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Sarah Dowlan

Photography Tania Aumann

Stuart McEvoy

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Kath Miles

If you watched the Women’s NCAA Final Four like we did, you would have loved watching the incredible performance of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Her 40 point triple double was something else. Seeing the Hawkeyes uniform gave us some great memories of 2016 when the Hawks had an Iowa star of our own. Melissa Dixon played just the one season with the Hawks but she was fantastic on and off the court. Dixon was a star at Iowa averaging over 17 points per game and no doubt absolutely loves watching her old school in the National Championship. That means her 2 Hawks teams have played in National Championship in the

Get ready for an exciting matchup as the Ringwood Hawks host the Kilsyth Cobras in what promises to be a thrilling encounter at Norwood Secondary College.

The Hawks return to Norwood for the first time this season, having hosted our first home game of the season at The Rings against the Hobart Chargers on Sunday. Which was an encouraging win.

With a short turnaround for both teams (the Hawks having also played last Friday at Diamond Valley and Kilsyth having hosted Sandringham on Friday and playing at Knox on Saturday), this game promises to be an intense battle between two talented teams, with both sides chasing the win amongst a busy stretch of games (the Hawks also playing Eltham on Friday once again at Norwood and Kilsyth playing at Nunawading on Saturday).

The Hawks play the Cobras for the first time since opening night last season where the Hawks started their season off with a win. The script has been flipped this year, with the Hawks dropping the opening game of the season on the road against Waverley whilst the Cobras came away with two home wins to start the season against Geelong and Dandenong but last weekend dropped 2 games to Sandy and Knox.

The Cobras bring a similar core of local players back, such as Carly Turner, Georgia Booth, Isis Lopes, Nikita Young and Sarah Haberfield whilst adding import forward Alexa Hart (from NBL1 North Club Mackay), Emilee Harmon (Dandenong Rangers), Jacinta Vandenberg and Youth League star Bella Clark.

The local rivalry reignites and it will be an exciting contest. Thank you for coming out to support the ladies. Go Hawks!

* *This is ANZAC Round for all NBL1 divisions and to commemorate the occasion, this year we will be awarding an ANZAC medal to the player who most exemplifies to qualities of the ANZACS. There will be a medal presentation immediately after the completion of the Women’s and Men’s game.

*Did you know that ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps? It was formed in Egypt December 1914 and operated during the famous Gallipoli campaign.

*The ANZAC medal is shaped as a Red Poppy. The Poppy is a well known symbol of the armed forces community. They represent both remembrance and hope for a peaceful future.

*How about the show DJ Vasiljevic and Jon Lawton put on last Friday night. DJ is only playing a few games before heading to Miami so the Hawks might consider themselves unlucky to have drawn him (second year in a row) and his 40 points. Lawton was not overshadowed though nailing 34 put throw in 9 dimes.

*Marena Whittle turned up for her first game of the season last Friday and didn’t the Hawks ladies look different. Whittle cruised to 29 points and 15 boards and the Hawks cruised to a 13 point win on the road.

*It has been a wild few weeks in the men’s NBL1 South division with just 3 teams left undefeated . Pre season favourites Mt. Gambier sit on top but surprisingly its Kilsyth and Eltham that are the other two unbeatens. Both those two teams visit the Hawks at Norwood this week in what will be two incredible games of Basketball.

*The Women’s conference also has just the 3 unbeatens with Mt. Gambier again sitting on top, with Bendigo and Waverley just behind them. The three winless teams are more the story with Geelong, Casey and Hobart yet to open their account.

Thanks to our great photographers who are the best in NBL1.

NBL1 basketball continues tonight, and we welcome the fans to the first of our 4 ‘Norwood’ home games for season 2023. We love playing a handful of games here each year and, for the 3rd time in as many seasons, welcome our local rival the Kilsyth Cobras. The win/loss sits at 11, with the boys taking the victory way back in Round 1 last season.

Our Hawks squad is in the middle of a demanding stretch of games, beginning with games at Diamond Valley last Friday and home to Hobart on Sunday. As well as tonight’s game, we finish off with another game at Norwood this Friday night v Eltham – 4 games in 8 days! Kilsyth are also in a similar stretch of games, and it may be the survival of the fittest to see who takes the chocolates tonight.

Our opponents tonight are coming off a very successful 2022 season where they were only a handful of points away from a Grand Final berth. They are led by a number of homegrown Cobras, with Corey Jeffs (15 pts and 9 rebs pg), Adrian Tomada (19.5 pts and 4 asts pg), Ben Ursich (16 pts and 5 rebs pg), Mitch Dielmans (8.5 pts and 3 asts pg) and sharpshooter Jamie Ahale (14.5 pts and 4 rebs pg) causing headaches for their opponents this season. You add in veteran big man Tim Lang, the returning Auryn MacMillan, and Knox recruit Abe Nyok, and the Cobras have talent all over the floor.

We’ll be looking for an even contribution tonight from all our players to get this victory. There has been a big emphasis on team defence this season and we will certainly need to be on our game to stifle a very potent Cobras team. Offensively, we will be looking for big games from our US imports Jonathan Lawton and Kyle Daggett who have both started the season exceptionally well. Adrien Sturt is slowly finding his feet after time away from the game and is due to have a big impact at both ends of the floor. The ‘bench’ crew of Shaun Clarke, Matt Roberts, Simon Grant and Luke Shelley will be chomping at the bit to provide a spark for the team.

Once again, we thank all our amazing sponsors for their tremendous support and a huge thanks to our loyal fans who have come out to support both teams tonight. Let’s be loud and help get us over the line!

GO HAWKS!

The Hawks have had some amazing import talent over the years. This guy was one of the best and even this season he is still having an Impact.

Nate Champion played his College ball at Lemoyne in New York and incredibly today he is now the schools Head Coach.

In his Coaching journey, Nate coached a young man at Florida Southern University who he described as a pure scorer and a class act. Nate’s recommendation was enough for new Hawks Coach Damien Smith who signed Jonathan Lawton for NBL2 2023.

Nate won a Championship with the Hawks in 2016 and has remained a great friend of the program ever since.

Schoolfurn– Harry

Carpet Court– Ava Garthwaite