ROUND 1 of the NBL1 North Women’s competition began over the weekend, with some sides getting off to a hot start in their maiden matchups for the 2023 fixture.

One of the better performers in the opening week were the Cairns Dolphins, who produced a cohesive offensive outing in their 18-point win over the Townsville Flames at Townsville StarFM Stadium on Sunday morning.

The Dolphins established their dominance in the opening quarter, outscoring the opposition 30-18 and continuing that form into the second term. Although it was an improved performance from the Flames in the second half, they simply did not have the scoring power to match the output of Cairns in the first half, as the visitors walked away with a 98-80.

Dolphins tall Penina Davidson had herself a day out against Townsville, stuffing the stat sheet with an immense performance both scoring and rebounding. The Flames had no answer for her presence as she delivered the performance of the round.

Townsville Flames (80) def. by Cairns Dolphins (98)

Penina Davidson – 40 points, 21 rebounds, two assists

Davidson was a towering presence inside the paint, completely tearing apart the opposition with interior dominance.

40 points was clearly enough to be the game’s highest scorer, achieving the feat on some impressive efficiency too. Given so many of her attempts from the field came under the hoop, it gave her the best possible looks at scoring.

Davidson reached the total thanks to nailing 17 shots from the field on just 26 attempts (65 per cent accuracy). All but one of those came from inside the arc, looking to post up the opposition and use her size to get a cleaner look at the basket.

She was even able to nail a shot from behind the arc, which was not foreseen by the defence given her dominance inside the paint.

Davidson’s rebounding performance was just as impressive, pulling down a whopping 21 for the match, which is eight more than the next best.

Although she was a consistent contributor pulling down defensive boards, six came on the offensive glass. This resulted in plenty of second chance points for Davidson and the Dolphins.

Although the defence tried to box her out and send double teams, her influence on the match was clearly present across all four quarters. Davidson started the year with a bang and perfectly displayed her ability to take over a match.