Rip City women dominate in round one, ready to face Brisbane capitals

The UniSC Rip City women start the year off with a win in dominating fashion against rival Sunshine Coast Phoenix, 75-54 on Saturday night. Newcomer N’dea Flye was excellent in her debut for the women, putting up 17 points and 5 rebounds while controlling the pace of the game. Carlie Smith was dominant in round 1 as well, scoring 14 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, as well.

Stephanie Bairstow scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds while Liisa Ups contributed an all-around effort with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists on the night. Maddie Campbell was also a standout on the evening, scoring 10 points in just 14 minutes of play.

Phoenix couldn’t get the engines started, as Smith put forth an excellent defensive effort on Kendall Heremaia the Phoenix’s primary scoring option, allowing Rip to punish Phoenix at the other end of the floor.

Rip dominated the Phoenix women on the glass, winning the rebound count 58-41. This week, the Rip women will face off against the Brisbane Capitals who are coming off a 31 point loss to the Northside Wizards. The caps are led by 2022 All-Star 5 selection, Abby Cubillo who finished last week with 21 points. Mia Loyd is the Cubillo’s partner in the back court, who finished with 13 points against Northside. The rest of the Capitals roster thins out quickly based on the Round 1 results with Steph Collins and Bronte Corke chipping in 8 points a piece.

The Rip women will need to slow down Cubillo and limit each of the other weapons Caps has like Northside did in Round 1. This is another opportunity for Rip to dominate on the glass as Caps were out rebounded by 14 to Northside. Look for the Rip women to continue their winning ways as they face-off against the Brisbane Capitals at UniSC stadium on Sunday afternoon at 1pm. You can also catch the livestream on the NBL1 website.