounds supported by Maddy Ford with 14 points, five assists and rebounds. Emma Carr drove the third quarter push out with 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Waatu were led once again by Miles a near double double of 15 points and nine rebounds while Kaitlin Phillips collected her first double double of 12 points and 10 rebounds and Haigh finished with 14 boards. Ellamay Brooks also had a career best game with eight points and three rebounds to keep the Waatu in the contest right up till the end.     

The Waatu Women finished in twelfth overall but having grabbed their first win in the start studded league and the future looking bright – the Women should aim to finish higher in year four in season 2024 with new members coming into the institution for their studies.              

Men with two first names and delicious Parfitt take Waatu to first finals appearance

The Waatu Men nailed their first finals appearance in the UBL with a two from two road trip starting with a last quarter comeback 58-70 over VU at VU Sports Arena.

The Waatu brought it home through Bailey Nathan who poured in some big hits from outside to finish with 17 points and Toby Hunt who led all comers with 19 points sealed the win in the final term. Harry Reemst was controlled and poised all match to finish with 13 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. Zac Polglaze was the dominant best for the homeside with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Gene Vocale shouted for his team to lead the scoring with 21 points including three assists.    

The Waatu backed it up to slide into eighth position on the ladder in the finish with a strong 74-81 win over RMIT at RMIT University.

Toby Hunt got loose for six triples and made the Redbacks pay with 25 points but it was Steve Parfitt with 23 points and 10 rebounds that produced his best when it counted in the contest. Reemst again was solid for four quarters with 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists. The Redbacks were led by Nick Woodall who in the absences of James Smith and Caleb Bruggeman went to work with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists. The absence of their two stars allowed James Gleeson to go big with 23 points including five triples.

The Waatu finishing eighth now take on UTS today who they pushed hard for three and a bit quarter at home earlier in the season – its going to be a high octane contest where you hope the sequel will be as good as the original.

Catch the Waatu’s first ever elimination quarter final against UTS today on Uni Sports TV from 1:30pm AEDT (2:00pm SA Time) with yours truly calling the action from Narrandjeri Stadium in Melbourne.

RD 8 Women VU 75 (Hindle 20, Green 17, Wardley 13, Kirk 11, Sans 8, Suemai 6) defeated AU Waatu 40 (Miles 10, Reid 9, Haigh 7)

RD 8 Women RMIT 61 (Burrows 15, Ford 14, Carr 12, Jarvis 8) defeated AU Waatu 49 (Miles 15, Phillips 12, E Brooks 8, Reid 7)

RD 8 Men VU 58 (Vocale 21, Polglaze 16, Jazmin 9, James 8) defeated by AU Waatu 70 (Hunt 19, Nathan 17, Reemst 13, Parfitt 10, Hunter 8)

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Hunter hunts Carnaby - West Adelaide Bearcats Lachlan Hunter is having another impressive UBL season in 2023 - collecting 17 points and 15 rebounds - Photo supplied by Adelaide University Sport/Picture IT Sport Photography

A-Leka washes away chocolates Waatu Haigh comeback

The Waatu Women came up agonisingly short of a second victory for the season in a thriller against the Curtin Uni Carnabys at the Castle of St Clair Recreation Centre 59-61.

Aleka Kabugua of the East Perth Eagles was clutch down the stretch to finish with 31 points, 13 rebounds and five steals to lead the Carnabys while the Waatu’s late hero was Ashleigh Haigh (Occupational Therapy) with 15 points and 13 rebounds in her double double.

The battle early was between the two captains as Evie Lovell (12 points in the first half) and Eagles Ella Averill (13 points in the first half) went toe-to-toe with the Waatu jumping out to a 9-6 lead to start at quarter time then the Carnaby’s pushed it back to 33-29 after pulling back a 12-0 run.

The Waatu and Carnaby’s scrapped against each other through the third to still be neck and neck 44-43 but the final term looked like it was going to belong to the away side as they stretched out to a 47-53 lead with Kaitlyn Phillips pulling it back to 55-55. Kabuga and Druvinka Fernando created the opportunity to edge them ahead at the free throw line 56-60 before with no time on the clock out of the timeout Haigh drained the triple to cut it to 59-60 with Kabuga sealing the win from the stripe.

The Waatu Women could finish as high as ninth with two wins over Victoria University (VU 4th) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT 10th) but with the fixture quirk the winner of the WA derby between CU Carnabys and UWA Maali will determine eighth spot. Tenth place in this years league looks the most likely outcome if they win both games.            

Hunter and Hunt big game in Carnaby’s to keep season alive

The Waatu Men have kept their season alive with a strong opening quarter to setup a 91-78 win over a solid Curtin Uni Carnaby unit 91-78 at the St Clair Recreation Centre

The Waatu were paced across the game by the contributions of Lachlan Hunter (17 points and 15 rebounds for the Civil Engineer) and Toby Hunt (21 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Bachelor Mechanical Engineering) as they opened up a 14-0 run in the latter part of the second quarter to stretch out to a 46-39 lead at the half. Hunt then took over with three triples in the quarter, but the Carnaby’s Tobias Martin kept them in it at three quarter time 69-56.

Harry Reemst (Chemical Engineering) came to the party late with a seven-point final term and Hunt produced another eight-point spread to seal the incredibly important win in the context of the UBL season.

The Waatu Men take on VU (9^th) and RMIT (5^th) while contenders for the finals La Trobe University (10^th) are playing Fed Falcons (12th) and CU Carnabys (11^th) are playing their home rivals UWA Maali (6^th) – the advantage being the Waatu have two games left and the teams that can knock them out of the eight or above – only one.

Catch the Waatu this afternoon in Round 8 on Uni Sports TV from 1pm AEDT (12:30pm SA Time) as they take on Victoria University and tomorrow Royal Melbourne Institute of Information Technology (RMIT).

RD 7 Women AU Waatu 59 (Haigh 15, Lovell 12, Francis 10, Phillips 7) defeated by CU Carnabys 61 (Kabuga 31, Averill 17)

RD 7 Men AU Waatu 91 (Hunt 21, Reemst 18, Hunter 17, Parfitt 16, Mollett 8, Nathan 7) defeated CU Carnabys 78 (Martin 26, Lucio, Rammal 10, Harris, Waters 9, Hollick 7)

*Note the Waatu had a bye in Round 7

Please continue to support SA basketball news and features content being written as well as national/international with the Pick and Roll – with our recent influx of work we are making content all free to read but need constant contributions to make this happen. $5 a month is all we are asking – If not keen to subscribe then please message to receive direct debit details how you can keep these quality features being produced