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Episode 18: From Ice Caps to Down Under with Violet Morrow
276 Plays2 years ago
In this weeks, episode of East got game, Lachy and Squin and do things a little bit differently. There are the regular game reviews, news and all-star 5 for Round 16 of NBL1 East with a few trips down memory lane and some conversation about how basketball is really getting global.
Games reviewed include:
* Canberra Gunners vs. Hills Hornets (M)
* Central Coast Crusaders vs. Inner West Bulls (W).
This episode is 'kapped' off by an interview with an import who is a self-confessed foodie. But what Australian staple do they not enjoy? Listen to the interview with Violet Kapri Morrow aka Kappy to find out!
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Hosts
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast featuring the NBL One East competition for 2023, where we review, preview, and interview our way through the NBL One East. My name's Jacinta from the Central Coast Crusaders, and with me, as always, in the hot seat, it's Locky France. How are you, Locky?
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm doing great, Squint, although a hot is not a way to describe conditions down here. Yeah, true. You are in a hoodie and a beanie. I am. I also have the fan heater on. Me and my dorky poor circulation have got my gloves on. It's anything. It's freezing.
00:00:52
Speaker
It certainly is.
NBL One East: Unexpected Results and Standings
00:00:53
Speaker
But as the weather cools down, the action heats up in MBL1 East. Oh, there you go. That's the hot takes that I like to hear. How's your weekend? It was a very action-packed weekend. It was a big weekend. A lot of close games you underdogs getting up. Really shook up the table. I mean, if all the favourites had won, we'd probably know the top eight in the men by now. But the favourites didn't all win.
00:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, instead, we had some absolute thrill seekers. We had teams with their first wins of the season. And now that we talk about it, I think we've teased it out enough. Why don't you take us through the men's results?
00:01:31
Speaker
I certainly can do that for you, Squint. So, kicking things off, we had a few Friday night games this week. First up was Inner West getting a 95-85 win over Norse in a big game that got a long way to deciding second place on the table. Comet's got a 95-74 win on the road over Bankstown to keep their season alive.
00:01:54
Speaker
Canberra knocked off hills 88-65 as they continue to make a charge for the top four. Central Coast backing up nice and early on Saturday, 91-88 over Bankstown. So Bankstown playing at 8pm and then 4pm the next day. 20 hours, probably an 18 hour turnaround between games for the Bruins.
00:02:15
Speaker
And then Newcastle knocking off Penrith, 96-69. Hornsby, their first win of the campaign, first win for their MBL1 East men's team, getting up 81-79 over Manly and doing it without their main man, Shariff Saakau.
00:02:34
Speaker
Then in an absolute thriller that came down to the final shot, Aubrey Wodonga getting the win 119-117 over the Sutherland Sharks. Not sure about the defense on that one, maybe it was just excellent offense. Maitland picking up a 105-87 win over Illawarra leaving the Hawks season on tenterhooks as Maitland also continue their charge for a top four spot.
00:02:59
Speaker
Then on Sunday it was A.J. Lawton, Squins' main man, and the central coast crusade is getting a 104-102 win over the inner west bulls. So inner west still not quite out of reach in that second place chase.
00:03:16
Speaker
Illawarra kept their season alive with a 66-63 win over Newcastle that just brought Newcastle back to the pack a bit and then Penrith pushed Maitland all the way in a 95-101 loss to Maitland so
00:03:31
Speaker
Some of those big name teams just aching out wins and others falling by the wayside. So if we turn to the latter, Centre of Excellence, they were busy over winning at the NBA Global Academy games. They still sit 19-1 having played 20 games.
00:03:48
Speaker
in a west still in a decent position in that hunt for second spot they've almost got it wrapped up they just need to take care of things and 15 and four Maitland now 14 and six in third Canberra and North each 13 and six equal fourth not obviously uh just the split there it might come down to uh Sutherland 13 and seven with that loss
00:04:15
Speaker
to Aubrey Wodonga, so putting their top four hopes in a bit of peril. Hills 11 and 7, they do have a favorable run home though. Then Newcastle 12 and 8 and the chasing pack, Illawarra and Aubrey 10 and 10 and Comets 9 and 10. So those three teams that are just on the outside looking in need to win out and then hope the chips fall their way in the end of season tiebreakers if they're to get over Newcastle or Hills.
Upcoming Matches and Competitiveness
00:04:43
Speaker
But it's really at that point where we mentioned in the finals forecast, you don't want to be relying on teams to lose those games to what we call the bankers. But that's where Illawarra and Aubrey Wodonga and Comets find themselves now because Newcastle played Bankstown, probably expect them to win that.
00:05:00
Speaker
And I think he'll, he'll play Hornsby next week. And then they also have, I think, Manly to come as well. So if you're on the outside looking in, you're relying on a lot of results to fall your way if you're going to make finals. Well, yeah, Newcastle men and Maitland actually play each other next round.
00:05:17
Speaker
That's huge as well. Which is massive, especially because now that Maitland have just streamed ahead to third spot, it's a really important game next round against Newcastle for both of those teams. And they play at Newcastle. So it's that crosstown rivalry in enemy lines for Maitland. And then round 18, we're just looking at Maitland again. They play Albury in the last round. Newcastle, like you said, play Bankstown in the last round. Inner West in the last round play North.
00:05:47
Speaker
There's still a lot to play for and importantly, I think Newcastle have the season split on Aubrey and Comets but don't have it on Illawarra. So if it ended up Newcastle and Illawarra tying at 12 wins apiece with no other teams involved, Illawarra would get that spot. And Illawarra played Gunners in the last round so they came really close early in the season. That was one of the games that I reviewed.
00:06:12
Speaker
and they play at home. And we did kindly ask Freddie Webb to hurry up and win some games in the last few rounds, considering I tipped them to win the whole thing. Better late than never, I guess. So yeah, it's going to be very interesting last round. But if anything for round 16, particularly in the men's competition, just continues to prove that no matter where you are on the ladder in NBA One East, there's always going to be very competitive games, whether it's round two, three, and whether it's round, you know,
00:06:41
Speaker
16 to 18. They're always going to be super competitive. There's always going to be results that are unexpected. Case in point would be for me, Maitland Mustangs, you know, convincing win over Illawarra. Fantastic. And then just great buy against Penrith.
00:06:58
Speaker
100%, yeah. That's, you know, day-to-day things change. In a West, beat North. And then two days later, they're losing to a Central Coast team playing two days in a row. That was only the fourth and fifth win for the season come round 16. Without two of their standout players in James Trustum and Aaron Redhead. So it's just so unpredictable.
Women's Game Recap and Analysis
00:07:20
Speaker
This is why we say don't sleep on the East. Do not sleep on the East because the East got game. You gotta take us through the women's results, Squinn.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, I shall do that. I shall do that indeed. Like you said, it kicked off on a Friday night and the first game of the round was Bankstown Bruins vs Sydney Comets at Bankstown and Bankstown snatching the wind there, 77 to 72. Then we headed over to Crows Nest where the Norse Bears took on a very undemanned inner West Bulls. So without Leilani Mitchell and Michaela Dompkins, Norse winning 116 to 44.
00:07:58
Speaker
Bankstown then backed up again. So talking about that turnaround, you know Bankstown had the 6 p.m. game Friday and then a 2 p.m. game Saturday. So straight into the ice bath for them I'm sure after they win against Comets. This time they played the Crusaders and also a very under-strength Crusaders as Illness hit the team. I think they only ended up going to Bankstown with seven players. So Bankstown winning that one 83 to 68.
00:08:26
Speaker
Penrose Panthers hosted the Newcastle Falcons and went down 44 to 74. Manly Waringa hosted the Hornsby-Karingi Spiders and wiped them out 136 to 45. 136, that has to be the highest score that a team has had this season in the men's or women's competition. That's higher than games that have gone to, that's higher than they put up in double OT last week. Correct. In Norse and Aubrey. Correct.
00:08:55
Speaker
Uh, Aubrey Wodonga and Sutherland Sharks met at the Lauren Jackson Sports Center in Aubrey in what went down as one of the best games of the season. Uh, both coach Jeremy Jones from Sutherland Sharks and assistant coach Sammy Mack from Aubrey Wodonga Bandits just saying, uh, just praising the high caliber of the women's plays in that game. Um, as a real example of how good the MPL 1E's can be.
00:09:22
Speaker
But Aubrey went down 94 to 100. Canberra Nationals hosted the Hills Hornets and they won that game 91 to 40. Maitland Mustangs hosted Illawarra Hawks and got up 69 to 44. Then the Crusaders backed up and host the Inner West Bulls this time and went down fighting 71 to 74. Newcastle Falcons were back at home against Illawarra Hawks and they won 72 to 45.
00:09:50
Speaker
And then the round finished off with the Panerith Panthers hosting Maitland Mustangs, 48 to 54. So a real mismatch of games as well. Lots of double headers, but lots of people having to play one home and one away. Illawarra getting the Maitland and Newcastle double header out of the way. And then Maitland having to do one home game and then drive all the way to Panerith the next day. So it's kind of like we're shoving it all in just into the last little bit of the season.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. And interesting, again, the Youth League draw, again, playing HABIC with NBL1 teams, because again, normally Garland for Sutherland, but
00:10:32
Speaker
That Hornsby team that lost by 91, obviously not saying they would have won, but you know, Kara Bishop, Isabella Zielkowski, Kira Hudson, they're all off playing Youth League against Penrith at 6pm whilst the MBL1 team they're usually playing with is playing at 4pm in Manly. So, you know, it can't be two places at once. It's how these things fall.
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. And I think that's also why the Saturday when the Crusaders women went away to Bankstown, they had illness, but yeah, also Youth League commitments, because I'm pretty sure they played Sutherland here at Terrigal. And both teams, you know, are quite up high on the ladder for Youth League. So yeah, very important game that they needed to attend.
00:11:14
Speaker
So after round 16, the ladder for MBL1 East women is Manly Waringa Sea Eagles at 18 and 2 in first place. Newcastle Falcons now in second place with 18 and 2. Norse Bears in third place with 15 and 4. Centre of Excellence in fourth place with 16 and 6. Sutherland Sharks in fifth place at 14 and 6.
00:11:43
Speaker
Maitland Mustangs in 6th place at 13th and 7th. Sydney Comments in 7th place with 11 and 8 and rounding out the top 8 is Aubrey Wodonga Bandits at 10 and 9. Then we've got the Canberra Nationals and Bankstown Bruins at 9th and 10th respectively, both on 9 and 10. In terms of percentage, there is quite a bit of difference separating them.
00:12:08
Speaker
Whereas the percentage difference, 8th and 9th is 0.2. And between 6th and 7th is 5.0. So that's still quite a bit of a difference. That fight for the 8th spot is still on tender hooks. All over in Canberra play each other next week.
00:12:27
Speaker
I think that's a game that we're going to have to keep an eye on for next round, Locky. I certainly do think that I will might have a sneaky live stream of that up while I'm preparing my commentary at Sutherland basketball stadium because that keeps off at three and then I got Sutherland at 5pm. So just roll straight into it. Yeah, and Sutherland are playing manly as well. So they're going to have a pretty important test.
00:12:53
Speaker
You know, manly need to win that to stay top, Sutherland need to win to have any chance of top four. But the draw is just so, like, it's so close. Like, and like, Aubrey Wodonga have to play Maitland in the last round, Canberra host Sutherland, and then go to Illawarra. Yeah, Bankstown play in a Western Hills, so that would be, you know, two wins, if they can get those two wins, they're suddenly right back in with a shot. Yeah, they're definitely probably the least likely of all the teams still in that fight for eighth to get the spot.
00:13:23
Speaker
that Aubrey Cambra game can just be so, like if Cambra win that and they're both sitting on 10 and 10, Aubrey and Cambra, then Banks down it right back in the hunt. It's really leaving it to the last minute, isn't it? It really is. And I don't think much, especially on the women's side, maybe a bit more in the men, but definitely on the women's side, I don't think a lot's going to be decided heading into the final round.
00:13:45
Speaker
Lots of pressure on teams and coaching staff to prepare in a short period of time, I guess, for quarterfinals. But that's the name of the game and, you know, thoughts and prayers with all the people in the competition and that have to decide percentages and placings and things like that. Do not envy that job at all. No, not in the slightest. So amidst all the excitement of round 16, what game did you choose to review in the men's competition this week?
00:14:13
Speaker
Well, I went with a team that's going to make finals, but I think I slipped under the radar a little bit, and that was the Hills Hornets. So they went down to Canberra, so I wanted to take a look at them, because they've had wins, now they've beaten Maitland, they've beaten Norris, but then they've had some slip-ups, and it does look like they're going to make finals with their run home. You know, if they slipped up from here, they'd probably be regretting it a bit come the end of the season. Watch the game down at Belconnen, finish
00:14:41
Speaker
finished eighty eight sixty five in cambra's favor it took all of forty seconds before um shawn montague found himself injured so that was a big
00:14:53
Speaker
Not sure if it happened as he came down or if he collected the doorframe at Belconnen basketball stadium. You know, Belconnen at one end, there's the laundry. Yes. And he fell, he fell right into, oh, yes, you would, you would know. I spent a lot of time at Belconnen. I have spewed in that laundry when we were doing caps pre-season. Very nice. Well, yes, so he fell and I'm not sure if he collected the doorframe or if it happened as he fell, but yeah, he almost ended up in the laundry there.
00:15:20
Speaker
He went off, he came back on at the end of the first quarter but he was noticeably limping and it's unsurprising that he only played nine minutes throughout the contest and I think he was doing really well just to play, just to get on court for those nine minutes and try to give the team something. So that was a bit annoying because we know how much of a big role he plays. What I did like from the Hills Hornets throughout the game is
00:15:45
Speaker
How good Ben Kierens is running the pick and roll? Finished with 12 and 8, really good with Campbell Green, but also picking when to take his own shot. When Ben Kierens is on the court and running that pick and roll, it's a real go-to for them and they kept going to it regularly until Campbell Green got in a bit of foul trouble, which kind of, he was really good as the roll man. That was probably when it got stunted a little bit, but that was really good for them.
00:16:14
Speaker
As for Campbell Green, not going to say he won the battle against Glen Morrison, because rarely do players win the battle against Glen Morrison, but I think it would have gone to the judges scorecards if it had been a boxing match because it was, he did really, really well. He finished with 15 points, three rebounds to assist, 7 of 11 from the field, most from very close range because he's in that role, rolling to the basket.
00:16:40
Speaker
Morrison finished with 13.7 rebounds and an assist 6-15 from the field. We'll get to more on him later. With Montague off, and Green was working so well, he got three fouls. I don't know, he only played 20 minutes in the end because of that foul trouble.
00:16:57
Speaker
I think in the situation they were in without Montague, I wouldn't have minded seeing them risk him a little bit more, even with the three fouls. If he stays in and keeps going well, so be it. If he, if he fails, gets a fourth foul, then, you know, you've rolled the dice. It hasn't come off, but you're probably not in a good position without him. Anyway, importantly, he shot seven of 11 from the field. The rest of the team from the field for Hill shot 20 of 57.
00:17:25
Speaker
So that's only just around 35%. And Canberra as a team only shot 41%. But when one player is doing so well and then he's in a bit of foul trouble and the rest of the team's not putting the ball in the basket quite so well, doesn't bode well. And turnovers. 17 turnovers for Hills. And some of them just throwing the ball away in the vicinity of players where
00:17:54
Speaker
You probably shouldn't be throwing the pass. If there's a player on that Canberra team, you don't want to throw a ball near, you know, even in a situation, even when your player might have the edge, it's Pietro Badalasi, because he is going to find a way to steal it. Finished with three steals. Cam Pender also finished with three steals. Dal feed finished with two. They finished up with 11 steals on their 17 read, 17 of the 17 turnovers. Canberra doing a great job of just picking off the ball, disrupting on defence.
00:18:24
Speaker
So if we go look at Canberra, that defence where they had all those steals, they finished with seven blocks. Tui Morrison and Lachlan Smith with two apiece and Dahl Feig with an absolutely massive block. The situation was absolutely dead in the water for them on defence. It looked like two points for sure.
00:18:46
Speaker
Delphieg just chasing back and swatted it away. It went from two points for Hills, absolutely guaranteed to Delphieg saying no in the blink of an eye. Speaking of Delphieg, he's starting to look like Delphieg again. Got to the rack a few times, maybe not.
00:19:04
Speaker
quite the same energy as always, but he's definitely looking a lot better than he did a couple of weeks ago.
Hills Hornets' Pathway to Finals
00:19:09
Speaker
I finished 15.6 rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block, six of six at the line. He was only three of seven from two point range, but I just liked the way he was actually, he was penetrating a little bit more. Watch out for him in finals.
00:19:22
Speaker
Because we have mentioned in a couple of previous episodes where we feel like coming back from injury, he's still a little bit hesitant to attack on the rim like he used to. We know him for those big poster dunks that he delivered two in a game, wasn't it?
00:19:38
Speaker
Or at least set up one and gave another in that- No, they were both his dunks against Frankston. Against Frankston at Nationals. And he did have a great performance last week as well. And now that he's backed it up, and as soon as you said that he had a big block at a really important moment of the game, that also cemented to me, he's back. He's back.
00:20:01
Speaker
he is and I don't want to call him an energy player because he's more than that for them but he does bring energy. They just had some real hustle on the offensive boards at time and finished up second chance points with 12 to 4 so the offensive rebound numbers were 15-13 in favor of Canberra but Canberra did
00:20:20
Speaker
a much better job in converting those second chances into points, you know, 12-4. You think you're even offensive rebounding numbers, maybe even second chance points, but it didn't happen. Didn't make the most of all these steals that they had. The points from turnovers only 9-6. If you're going to get those turnovers, and especially when they're live ball turnovers. Now, if you have 4-17 turnovers, but they're all travels or passes out of bounds, and the team of the opposition can set up their half court set, well,
00:20:48
Speaker
It's not much difference, but if you're getting 11 steals, probably want to be converting a few more of those into fast break points.
00:20:57
Speaker
Do you happen to remember what part of the game they got most of their steals? Because I remember the game I reviewed a few rounds back, Canberra versus Illawarra. And it was also it was a close game. It was a lot closer than what this score line was against Hills. They certainly turned up the defensive intensity, especially in the fourth and as the game got to the very
00:21:18
Speaker
pointy end. Did you notice any kind of patterns? Was it very, was it straight out of the blocks? Was it? It was. I feel like it might have been as I was trying, as Hills was trying to adjust to losing to Montague 40 seconds, losing Montague 40 seconds in.
00:21:34
Speaker
that Canberra got a sniff, you know, maybe things are like just a step off where Monty usually is or something, you know, things of that caliber where, you know, things are just a little bit off. They try to get into things. And yeah, so there were a few turnovers really early on. That was probably the biggest, I think, and late on where they actually got more of their points from turnovers, they got a few as well. But you got to remember there was a 26 to 12 final quarter for Canberra. So Hills was still in it.
00:22:04
Speaker
And as that margin starts to edge away, you know, you start playing faster, you know, start taking a little bit rush shots or making rush decisions because there's a certain point where you have to start scoring quickly and it starts feeling like the game's getting away from you. And that was bore out in the shooting stats where the fourth quarter for Canberra was their best shooting quarter for both two-point and three-point range. And it was actually Hill's worst for both stats.
00:22:31
Speaker
So as Canberra ratcheted it up, Hills fell away, trying to chase the game a bit. But they certainly seem to be focusing a lot more on their defensive end and their defensive intensity and getting after the scraps, like you mentioned before, those second chance points sounded really important in this game. How do you think that's going to fare if they make finals time? We talked about them all season because of their start. You know, they just keep building. And I think if they're a team that can ratchet up the pressure,
00:23:00
Speaker
And they're showing they could be in situations where they don't have to ratchet up the pressure in the fourth quarter. They're getting that good, but it's something nobody wants to face. They've got experience. They've got it together. If it comes down to the fourth quarter, there's not many teams I'd rather have, you know, out there than them, to be honest. But not just doing it like winning. They've got the winning experience as well. So having that formula that got them a championship, they know that that's
00:23:26
Speaker
working so they're going to commit to it. And how did they do it in the grand final in the fourth quarter? Exactly right. That is exactly right. They just turned it up and played with hustle and desperation in that fourth and really snatched the win from
00:23:41
Speaker
Maitland in the fourth quarter you're exactly right. Yeah so you know if it's a close one in the fourth I would yeah I would not want to be yeah you can't give him a sniff I mean that's it you probably say that about a lot of teams but there are other teams where you watch not every week but some weeks and they're up by twelve and suddenly it's like
00:24:02
Speaker
Hang on, they're defending with 20 seconds to play. This could go into OT and you're wondering, how did this happen? You know, that's as much about the opposition, you know, turning it up in the fourth, but you've got to go with them. You know, I've been watching the Tour de France all week and, you know, some guy kicks on the mountain. You've got to chase him or you're going to lose time. Team kicks in the fourth quarter and you can't match it with them. Suddenly they're putting on a 10-way run and the game's out of your reach.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, don't get left behind. What is it about Hills that you feel like they need to improve on to ensure they lock a top eight spot heading into finals? I don't really feel like they have a problem locking in a top eight spot because they've got a favorable run home. Well, first of all, they're going to need Sean Montague. Well, firstly, they're the kind of team that can go out and beat Maitland and North's, but then they're also the kind of team that can go and lose too. They've lost to a few teams this season that have been right down the order.
00:24:58
Speaker
That's why I'm not 100% on them making finals because, you know, they can drop games. They're the kind of team that can hang with a top team for the majority of the contest. Flip side, they're the team that can hang with a top team for only the majority of the contest. Feels like, you know, they have a little slip sometimes. Think back to the game against Sutherland. At Sutherland, where Sutherland came over the top in the fourth.
00:25:25
Speaker
Canberra put them away here in the fourth. They just need to get that out of their system. I've got a real opportunity to fish with 14 wins here and they could sneak you a six spot or even a fifth and suddenly instead of playing COE or maybe inner west you're in a game against, well if they play north they've beaten them already this season. Southern they prove they can hang with.
00:25:47
Speaker
Koo means a different story with Sean Montague on the court for 40 minutes on the weekend. They can get three wins. I'm not going to say they'll beat COE in the final game of the season. They can pick off those other three games. They can put themselves in a spot where they can get a quarterfinal win. Yeah, you're right, because they've got of the four games left of the season, Hills have got Hornsby, Bankstown, Manly and COE. So they've got the three teams that are below them on the ladder and then the top of the table team. Like you've got to be expecting to walk away.
00:26:17
Speaker
with three wins, one loss in the last two rounds. That's pretty handy. Like you said, that's a really, really solid run home.
00:26:25
Speaker
But imagine if it was the top four teams now. So COE, Inner West, Maitland, Gunners. Imagine if we went straight into with that top four straight into a semi-finals weekend. COE and Gunners would have to play each other in one semi and Inner West and Maitland in the other semi. So part of me really wants to see the Gunners and Maitland have a grand final rematch at the semi-final stage. That would be, that would be fun. That would be really fun.
Youth League Impact on NBL1 Teams
00:26:54
Speaker
Um, so maybe, so it's probably a good thing that it's now top eight and that elimination process because Gunners and Maitland will avoid each other. Hopefully until I think I got that master, right? If they can mean you, is there any point in making final eight predictions at this stage? No, correct. We, we attempted to, um, and literally the next week it was already blown out of the water. So.
00:27:21
Speaker
they're really, uh, predictions are fun and that's probably the only purpose of it. Pretty much. But moving on, you caught a women's game this week. You, uh, had the luxury of being there courtside commentating on it. Yeah, that's correct. I chose to do the Central Coast Crusaders in a West Bulls game this week. Um, while the last couple of weeks we have tried to focus on games,
00:27:47
Speaker
with teams that are in finals contentions and perhaps some upsets. But I chose to focus on this one because it was two very competitive teams in a sense that, you know, competitive
00:28:01
Speaker
still competitive, despite their position on the ladder. Both teams having WNBL experience, one team having a former Olympian, an Opal. So there's still going to be lots of talent on the court. And the thing for me, perhaps a little bit bias,
00:28:19
Speaker
being the Central Coast Crusader that I am, is that this is the one game that the Crusaders lost in the past that I feel like this is the 110 that you guys have got to beat. And they couldn't do it. The Inner West Bulls just found a way to beat the Crusaders again. So Inner West came with only eight players.
00:28:38
Speaker
They still had the lives of Dompkins and Mitchell, Perich and O'Flynn. That was four of their starting five and they had Yamazaki rounding off their starting five. They had Matsumoto on the bench, Imprezo on the bench and Thompson. And Jolzene Imprezo is still a youngster. I think she's still only like around
00:29:06
Speaker
under 16s, under 18s. And I recently saw on the Inner West Bulls Instagram account that she's been given eligibility by FEBA to represent the Philippines.
00:29:17
Speaker
which I think is fantastic. 100%! This game, again, you know, it was Central Coast, it was really theirs for the taking. It was a game where in terms of one-to-one-on-one matchups, there were some really exciting matchups. The one that I quite liked the most was Danica Rowe guarding Leilani Mitchell.
00:29:38
Speaker
I mean Leilani's got to be one of the most difficult people to guard in the league next to the likes of you know, Loz Nicholson. Just in a way that Leilani is able to use her body to her advantage. Being shorter in stature, she certainly doesn't
00:29:53
Speaker
let that be a disadvantage to her game at all. She's very good at drawing fouls, very good at using her body to get around her defender, very good at timing loose balls as well, especially on a loose rebound. So Leilani still had seven rebounds, but this matchup between Rowe and Mitchell was great because Danica can match Leilani in terms of foot speed and anticipation and IQ, but Rowe had the advantage of having a little bit more length on Mitchell. So
00:30:21
Speaker
That was a match up that I thought was quite good and I would have liked to have seen more of that. And another match up that was surprisingly really good was Maddie, Maddie Penn against Michaela Donkins. In a similar way, being able to match on skill set, foot speed and especially lengths. And Maddie isn't
00:30:41
Speaker
I'm getting physical under the basket either which i think sometimes dumpkins needs you know dumpkins is still leading the league in rebounds and especially she had six rebounds in the first quarter and they were all uncontested.
00:30:56
Speaker
A lot of them was like she got I reckon four of those six rebounds in the first quarter purely because no one else was going for it and she was. So she was being rewarded for her relentlessness on the boards in that sense, but I really wanted someone to challenge her physically to make at least getting those easy defensive rebounds a lot harder.
00:31:14
Speaker
So the times Maddie Penn played on her, she made catches in the low post a lot more difficult for Michaela, contesting the boards a lot more difficult. So I really liked that matchup too. You know, Rach Manpa, she matched up on Michaela sometimes, but I think Michaela had the edge.
00:31:34
Speaker
overreach especially from the high post in terms of guarding the drives one-on-one. I would have liked to see a little bit more of Nicole Hutchins in the game. Crusaders decided to go with something a bit smaller and a bit quicker against the Inner West Bulls. But the highlights for me for Inner West was definitely the two-man game between Mitchell and Dompkins.
00:31:56
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that was something. They need to like chop up those highlights and use them as educational tools. But when you go to your SPP camps and your state camps and you're learning the pick and roll, these are perfect examples. Maybe even like
00:32:11
Speaker
maybe even too skilled of an example if you're going to teach it to juniors just because the way that Leilani is able to read the defense so quickly off a pick and roll and her placement of a pass, there were lots of situations where Leilani wouldn't necessarily place the ball directly into Michaela's hands off the roll.
00:32:31
Speaker
she would place it in a position and force Michaela to go and catch it and that's like the that's that really kind of high class you know WMBL WMBA kind of caliber skill set that was really nice to see but obviously those two having a having a life and a family together off court meant that their chemistry on court is very going to be very hard to beat because it's almost like they got this telepathic communication and they ended up playing the whole game they played 40 minutes each
00:32:59
Speaker
Mikayla ended up with 20 points, 20 rebounds, and five assists. She was only one from seven from the three-point line, and I only make a point of that because I know that she'll be a bit annoyed with herself, but I'm here to tell you, Mikayla, don't be annoyed with yourself. They were all contested three-pointers. Leilani ended up with 31 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, and she shot six from 12 from the three-point line, and again, most of them were all over her hand.
00:33:28
Speaker
Like some of them, I don't even know how she physically was able to get them over the defender's hand because it was normally a long, lanky arm in her face. But there she goes. She was making them. Got to the free throw line eight times and made seven from eight as well.
00:33:43
Speaker
I think you know like for inner west as well Abbio Flynn has come a long way this season probably has a lot a bit to go to improve her offensive skill set to be a bit more of a threat and a bit more of an option for the inner west balls but defensively she that's where she's at she can really lock down some guards she was given jazz for Cadilla a hard time a lot when jazz was that wanted to go one-on-one from the top so Abbio Flynn
00:34:08
Speaker
is certainly could be a defensive specialist up there with like Taran Marney. Probably not as versatile on defense as Taran given that Talon's got the height and the length, but now O'Flynn did a great job on the one in defense and she ended up snatching seven boards too. She was taking the right shots when she was open. There was a couple of possessions where inner west bulls, their half court ball movement has improved heaps this season. That was probably some of the best that I've seen in this game. And Abby O'Flynn found herself with
00:34:38
Speaker
good opportunities to take a couple of open threes, not making it this time, but the fact she was making the right decision is the most important thing. Abio Flynn, I remember even when like in previous seasons when Inner West were getting beaten by 7080, she'd still come away with three or four steals because she just reads that pass. If she's defending like anywhere near the top of the arc and you try to throw it like just swing it around the horn, it's liable to end in a fast break layout for Abio Flynn. She's so good at picking them off.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah, she got, she actually had three steals this game as well. The other thing actually, now you mentioned grabbing a steal and going on transition. InnoS did a much better job than Crusaders of trying to capitalize on a transition bucket. Yeah, I mean, they only had five
00:35:24
Speaker
points from turnovers but the fact that when they took their opportunities mostly probably on stops rather than turnovers to try and get a transition bucket that worked really well for them and they probably only kicked that into gear I think like third quarter and when they started to realize actually this is working really well for us they kept at it they either got a layup or two or they got to the foul line so I'm glad that they were able to recognize that quite quickly and adapt quite quickly but as for the Crusaders
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, it was really theirs for the taking. They had a much bigger squad than they did the night before against Bankstown. In terms of most of the time, in terms of one on one contest, the Crusaders would have had the edge. They had plenty of scoring opportunities, whether it be just off a ball reversal and a drive, nice drive and dish. Really a lot like lots of opportunities to get shots under the basket.
00:36:20
Speaker
like lots of opportunities to get points in the paint. And they just missed. They missed so many layups. That's really all it came down to. There were 27 from 79. A lot of them were missed layups. Some of the layups were missed at really important times of the game, but games should never come down to a single layup.
00:36:41
Speaker
I think there were a lot of times too where the Crusaders were trying to focus too much on drawing contact when they were making a play rather than just making the play, focusing on making the shot and then dealing with whatever contact comes their way. I think we get a bit too sucked into that and we end up
00:36:59
Speaker
not getting fouls caught and then missing too many layups as well. But the Crusaders, because they had so many one-on-one scoring opportunities, fair enough, you try and exploit that, but when it's not working, you need to go back to what traditionally works for you. And throughout the whole season for the Crusaders, that's been half-court.
00:37:19
Speaker
offense where it's just absolute fundamentals. Ball goes around the horn, ball goes in, ball goes out, ball gets penetrated, ball goes to a receiver and we're off to the races. That is their bread and butter and when they do that well, because all of them can score from anywhere, they can be really, really deadly, but too often do they deviate from what works for them.
00:37:41
Speaker
and too often do they try and play a little bit too much hero ball and that ultimately was their downfall in this game in terms of turnovers though 13 turnovers to crusaders only 11 for inner west so that was really good foul count was 18 to 13 you know that was
00:37:58
Speaker
fairly standard. Some start lines for Crusaders. Jazz Walker dealer ended up with 16 points, three rebounds, six assists, three steals. Danica ended up with 15 points, seven rebounds, and Maddie Penn ended up with 11 points, 11 rebounds. Yeah, Hartshanley getting just under 14 minutes and she had six and six. Kayla Miller, I really like, you know, last season,
00:38:23
Speaker
She sometimes took a starting role. She's been coming a lot more off the bench and she looks like she's actually enjoying herself a lot more. She had nine and two and two assists in just under 18 minutes. But there was a time, especially in that third quarter,
00:38:39
Speaker
where the Crusaders had opportunity just to put the accelerator on. And what we needed was a bit of grit. We needed people to jump on the loose balls, to shake some of those rebounds out, just to make some gutsy plays. And I really like how Michaela Miller does that. And she started, I think, the fourth quarter and did just that. And we were in a really good position. And then she got subbed off and didn't come back on.
00:39:05
Speaker
So it was a bit disappointing because I felt like that's what kind of got Crusaders back in the game. But anyway, that's just how it goes. In terms of like the analysis, nothing really too outstanding. The inner West Bulls and both the Crusaders, you know, had their best shooting quarters in the second. I mean, the biggest lead by either team was seven and six. So it was really quite close all game.
00:39:29
Speaker
There was definitely momentum shifts like there is with every game, but neither team really asserted their dominance for big periods of the game. Probably up until the closing minutes where the inner west bulls just looked like they were a little bit more controlled based on their decision making was a little bit better. But otherwise, in terms of being the last home game for the Crusaders, we had massive crowd. I think we had a lot of inner west bull supporters that made the trip, so thank you to those that came because
00:39:58
Speaker
It's certainly created a really great atmosphere. Shout out to Matt McQuaid as well, who made the trip and we got to have a bit of a chat to him before the game started. Also shout out to Courtside Kaz from First Sub, she made the trip too. But in terms of the actual game day, despite the result for the women, it was awesome. It was a great way to finish off the season on the home court. Being a Central Coast person,
00:40:27
Speaker
looking towards next season and I guess the junior pathways and, you know, the Youth League team. Essential Coast, you know, on the upward trajectory, do you think? We certainly have potential to be on the upward trajectory.
00:40:42
Speaker
I think it will depend who's going to return to play next season from this existing team. I know that Maddie Penn won't be returning because she's already moved to Canberra. I think we've certainly got a lot of emerging talent coming through, especially through our Youth League program. You know, we've already got Sammy McCubbin. She plays Youth League and she's already on the bench with the MPO1 team. Bronte Moore as well.
00:41:10
Speaker
I know in our youth league team we've got the likes of Lucy Cork and then we've got a lot of local girls like Holly Handley and Kushla. Wonderful players, they've all got excellent attitudes, I've coached them before, I've played scrimmages beside them. In terms of culture and camaraderie,
00:41:30
Speaker
we certainly have a lot of great talent coming through. We just need to refine our basketball IQ and I think maturity in decision making for us to maintain to be competitive. So what's been really great actually for our women's program is that a lot of the youth league girls have been training with the NBL1 team even though they had no intention to suit up and that was all on their own initiative
00:41:54
Speaker
to improve their game, really, and to keep learning. So if that's the attitude they're having, you know, pretty fresh out of 18s, already thinking so far ahead of, yeah, I want to get better, so I'm going to go and train with the best. I think that's fantastic. Yeah, just got to tweak those things of, yeah, decision making.
00:42:13
Speaker
shooting percentages, an IQ, which I know sounds like a tall order, but considering the likes of Holly Hanley, who's, you know, a one or two kind of guard, she's already taken this opportunity to learn from great people like Dinaka Jasmine.
00:42:30
Speaker
even Katie Bailey. Katie Bailey and Emma Bailey are unfortunately both injured, so they didn't play this game. And they're still relatively young and fresh into their MBL1 careers too. So as long as we can stick together as a big squad and keep that pathway open,
00:42:46
Speaker
have the younger players, but you have the opportunity to learn from the older players. I think our women's program is looking pretty good. Because we were talking offline about how there was a good eight, nine years where the Crusaders didn't have a women's team. And it was the worst possible time for us not to have a women's team. Because it meant the likes of Jazz forcadilla and Darnica and that very talented women's age group that we had.
00:43:11
Speaker
They would finish Youth League or Ateens and not have a semi-professional pathway. They had to go to Newcastle. That's why Dinaka played at Hornsby for so long. It's because we couldn't provide at home, so we need to make sure that we keep a team around. 100%, yeah. I still remember when Illawarra were in the doldrums.
00:43:31
Speaker
And like players like Lozsparks, they just keep coming back just to make sure Illawarra could have a team for as long as possible because they knew that once the team, you know, was gone, it would be so hard to bring it back. And then when they did bring it back, Illawarra, I mean, they're helped by their location, you know, being the only team in Wollongong, but they were sold last year. It's not been as good this year, but like them having a solid team so quickly after dropping their women's team is probably an anomaly in this situation.
00:44:01
Speaker
And especially a club like Illawarra, who growing up as a junior, that's the one country team I did not want to play. Because they'd always be so competitive, especially in their women's program, but they had such a good run of having very talented athletes come out of that program. And it's obviously with the men too, with the likes of, you know, Xavier Cooks, Angus Glover, being the poster boys for Illawarra basketball, Lucky Dent. Yeah, it's a real shame when that happens.
00:44:28
Speaker
Do you remember though, years ago, I think this is before I even got back into playing. I think this is kind of what sparked me to get back into playing. When Illawarra made the finals for Waratah and in their team was the likes of Rach Watman, now Lish, Renee and Liv White all on the same team. Yeah, I do remember that game. I remember that very, very well indeed. They played Newcastle in the grand final and Newcastle got up.
00:44:58
Speaker
That was the Newcastle team. Was it the Newcastle team that had, had Shannon Novacel come over and play centre? Yes, it was that team. Yes, that was a very good Newcastle team. Yeah, I do remember that Illawarra team very, very well. That was a very fun season. It's always a fun season at Warrata League. What am I talking about? That was a really great final. That was held at Terrigal actually. And I think it was literally the next year where I started to play again, because I was like, yeah, if those guys can do it, and they're playing well, I need to get my
00:45:28
Speaker
but into gear. But yeah, that was essentially the game. But it was still relative, it was still competitive. It was still some great moments of basketball to watch, regardless of who you were going for. Crusaders now have Illawarra next week for the first and only time in the comp. And in the West, I think, like we said, they have Bankstown, so hopefully they can snatch in another win because they came close to Bankstown last time.
00:45:57
Speaker
All right, Lockie, we've come to the part of the episode where it's time for some news and gossip.
News, Gossip, and Global Basketball Development
00:46:03
Speaker
What have you got for us this week? Oh, I think WNBL fans will already know this, but Canberra Nationals superstar Lizzie Tonks is heading over to Adelaide. I think there's a link there between Canberra and Adelaide. Of course, Nat Hurst, head coach over at the Adelaide Lightning, taking Lizzie Tonks over there with her.
00:46:25
Speaker
That's some big news. Also, in just one that came to mind, former Canberra Gunner, Akech Aliya, now playing over in Central, got a spot as a 36ers development player. Congratulations to Akech Aliya. We miss him in MBL1 East, but he's obviously flying over there in Central. Yeah, and I didn't realise that his brother plays AFL.
00:46:51
Speaker
Yes, so I think his brother played for Sydney and I don't know if he still plays for Port. He might play for Port Adelaide still. I'm not really up on my AFL unfortunately. If you're wondering where the men's COE team have been these last few weeks, they've been over at the NBA Global Academy Games going undefeated.
00:47:12
Speaker
Ben Henshaw, of course, getting plenty of praise, but Johnny Furphy, the big standout, apparently. I haven't been able to watch, but apparently, yeah, undefeated, and yeah, he's getting some big schools apparently very interested in Johnny Furphy. Did they name what schools in particular had shown interest? No, I don't think they're at that stage yet where they're, you know, leaking names and offers, but apparently some big, some high major schools have been very interested in this week, so.
00:47:42
Speaker
And do you know much about who they played in that tournament? It's all the other like NBA academies. So the NBA Africa Academy sent a couple of teams, the NBA Global Academy down in Canberra that separates the COE center team, which also had a couple of the other COE guys. So they said they split, you know, some of the other COE guys filled out that NBA Global Academy team. I think the Latin America Academy. So yeah, just a bunch of all the NBA Global Academies.
00:48:12
Speaker
I love seeing all these new pathways that have developed over the years. Like this global academy was a great idea. And then they've set up the different basketball without borders camps all over the world and the different conferences, especially now that it aligns with how fever are now doing it. Like they've changed that format over the years as well to qualify for the World Cup, how you've got the five different cups. We're not Oceania or whatever we were called before. Now we're all under Asia Cup.
00:48:41
Speaker
And I like how they're kind of all aligned with each other. I love how there's this international development and perspective on elite development all over the world. It's a really exciting time for basketball. It certainly is. Yeah. I mean, they've really locked into the fact that basketball is a global game, you know, it's, you know, and, you know, want to give young players from around the world the best pathway because at the end of the day, every player at the start of their journey is, you know, aiming for the NBA. So.
00:49:12
Speaker
the NBA can provide pathways to get the best players there. You know, you don't want some player who's extremely skilled, but maybe it comes from, you know, poor socioeconomic background or a country where there aren't that many, you know, opportunities to be left behind simply because, you know, out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. Oh, absolutely. Like, um, even someone mentioned on Twitter about the indigenous basketball league and their understanding was that it was rather than promoting, um,
00:49:40
Speaker
an alternative pathway and increasing accessibility to basketball for those who may not have access to it, whether it be because of socioeconomic status or because of geographical location, the Indigenous basketball league could bring basketball to them instead. And I think someone online thought that perhaps that had a different intention, but it was something created by Patty Mills.
00:50:04
Speaker
with the good intention of bringing basketball to the people and trying to close that gap a little bit. So in the same vein as basketball, Global Academy in basketball without borders, going to Latin America, going to Asia, going to Africa. I really like that idea of bringing basketball to people rather than relying on people to come to basketball because it is a it's pretty expensive sport. Like it really isn't sustainable for everyone.
00:50:31
Speaker
No, definitely not. I think that's just elite junior sport in general. It's just trending that way. But otherwise, let's get stuck into the All-Star Five. I imagine, as we say every week, you would have had quite a task trying to whittle it down to five for the men's comp. It was all-bar one player in my All-Star Five scored at least 37 points in a game.
00:50:53
Speaker
How often do you ever get to say that for a loop ever? Yeah, so that's where we stared. So we'll start off with... I also want to shout out just one player, just particularly. It was just the fact that they lost and another team won that he couldn't get in. But Matt Eldridge put up a big 35 and 15 in Manly's loss to Hornsby. There were other big performances, but that was the best. But I had to go with a player in a big win over a player in a loss, unfortunately.
00:51:22
Speaker
We'll kick it off with the one player in the All-Star Five who didn't score 37 in a game, and that's Noah Pagotto of Illawarra, who had 31 points, 10 rebounds, and an assist against in the loss to Maitland, and then followed that up with 25 points and 12 rebounds in a 66-63 win over Newcastle. So if you've seen 66 points, he scored 25. Pretty good work by Noah Pagotto. You know we love Noah Pagotto here.
00:51:50
Speaker
I'm gonna, can we take partial credit for his great performance in around 16 that we get because we gave him a shout out last episode? 100%. Okay, moving on, we have Blake Morrow of Inner West. He had 23.6 rebounds and seven assists in the win over North.
00:52:08
Speaker
and then 37 points, nine rebounds and two assists in the loss to Central Coast, 104, 102. And speaking of 37 points in the Central Coast in a West game, we have your boy, AJ Lawton, 25 points, three rebounds, five assists and two steals in the win over Bankstown. And follow that up with 37 points, four rebounds, six assists and six steals in a 104, 102 win.
00:52:37
Speaker
over in the West. And now the man who got his team over the line in a nail biter, Lockie Cummings, 38 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists in a 119 to 117 win over Sutherland. That more or less kept Aubrey Widonga's season alive and
00:52:58
Speaker
they only just got away with the win in that one. And finally, Will Cranston-Lount of Maitland putting up 38 points for rebounds for assists and a couple of steals in the win over Illawarra. And then 27 points, two rebounds, five assists and another two steals in a 101.95 win over Penrith as they look to secure a top four berth. So plenty of scoring with a little bit of other things added in this week.
00:53:28
Speaker
Every week we always struggle to decide an all-star five. We still do the job, but it's challenging. So I'm just starting to imagine how challenging it's going to be.
00:53:42
Speaker
to pick the end of season awards for NBA One East, not us as predictions based on the votes game to game. It's like, you know, you got your 3-2-1 and like, you know, I imagine if you do a 3-2-1 for that central coast in a West game, Lawton gets the three, Morrow gets the two. That two for Morrow is worth a three in 90% of other game.
00:54:05
Speaker
It was so unprecedented that you have both point guards racking up 37 points. And when I spoke to Blake Morrow and CB at the end of the game, Morrow was actually surprised that he had 37 points. He genuinely didn't have any idea that he had 37. And I said, no, you and AJ had both had 37. And he said, well, AJ's 37 was allowed 37.
00:54:31
Speaker
compared to mine. Moro got to the free throw line 17 times, so you're already on track. A pretty big night out. Big night. Who have we got in the women's this week? Because I looked at some of the box scores and I think you had a pretty tough job as well.
00:54:45
Speaker
Yeah, I really did. And I had to make a couple of late changes given that we had, you know, a couple of games yesterday. Um, so honorable mention to Izzy Bourne from the Canberra Nationals who had 24 points and 11 rebounds. Um, but I'm going to kick off my All-Star five with another triple-double from Michaela Pivich. Now that's two triple-doubles, uh, two weeks in a row, right? Yes.
00:55:11
Speaker
In that epic clash against Sullivan's shark, she had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists and 4 steals for good measure. Is that her second or third triple double for the season? I think it might be her third in the season. There's definitely two in a row.
00:55:29
Speaker
Actually, after the game, Maddie Norris texted me about playing against Michaela Vivek. So she definitely left her mark on that game. Yet another person that you'd love to have on your team, but you just dread having to play again. And then from the same game, I had Loz Nicholson bringing those rose gold vibes into this game straight off the Asia Cup. She had 39 points, nine rebounds and six assists and three steals.
00:55:57
Speaker
She shot overall at 67% and word has it that she was 10 from 11 by half time. Yes, I think that's right. Yeah, I was actually keeping an eye on the stats on my way home from somewhere. Yeah, I think that does sound right. Sammy Mac, that was his hot tip on the text line. Then I also had Mallory Bates actually from the same game. 28 points and 10 rebounds.
00:56:20
Speaker
Then I had Violet Capri Moro with 27 points and 17 rebounds. And then with a late addition to the All-Star Five was Leilani Mitchell with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals against the Crusaders. And like I said earlier, that included 50% from the 3-point line with 6 from 12.
00:56:42
Speaker
But yeah, that was my All-Star Five for this week. I would love to see Mikayla Pivich again with a triple double next week. Thank you. Just a tall order for you, Mikayla. Is it a tall order for Mikayla though? Yeah, that's just her on the reg. But you mentioned Capri Moro. I sure did. I sure did. Looks like she's back in form after a little bit of a time off with injury, doing the goods for Bankstown. Yeah, we might hear more about her very soon.
00:57:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think we may. We may have to hear about her very soon, but let's have a break and see who we've got for our interview just around the corner.
Interview with Violet Capri Moro
00:57:18
Speaker
We are back with our interview portion of the episode and our guest this week comes all the way from Tacoma in Washington State. They were a standout for Eastern Washington University in the Big Sky Conference, ending their career as seventh all-time leading scorer and as part of the all-academic team in their senior year for the same conference.
00:57:41
Speaker
Before coming to Australia they also spent three seasons in Iceland and somehow found themselves down at the opposite end of the world with us here in NBL One East. It is Violet Capri Moro. Hi, how you going Cappy? I'm going well, how are you? Very good, thank you. Recovering from a big weekend of NBL One East as I'm sure you are as well. Yes, I'm just happy to be back on a winning streak.
00:58:10
Speaker
So we're going to kick off from the very start. I did a bit of googling about Tacoma when I was doing some research for today and it looks like a stunning place to live. Can you tell us a little more about what it was like growing up there? It's my favorite place to be, but I don't like to be home for too long. I'm always on the move. I always like to be going somewhere, doing something. So I'm always just bouncing around and
00:58:37
Speaker
I found myself in Iceland for the last few years. But it's a big city and it's nice to just go out and look at stuff. We have beaches, we have the woods, and we have the city part. So it's nice to just go somewhere and see something different every time you step outside. And it's nice because my family's there and it's easy to just bounce around from house to house to see everyone.
00:59:04
Speaker
And tell us about how your basketball journey started in Tacoma. It all started in Metro Parks in Tacoma when I was eight years old. My mom, she put me and all my nephews in sports. She put us in everything she could sign us up for when we were really young, we were eight and I think five at the time. And basketball just stuck for all of us and the rest was history.
00:59:35
Speaker
I ran track and I was a star athlete running track and I have a few state medals throughout high school and then I ran cross country. I played soccer for a bit and softball for a little bit, but basketball was the top, that was number one. It actually did, running cross country
01:00:04
Speaker
Well, cross country was right before the basketball season in high school. So I would run cross country to get in shape. And then I'd go straight into basketball season, straight from basketball to track. So it all fed off of each other, which helped me just stay in shape the whole year. I was always running, whether it was on the court, the field, the track, whatever it may be. So yeah.
01:00:28
Speaker
What was it about basketball that made you decide to stick with that sport, given that you were a multi-talented athlete? Um, I got a scholarship, a four ride scholarship to play basketball, division one. So I was like, okay, this might be it. This works. Given that basketball essentially then chose you, did you have any basketball idols growing up that you aspired to be like?
01:00:56
Speaker
Well, I didn't actually, I didn't have any idols because I didn't really watch basketball until I got older, which sounds really bad. But when I got older, when I got older, I did like start realizing like, okay, I should watch these people, you know, to elevate my own game. And when I was younger, Sue Bird was my favorite. But as I got older, like, I mean, even out of college, Arike Gumbawale, she's like my favorite now. So she's at the top of my list.
01:01:38
Speaker
Um, the further I got into my criminal justice degree, I wanted to learn more about the kids. So I wanted to start my focus or focus more towards children and, um, you know, keeping them out of the criminal justice system. So after basketball, I want to work with kids and like troubled youth to help them stay out of trouble. Do you have any, do you have any roles in mind that you feel like
01:02:05
Speaker
you'll be be good at in that sense was it like a social worker role or maybe you can even use basketball to um as a vehicle to help kids to stay in a good path too. I mean like social work and like um coaching even you know coaching basketball or even track or any other sports just to keep kids you know in line
01:02:28
Speaker
staying on a straight and narrow path. My mom, she kept us all in sports just so we wouldn't be doing the wrong things and having all that extra time to do other things. So if I can help in any kind of way, especially with basketball, I'll do it. Do any coaching at Bankstown at the moment? I do. I coach at the schools and even at Bankstown almost five days a week.
01:02:52
Speaker
Every, every import we've talked to has mentioned how much they love coaching the kids, whether it's been we're talking to an interview or just talking to them in general. Oh, the kids see me a lot and it's really fun. They're so funny. They're so goofy, but they're always. So after college, you went to Iceland. Can you tell us something about basketball in Iceland, how it compares to, you know, playing in Australia?
01:03:18
Speaker
Playing here, it's a lot faster and the competition's a lot better. I love playing here. It's just, everything is just ramped up a whole lot. And, you know, I was playing there for a while and I think I just ran my course over there and I got the opportunity to come here and I love it. I just love it. I'd like to get my foot in the door in a WMBL game or a WMBL team if anyone's listening.
01:03:47
Speaker
just to see if I can hang with those girls. So the season in Iceland, do they play that during summer or winter over there? I guess it's pretty cold all year round, but... It's, um, it's their winter. So your guys' summer. So they play from September to March, April-ish. I think I miss two summers coming straight from there to here.
01:04:11
Speaker
Okay, so what's the lifestyle like? It's crazy. It's scary. Just there's always, usually it's always raining and it's always windy and sometimes there's snow. There's more rain than anything and there's more wind than snow and it's just cold. It's like bone chilling cold.
01:04:30
Speaker
So I guess when you are in Iceland in winter, what do you do outside of basketball? So I lived downtown for my last two years, like downtown Reykjavik. So I got to just either take a walk or take a drive and I'd be in the city center.
01:04:46
Speaker
And there was just people always down there, always doing something. There's restaurants and there's tour attractions and just people outside. I don't know why they'd stay outside so long because it was so cold, but there'd always be people out just outside. And then I would do hair. When I was bored, I do braids and twists and all that. And I would do that when I had people that needed their hair done.
01:05:15
Speaker
Did you get an opportunity to travel throughout Europe and other parts of Iceland while you were playing there? I did get to travel Iceland. I may have done the whole island.
01:05:29
Speaker
I went from one end all the way to the other. And whether it was with the team or just with my family, they came to visit. So that was nice just to be able to get to, you know, road trip and see, you know, the waterfalls. And there's a staircase with like a thousand stairs. You climb up to the top and there's another waterfall up there. And, you know, just, it's just pretty. When the sun's out, it's beautiful. But when it's rainy and foggy outside, it's kind of scary.
01:06:01
Speaker
But I also was in Croatia for a bit and that was beautiful. It was beautiful there. The weather was, it was actually closer to Australian weather in your guys' winter. So it wasn't too bad. It was nice. Were there any other highlights of traveling Iceland? Like, did you spend time in the capital in Reykjavik very much? And did you get to eat much of the local food?
01:06:30
Speaker
I did get to spend a lot of time in the city center in Reykjavik. I lived right about five minutes away from the city, just downtown and the food is scary. They would give you goat heads and sharks and I wouldn't eat it because I was scared, but I did smell it and it was not a nice smell and it was not a pretty sight.
01:06:57
Speaker
But I just observed, I did not try it. I was scared. Did you get to scout any other places in Europe where you might want to play in the future? I hadn't gotten to travel to many other places besides like Croatia and Iceland, but I would like to go to maybe France one day and I want to see Greece. If I could play there, I would. It's just, I only hear great things about it and it's just a pretty place, beautiful place to be.
01:07:26
Speaker
But you're here in MBL1 now, averaging the best part of a double-double per game, 23-9. What expectations did you get from Coach Blanche before the season? He didn't, he was just kind of like, this is a new team, like there's no pressure on you to, you know,
01:07:48
Speaker
Like even go make it to playoffs. It was just like, this is a new team. It's a bunch of young girls. Let's just get their feet wet. Let them get to see what the NBA one is like. And then I came in and everyone was just like, wow, okay, she can play. Now let's see what we can do. And I was like, okay, we got these two imports. Okay, let's do something now. What's next? What can we do? What else can we accomplish by the end of the season?
01:08:16
Speaker
Do you feel like the team has exceeded their own expectations for the season, given it was a young team? I think, I think so. I think everyone is just, I think it's opened their eyes to what they can do, like, you know, going forward. You know, this is just the starting point. This is the base. We can only go up from here. And I think, I think they've gotten a good taste of the NBA one.
01:08:45
Speaker
and they should be ready for, you know, next season, you know, starting now. And how about you? Had you heard of MBL One before you got here? I actually did, but I didn't know it was as big as it was. So I've had a few friends play in the MBL One. I've had a couple of friends in the West, one, a few friends in the West, and then one was in the Central last season. And yeah, I've just,
01:09:15
Speaker
Nobody in the East yet. This is my first, everyone I know in the East is right around here. But my friends from back home played, they play in the West and then in the Central now, or last season, one was last season and the other ones I know. Because you played with a couple of Aussies in college with Jess McDowell-White and Brittany Klayman. I forgot about her. She's in the, yeah, Jess and Bella, they are both playing together. I love that.
01:09:43
Speaker
They're in the North playing together. I was so happy when I seen that. And I had another old teammate, Ashley Payne. She was in Perth. So I had a few other teammates here with me.
01:10:11
Speaker
I didn't have any expectations. I just wanted to play and I guess I came and played and I've been playing, you know, but I'm just, I'm glad I could like fit well in the style of play here and even in Bankstown and be able to compete.
01:10:31
Speaker
with these other teams. And you mentioned wanting to get into a WMBL team. Here you get the chance to go up against some players who already are playing in the WMBL. So I guess if you can do well against them, you're showing all those WMBL coaches, you know, you can play at this level. I agree. I just need one of them to see me. You're averaging 23 points and 9.6 rebounds for the season, which is great numbers.
01:11:01
Speaker
But are you personally happy with your performance this season? I am not Upset about it. I'm happy I've been playing as well as I have been you know, I can only go up from here so That has the have you has the team discussed, you know making the playoffs, you know, are you just gonna try and keep winning? I'm gonna definitely try and keep winning
01:11:26
Speaker
And we kind of talk about it a little bit. Nobody really wants to get into it too much, but it's definitely floating around in everyone's head. Is there any parts of your game that you have learned about while you've played in NBA One East and any parts of your game that you'd like to continue to improve? Coming from Iceland, I don't have to do it by myself. In Iceland, it was a lot of like, you have to do everything as the American.
01:11:53
Speaker
That's the import. You have to do everything. So here I've learned like, oh, I can play with other people. I have help. I have like, you know, I can pass to my teammate and she's going to knock down the shot. My teammate is going to pass to me and I'm going to knock down the shot. So I've just had to learn or I've learned that, okay, I can play with other people. And then I'd like to improve on just relaxing, I guess. I know I look, I just heard yesterday that I play really relaxed.
01:12:21
Speaker
In my head, there's a whole bunch of things going on in there, but I guess I don't show it, but I just need to chill in my head, I guess. Bankstown, like you said, is a team that's new to MBO1 East, and in the previous competition, they didn't have any imports. So you yourself and Brittany are probably the first imports they've had. But how did you actually find your way to Bankstown? I just got a call. I said, hey, do you want to go play in Australia? I said, yes.
01:12:50
Speaker
I'd love to go play there. And I actually got a call. I can't remember the team, but a team had called, or they wanted me to come play in Australia in the NBA one last season. But I just, at that point I just wanted to go home. So I was like, no, I'm not going to play. I'm going to go home. And then at the end of this season in Iceland, they called and they were like, oh, you know, a different, Bankstown called and they said that they wanted to bring me in. And I said, yes, of course, sign me up.
01:13:20
Speaker
It really feels like all the imports around the league, men and women have really been, you know, banding together and supporting each other this year. You know, is that helping you, having those like fellow Americans, you know, around as friends while you're here? It's really nice to be able to have other people that you, you know, can relate to like, you know, being away from home and
01:13:45
Speaker
You know, just not being, you know, I wouldn't say not being comfortable, but just, you know, we're all in a foreign country and it's nice to just say, Hey, you want to come over and watch a movie? You know, just, it's nice to have that around like me and Brittany.
01:14:01
Speaker
all day, we're just back and forth in each other's rooms, just back and forth. Just because we're not doing anything, we'll just be like, hey, you want to watch this show together? Or even like other friends and other on other teams, they're like, hey, what are you doing? You want to go to the movies or you want to go to the beach? You know, just stuff to get out of the house. Instead of being stuck inside all day. And I guess like you're all here in Sydney, you know, all your other teammates, they've seen everything in Sydney before, whereas you guys, you all want to get out and see and see the city you're in.
01:14:31
Speaker
Exactly. What have been some of the tourist highlights of Sydney so far you've experienced? I actually went to the Opera House today. No, I've been to a couple beaches and I got attacked by a bird. Do you remember what bird it was? Was it a seagull or a magpie? It was a seagull.
01:14:49
Speaker
He yelled at me before he attacked and then he attacked and I ran. Were you perhaps eating on the beach and attacked you for food? Yes, I was eating fish and chips and I had it in my hand. He came and yelled at me. Next thing I know he's like bouncing off of my hand.
01:15:07
Speaker
knocked the food out of my hand and I took off the other direction. I was scared. It's a hard lesson to learn while you're here in Australia with eating food on the beach sounds appealing, but the seagulls will always defend their territory and try and go after what you have. Is there anything in Australia that you'd like to do before you go back home, like visit Taronga Zoo or do some scuba diving or anything like that? I want to go feed a kangaroo.
01:15:36
Speaker
I want to go to the, I haven't been to the Bondi Beach, so I want to go there when it's warmer. So hopefully I'll come back a little bit sooner. And yeah, I just, I like to travel, so I like to like do the touristy stuff. I just haven't done much this year. Well, if you need a good place to go feed a kangaroo down here on the central coast, which is only an hour and a half from where you are, there's the Australian Reptile Park.
01:16:05
Speaker
And you've got kangaroos walking around that you can feed the koalas, snakes, goannas, komodo dragons. We've got everything down here. And speaking of, you know, eating fish and chips on the beach, which is a typical Australian thing to do, I've seen on some of your social media posts that you're a bit of a self-confessed foodie. So what are some of the local Australian snacks and foods that you've tried since you've been here?
01:16:34
Speaker
I haven't, no, I've eaten a lot of food. I've had Lebanese food and when the Ramadan markets were going on I was up and down the street just trying everything, everything. What I don't really like is chicken salt. It's not my favorite thing in the world. I can get a tiny bit of it but
01:16:57
Speaker
Nothing more than that. And a lot of the food that I post, my roommate, Brittany, my wonderful roommate, Brittany, she's just a chef. She chefs up anything and a lot of my posts are what she's made. Have you tried Vegemite? I haven't, but I just bought some today to try it. I have a jar, a brand new jar. Just remember, it's just a thin scraping. It's not like Nutella where you've got to put a thick coating of Vegemite
01:17:27
Speaker
on a piece of toast or a piece of bread. It's just a thin scraping and you should be good to go. Okay, I will do that. Everyone keeps saying, everyone says either eat a scoop of it or don't. And I'm like, well, I'm gonna be on the safer side and not. Definitely do not eat a scoop of it. But definitely make sure someone makes you some fairy bread before you're done as well. I love fairy bread. I had two Australian teammates
01:17:57
Speaker
Yeah, I had two Australian teammates and they showed me the fairy bread and I love it. I was eating back in like 2019 or 2018. I went home. I had went home and I was like, mom, you have to try this fairy bread and I made it. And she looked at me like I was crazy. She's like, why do you have sprinkles on your bread? So you've mentioned you're a foodie and you also mentioned you do a bit of hair braiding. So who is Cappy off the court?
01:18:26
Speaker
Cappy is a goofy, funny, weird girl who likes to braid. She likes to braid, she likes to do twists, she likes to do locks, and she just gets in her own world when she's on top of someone's head. So do you have many teammates asking you to do anything, anything with their hair? Yes, I do Brit's hair, Britney's hair sometime. I've done
01:18:56
Speaker
Um, Chris is CB. I've done his locks. Um, Blake asked me to braid his mullet. So he's next. And I've done a couple of my teammates braids. Have you had to braid a mullet before? I haven't. I hadn't actually seen a mullet in real life until I came here. I was like, Oh, that's what they look like. It's funny because when I first saw Blake Morrow and I saw he had a mullet,
01:19:24
Speaker
I was like, is he an import or is there a local guy that I hadn't met before? I just assumed he was Australian because he had a mullet. He too. I was like, he's not. He's Australian. And then I heard him talk and I was like, no, he's not. He's American. He fits right in. He fits right in. Yeah, I really hope I get to an inner west game and see Blake with a braided mullet.
01:19:52
Speaker
Yeah, thanks so much for coming on eScott Game Cappy. It's been a pleasure having a chat with you all the way from Iceland down to Bankstown. It's quite a stretch of the world that you've been able to play basketball. So we're excited to see where you learn next. I just wanted to say that this was really fun. Thank you for having me. Thanks for tuning into another episode of eScott Game. Remember to subscribe to our channel, share with your friends, and most of all, don't sleep on the east.