The Clash of the Coast was run and won, with the North Gold Coast Seahawks completing a clean sweep in front of a packed Nest this past Saturday night.
The SmartSkill Seahawks Women kicked the night off in style, with a demanding 62-48 victory over the young Gold Coast Lady Rollers team.
Both teams struggled with scoring the ball, with shooting percentages of 28% per team. The SmartSkill Seahawks Women controlled the game from the defensive end, restricting Gold Coast to 27 points in the first half and 21 points in the second half.
Although having a tough night from the field League MVP candidate, Lauren Jansen, put up her usual video game numbers in 15 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and steals to help steer her team to their 11th straight victory.
Courtney Willemse continued her scoring blitz this season, finishing with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, with Jessica Boundy and Krystle McKenzie both contributing with 8 points apiece.
Head Coach for the SmartSkill Seahawks Women, Bradley Kann, although happy to take the win, knows his team has a lot of work to do heading into the finals.
“We were happy to escape with a win” said Kann.
“Shooting poorly from the foul line and losing the rebound count, it put an emphasis on the defensive side of the ball that really got us over the line in the end”
“We will be looking to tidy up and refine our offense against a USC side that are hungry to stay in finals contention”
Next up was the Seahawks Men, who in their previous match up against Gold Coast went down by 2 points, so victory and a convincing one at that had to be on the cards. They didn’t let down the veracious home fans, with a belting of their hometown rivals 82-64.
The 1st quarter saw a tight contest between the two, like prized fighters they jab and felt their way through the opening 10 minutes, with the Seahawks heading into the first break up 3, 18-15.
The 2nd quarter started, and it looked like Gold Coast forgot they were in a fight, with the Seahawks containing the sleepy Rollers squad to just 10 points whilst piling on 25 of their own and having the home crowd on their feet, heading into the main break up, 43-25.
The Seahawks defence forced the unrecognised Rollers scorers to try and keep the scoreboard ticking, with Jasper Freitag (2 of 7) and Matt McKewin (2 of 12) unable to crack the whip and step up to the challenge when their team needed them most.
The 3rd quarter saw the Rollers take it by 2, but the relentless pressure defensively and overall smarts from the Seahawks Men saw them seal up the Clash of the Coast shield and send the Rollers home packing.
Old timers David Gurney (23 points and 14 rebounds) and Rhys Martin (13 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists) deserved to ice from the inside on Sunday, after playing match winning performances the night before.
Seahawks junior, Sasha Lomakin, had his biggest scoring output of the season finishing with 14 points and pleasing the home crowd faithful with his energy.
Head Coach for the Seahawks Men, Jordan Mullan, was extremely impressed with his side’s victory.
“We knew what we needed to do on Saturday night, and I felt like we executed our scout well” said Mullan.
“We know this home stretch of home games to finish the season will set us up for a potential home semi-final, so this victory is just 1 of 4 that we need to close out our regular season”
“We need to turn around our focus quickly and get ready for a battle against USC this coming Saturday night”
Tickets are now on sale for this Saturday night’s game against USC RIP. To get your tickets, head to: https://www.seahawksbasketball.com.au/qsl-tickets
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